Alexandra returns from China

Alexandra is back from a month in China. Here are some of the photos... there's more in the official album.

It may not be our sexiest name, but it's certainly the steamiest!

While we are usually annoyed by the obnoxious product placement on our favorite TV show, Top Chef, we freaked out (in a good way) when our new Glad Simply Cooking Microwave Steaming Bags took center stage. These super space age bags are perfect for steaming veggies -- just fill, zap and serve. No waiting for water to boil, no messy pots and pans to clean. And according to the Man from Glad in this painfully cheesy video demo, you can even use them make "tasty omelets and fluffy desserts."

What NOT to name your product or company.

We're continually amazed that people trademark names that are spelled differently than they sound. In today's word-of-mouth world, what you hear is what you type in your browser, so it's imperative that your name is easy and intuitive to spell. Case in point: Takkle.com, a high school sports website. When Jeff says, "Yo Steve, check out Takkle.com," Steve hears "tackle" and when he types it in his browser, he lands at Bass Pro, a fishing tackle website. So Takkle loses a customer and Steve thinks Jeff is a dork. During a panel discussion at the recent MashUp teen marketing conference, Alexandra asked Takkle CEO David Birnbaum if, in hindsight, he would have chosen a name that was easier to spell. He said he would stick with Takkle. Proving Alexandra's point, RockYou.com founder Lance Tokuda jumped in and said that RockYou loses thousands of customers a day who type in "rocku." We wonder how often the Takkle guy has to say "that's Takkle with two K's," when he isn't sporting a Takkle baseball cap that he can point to.

Introducing Cake Financial. Easy. Money.

We were asked to create a tagline for a new investing service called Portfolia, which doesn't exactly stand out in a sea of Wall Street websites. So we convinced them to let us rename the company. This easy-to-use site lets you check out the actual portfolios, watchlists and real-time trades of top investors and your family and friends. Plus you can see how you stack up against others, which is fun unless you suck in the market. And you can do it all safely, securely and anonymously. For free. It's cake. And that's what we named it - Cake. If you're an investor, check out the alpha version of this "social investing revolution."

Hot Fun - Eat My Words Summer Party

The annual Eat My Words summer party was a huge success thanks to perfect weather and the great mix of the 60+ clients and friends who showed up. Held outdoors in the courtyard, the party was a who's-who of industry insiders including Landor's Global Director of Naming - Anthony Shore, techonorati Stewart Alsop, Jay & Andy from Igor, Heidi Caldwell from DDW, Bill Larsen of Anthem, and Jon Weber of Metromint. Designamo's included packaging superstar Peter Matsukawa, Tony Auston, Joel Templin of newly hatched Hatch, and Bonnie McFarland of Del Monte. Speaking of Del Monte, the party marked the official launch of the Sonic Bloom, which is the DM energy drink we named Bloom, mixed with vodka. (Thanks to DM for the truck load of product, and to new client Metromint for the massive supply of mintwater, and to SIGG for donating 60 super slick water bottles featuring the designs we named.) Also on the drink menu, Mother Pucker pink lemonade and Mojohitos. Herbs & Spices catered the event and served mini cheeseburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches with brie and wild mushrooms, fresh crab cakes with lemon aioli, and homemade ice cream sandwiches. Yum. Despite having no less than four professional photographers in attendance, including Kevin Ng David Campbell, Lisa Keenan and Kelly Powers, we were too busy catching up to take many photos, but there are some more good ones in the official party slideshow.