In my time, I’ve been in lots of situations where I’ve had to ‘come up with a name’.
Whether it was a band I was playing in or a product I was discussing or a company I was starting … the choice of name has always been something that has inspired great debate.
Some companies have processes and theories in how to choose a name – however having seen what that actually entails first hand, I don’t think shoving a word into a thesaurus and then writing down all the answers while you charge your client top fees for ‘strategic counsel’ is all that smart.
Well, it’s probably quite smart from a financial sense, but that’s about it.
Of course there are some ‘rules’ you should consider when choosing a name – how it translates into other languages is one – but more often than not, you look for a name that embodies something about you or what you do.
OK, so that sounds like I’m suggesting Richard Branson was a virgin when he started the company or the guys behind Naked were errrrrm, nude a lot of the time … and whilst they might be amusing coincidences [allegedly], what I actually meant was that people deciding upon a name tend to gravitate to things that express their view or attitude or experience or something that has additional meaning to them.
Sometimes it can come quite quickly … cynic took a day thanks to a book I was reading at the time … however I also know that when we launched our ridiculously stupid and ego fulfilling company, potent_flix, we took weeks and weeks to come to some sort of consensus.
Seriously, if you want a less frustrating life, DON’T choose a name via committee … I guarantee you’ll spend half the time arguing and the other half wondering how you can kill everyone else and get away with it.
And whilst people say a name isn’t important – it’s more about what a company does – I don’t think too many people would like to fly with Crashalot Airlines.
So how do you choose?
Well contrary to companies like LANDOR, I don’t think there’s a ‘process’.
Sure there’s a bunch of things you have to consider … but interms of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach?
Well maybe that works in the minds of certain companies however on planet earth, I doubt it.
You fluctuate between going ‘cool’ or ‘corporate’.
What you ‘do’ or how you ‘think’.
‘Attitude’ or ‘delivery’.
You get the idea …
And that’s only the first stage … wait till you have to decide on how the bloody thing looks!
OH MY GOD!
Anyway, as usual, I digress, I mention all these things because whilst in China – amongst all the piles and piles of DVD’s from production companies – one stood out.
Now you could say it’s a very clever marketing ploy – because in a very competitive industry, getting noticed is half the battle – however something tells me that whilst this company might appeal to certain deviants within the industry, that wasn’t the real reason behind the choice of name … which begs the question, what the hell was the reason?
CAN
MY
MOTHER
PLEASE
NOT
SCROLL
DOWN
BECAUSE
AS
MUCH
AS
I
KNOW
SHE
NOW
KNOWS
I’M
NOT
PURITY
PERSONIFIED
I
DON’T
WANT
TO
MAKE
IT
EVEN
MORE
OBVIOUS
