Flippo

Imagine that you have good reason to think that certain small plastic discs with cartoon images can become a great hype when they are added as a collectible goodie to chips bags. But their original Hawaiian name is 'G.O.P.' while the branded version in the Americas is being called 'Tazo'. Both names that seem confusing and unattractive in The Netherlands. What do you do?

It all started in 1927 when the Haleakala Dairy in Maui, Hawaii, brought a new type of fruit juice on the market. The cap of every bottle was covered with a round cardboard image. Despite the sunshine, beautiful beaches and as many free coconuts as you wanted, the economy was suffering in Hawaii. The big recession caused thousands of people to get fired. Parents had no money for toys anymore. The kids had to think of something on their own.

The word for the category was: P.O.G.

One day, one of these kids played with a cap of a fruit juice bottle, and another kid joined him. From then on, they started saving these bottle caps. A new game was born, invented by these children. The caps were called POGs, derived from the juice fruits ‘Passion fruit, Orange and Guava’.

The children drew dolls and other images on them and made special versions, such as the ‘kinis’ (Hawaiian for king). These had more value. They consisted of 3 POGs stuck together.

The caps became a small hype that faded out after a while. But years later, a teacher named Blossom Galbiso remembered the game that she played as a child. She decided to teach it to the children in her class again. They loved the game. It spread among their friends, then to other schools and eventually history repeated itself – with a vengeance. The whole of Hawaii played with POGs now.

Tourists took the POGs to Mexico, where they were called 'Tazos' (('tazo' in Spanish means 'flat', or 'level'). Then the game became a hype in America in 1993. Consumer brands brought various branded editions to the market. At the beginning of 1995 the POGs came to Europe. They started in England, where the caps got added on Walkers (chips), again under the name of Tazos .

Would the name 'tazo' work in the Netherlands?

When Walkers' daughter company Smiths launched the concept in The Netherlands, they weren't sure about the name 'tazos'. One issue was that it sounded so much like some Spanish (or Mexican) food that it could cause confusion as they would be added as goodies inside chips bags.

The other one was that 'tazo' didn't only sound like a Spanish or Mexican snack, it also lacked a sense of fun.

This game of collectibles should feel like something that Dutch children would embrace like the Hawaiian did.

Flippo was tested among consumers among other name proposals, including Tazo and became the final name, allowing it to capture the hearts of millions of eager Dutch kids.