Dads
have a history of moving heaven and earth for their daughters. Mike Micka
hacked an entire video game to let his daughter play saviour instead of Mario. Tom
Cruise blew up 3 million pounds to hire a private jet to see his daughter Suri on her seventh birthday. Apollo 17
astronaut Eugene Cernan actually went all the way to the moon to etch the
initials of his little girl (Tracy Dawn Cernan) on the lunar surface!
Entrepreneurs
wow their daughters with a simple trick. They name their brands after their
favourite child to give them the gift of immortality. When Karsanbhai Patel lost
his daughter Nirupama to a car accident, he brought her to life again by
christening his detergent as Nirma (her pet name). Just to make sure no one forgets her, he put her
illustration on the pack and in the TV commercial. Result: Nirma lives in
millions of households today and everyone knows her as the girl in that
billowing white frock.
Steve
Jobs’ case was slightly different. When he named Apple’s first ever PC as Lisa, it was to overcome his guilt
as he had denied paternity in court by disclaiming the physical ability to
procreate a child. So he couched it by planting stories that Lisa was an
acronym for Local Integrated System Architecture. But later, he admitted that
it was a nod to his daughter Lisa Nicole.
The
commercial failure of Lisa brought to fore the inherent risks attached in the ‘immortalise
my princess’ strategy. But the stupendous success of Barbie (nick name of Barbara,
daughter of Mattel’s cofounder) doused the fire of doubt and emboldened Mattel
to launch one more doll in the name of Barbara’s brother Ken!
Sara Lee, Wendy’s and Skoda Felicia are three more illustrious
examples where daughter names have proved to be veritable blockbusters. The
home appliances brand Usha and the fabric whitener
company Jyothi Laboratories are some Indian success
stories in this ‘beti brand’ genre. But fame for one daughter can cause needless
sibling rivalry. The only way out of this logjam is to launch another brand in
the other daughter’s name!
