When I hear the name Turkey Hill, I think Iced Tea?

Awhile back, I noticed an ad on TV in Denver for a new bottled Ice Tea…Turkey Hill Ice Tea. I am no naming expert (far from it), but it left me wondering why would someone choose “Turkey Hill” as the product name.

There are a lot of good, tea product names out there which fit their product. Honest Tea promises to create and promote delicious, truly healthy, organic beverages. Republic of Tea’s goal is to spark a Tea Revolution by canvassing the most prized tea gardens of the world for their worthiest leaves and providing them to their customers.

Now, I am not a big tea drinker. As any of my friends will tell you, I prefer a triple capaccino from a non-Starbuck’s independent coffee house. However, I am left scratching my head about why this name was used. If you check out Turkey Hill, it is clear they’ve been around for awhile, so they obviously have some smart folks over there. Their brand equity seems to be solid out in Pennsylvania and Mid Atlantic area, so I suspect they are trying to enter into new markets out west…Denver is where I call home.

Rather than rely on my gut, I quickly GutChecked it with who I assume is their target audience for their ads out this way – woman, 18-50, living in the west, and iced tea drinkers.  What I found didn’t really surprise me.  When asked about what kind of products the target customer thought Turkey Hill would sell, one respondent said, they “think of turkey and meat and anything dealing with Thansksgiving”.  Another responded with “deli meat” when asked what came to their mind when they heard the name.  Not necessarily what you want to hear when you are selling iced tea in the summer.  When told Turkey Hill was selling iced tea, one respondent said “the product and name just don’t match”.  There were some positives that came out of the chats.  Primarily, the name cast a natural glow on the products, which a lot of consumers are looking for these days.

It might be an outstanding product, but based on speaking with some potential customers, there might be a disconnect between the name and the product.  If anyone knows how Turkey Hill iced tea sales fared out West this Summer, I’d love to hear about it.