Maybe Pert Plus was on to something. Ditto for Puffs Plus.
The year was 1987 when the shampoo-and-conditioner in the green bottle and the lotion-soaked tissues both incorporated the word “plus” into the names of flagship product lines. Pert became the best selling shampoo in the province.
Now, more than three decades later, a myriad of companies, from streaming services and skincare lines to designers and even closed law firms, have made the plus sign — not the word — ubiquitous in product and service naming.
The symbol has overtaken grandiose modifiers like “premium,” “max,” or “deluxe” for services and goods, while also replacing the ampersand in many company names and logos.
Some call that a positive affirmation. For others, the trend is a little imaginative imitation play.
Streaming services have become the standard-bearers for the plus-one movement: Paramount+, ESPN+, Disney+, Apple TV+, BET+, AMC+, Discovery+.
Also during the broadcast of the Major League Baseball play-offs in October, the plus sign was unavoidable. The back of the pitching mound in the deciding fifth game of the National League Divisional Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants bore the logo of DailyExpertNews+, the cable network’s paid streaming service, which will launch in 2022. (Maybe that’s what lured Fox’s Chris Wallace?)
“The problem with the plus sign is that it has become so popular that it is in danger of losing its novelty and distinctiveness,” Timothy Calkins, associate chair of the marketing department at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, said in an interview.
However, Professor Calkins sees the wisdom of companies embracing the plus sign, saying that with so much emphasis on brevity, it can be a very effective option.
“It communicates ‘more’ and ‘extra’ in a way that’s hard to say otherwise,” he said. “IDK, LOL, it’s all this move to shorten things and make things clear and simple, and the plus sign totally ties into that.”
DailyExpertNews+ will offer eight to 12 hours of live daily programming content that is unique to the existing cable platform, according to the network. DailyExpertNews+ subscription rates are yet to be determined.
According to DailyExpertNews, the research found that using the plus sign would be easy and straightforward for viewers. In other words, there would be no learning curve.
When Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz founded their skincare line in 2004, the plus sign became an integral part of the brand’s identity: (Malin+Goetz). From product packaging to art installations and social media, the symbol has become a calling card for the pharmacy and the laboratory.
“You know you love M+G when you start seeing + signs everywhere,” the company posted on Twitter.
Other companies that use the plus sign include handbag designer Foley + Corinna; Mizzen+Main, a menswear brand; and Etta + Billie, a maker of soaps and other body care products. Hewitt Vineyard in the Napa Valley will see your plus sign and raise you one: ++Double Plus++ is the premium wine label.
Even Bausch + Lomb, the contact lens manufacturer and eye care company, made an appearance. In 2010, it ditched the ampersand in favor of the plus sign in its name.
However, not everyone likes to retire the ampersand. Writing in an opinion piece for the ABA Journal of the American Bar Association Norm Tabler, a retired attorney, lamented the trend.
“Rather ashamed of their own infidelities, companies announced their streamlined new titles with no ampersand with the swagger of a smug middle-aged presenting a new trophy husband,” wrote Mr. Tabler.
Jonah Berger, an associate professor of marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said in an interview that the popularity of plus in branding was reminiscent of earlier trends.
“We can remember a time when every product put an ‘i’ on itself,” he said.
Professor Berger, the author of “Contagious: Why Things Catch On,” said the challenge for businesses is when language is overused. In some cases, he said, the meaning of words can change.
“An expression like ‘new and improved’ used to have a very clear meaning,” he said. “Now when you hear that something is ‘luxury’, you no longer think it is luxury.”
David A. Aaker, a vice president of brand consulting firm Prophet, said another important consideration is that companies can incorporate the plus sign into their existing logos and not have to create new ones.
“The goal is to have the master brand help the new offering and the new offering to help the master brand,” says Mr. Aaker, professor emeritus at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.
If you compare it to brand-level vernacular, like “gold” or “platinum,” Mr. Aaker said, the plus sign is the better way to go.
“That just sounds like puffery,” he said of those gold-plated alternatives. “It sounds like ostentation.”
And don’t get him started by calling something “select.”
“People won’t just roll their eyes, they’ll say, ‘What the hell is that?'” he said.
But Mr. Aaker, whose biography describes him as the “father of modern branding,” offered a cautionary note to companies that have or are considering using the plus sign in product names.
“You must have something you must have,” he said.