Somebody got paid big money for this

Full disclosure. At N+H we do Brand Development. So do big companies for even bigger companies.

But Yum! is just about the dumbest name I have ever heard. OK, so it's a bunch of restaurants -- see the logos above -- and I suppose the name is supposed to imply that Pizza Hut, KFC and the rest are simply "yummy".

This is what is called an "Endorsed Brand" -- that is, sub-brands that are linked to the corporate brand by verbal or visual endorsement. But in this case, the corporate brand just comes across as stupid to me.

But I'll bet you my car that they paid some big New York brand development company something in seven figures to come up with it.

There is a certain "Emperor's New Clothes" quality here, I think. Nobody really wants to speak up. (Just like nobody spoke up when the prototype Baby Ruth bar was presented, but that's another story.)

" 'Yum!' ? That's it?"

"Yes sir. That's what they recommend."

"We've been working on this for nine months. And this is it? Kind of stupid, don't you think?"

"Yes sir, it is. But we're paying them a whole s***load of cash, so I guess they probably know what they are doing. I think. Doesn't the fact that we paid them a s***load of cash mean they know what they are doing?. I think we ought to just go with it, and treat anybody who doesn't get it like they are the stupid ones."

"Works for me. 'Yum!' is it."

(Of course these are the geniuses who tried to introduce grilled chicken in a brand whose middle name -- literally -- is "fried.")