I got an email today from a company called “PID Plates”. It came with a photo of the rear end of a car, but where the steely-embossed vehicle model logo would be, was the name of my design company. 

Turns out “PID” Plates are “personal identification” plates, that look like the steel letters car makers put on their vehicles - the idea here is that (for ninety-five bucks - ouch!) you can get your company name emblazoned across your trunk.

Now, years ago I scoured the junk yards for scraps of car-logo pieces, thinking I could “brand” my own vehicle. Now, for just shy of a c-note, I can do it via the web. And what is even COOLER is that you can go to their website and “test” your company name or message by typing in a phrase (see the “eat me” mobile above).

Now, I do apologize for my juvenile, knee-jerk response to this awesome bit o’ technology… but then I got to thinking. What if you ordered these and stuck them on all the Hummers in town?

Or even better:

Yes, they even include punctuation!

And then it hit me…

These things really seem like a silly idea for promoting your business. I don’t think we really “look” at car logos and style-labels, unless we’re car geeks and it’s a Ferrari (in which case the last thing you’d do is stick some letters on the thing). 

But… seeing how you could use this to create your own car “brand”, doesn’t that mean you can, in effect, be your own automaker?

Let’s say that, due to these troubled economic times, all you can afford to drive is this:

Well then, the North American Manufacturing Division of Cloudy Automotive announces our newest economy car-brand, for those who are freshly laid off:

SWEET, huh?