Etihad Stadium…Etihad Stadium…doesn’t really roll of the tongue does it? Not like Telstra Dome…especially when you do your deepest movie voice-over-man impersonation.

Regardless of how it sounds, us Melbournians are going to have to get our mouth around the change of Telstra Dome to Etihad Stadium when the United Arab Emirates Airline launches their service in March 2009.

And what a way to launch a new brand; take over the name of the second most mentioned sporting arena in Australia’s home of sport. I’m sure by the end of the 5 year deal most of us will have included the Arabic word, meaning united into our vocabulary, but I wonder how long it will take to catch on…or to change. Surely its only be a matter of time before we see Etihad Stadium referred to with something a bit easier for the average Aussie to pronounce. I’m not saying we’re all gibbons when it comes to pronunciation, its just that it’s such an Aussie thing to do to shorten the name of a destination or something we love. Take for example The G, The Gabba and The Wacca...or the mate that everyone's got, Gibbo.

This makes me think that the naming rights deal is an even smarter move for Etihad. There aren't many brands that can say that they are so well known by the Australian public that they’re given a nickname and if Etihad can achieve nickname status with us, it should go a long way to getting consumers to feel good about booking flights with them. See yous at Eti next year.