Sharing My Crayons

What's in a Name? More Than You Think.

What's in a name?

That which we

call a rose

by any other name

would smell as sweet

William Shakespeare

With all apologies to the Bard, I'd have to say "No Bill. No it wouldn't".

OK, so maybe it's not quite that simple – but we're talking about communicating more than just how you smell, right? Whether we're talking about a company, a product, a service or a campaign, the power in a name lies in it's potential to do some pretty amazing things. The right name can:

• separate you from your competition

• illustrate your unique points of differentiation

• positively position you with your audience

• create intrigue

• be unexpected – and unforgettable

• begin to tell your story before you have said a word

• provide a deep well of both images and language

• allow you to be bigger than merely the goods and services you provide

That's a powerhouse of potential to consider. But for any of that to be realized, you have to let go of one of the biggest naming myths:

Your Name has to be Descriptive

Names that are descriptive are asked to perform only one task: explain to the world what business you're in, or what your product does. When placed alongside others in the same field, the chances are you'll blend into the background – which is what you're trying to avoid, isn't it?

Besides, names will never exist in a vacuum, without some sort of contextual support. They will appear on or in websites, URLs, email signatures, signage, print materials, business cards, ads, product packaging – even conversation – but never completely by themselves, without explanatory support of some kind. Understanding this frees a name up to do something far more powerful and effective for you (look at the list again).

Of those items above, the one that I use most often as a litmus test of a potentially effective name is #7: provide a deep well of both images and language. Consider our naming example from the last post: Bloodhound. Their initial notion of using Doyle & Fairchild as the company name evokes no images or language to bring their story to life. Bloodhound, however, brings with it a deep well of images and language.

A deep well of images is probably somewhat obvious, but what does a deep well of language look like? When we present potential names to a client, we always include a small paragraph of copy to illustrate just this point. It's intention is just to give the client an idea of how the proposed name can open up engaging new ways to tell their story. Take a gander at the tasty blurb written by creative partner Evan McBroom (aka: Billy Big-Words) that we presented with the Bloodhound name to see what I mean:

Your company has an immediate staffing need, but you’re out of leads.

The trail’s gone cold and you don’t know where to turn.

It’s time to call in the hounds.

We’re Bloodhound…the perfect partner for your staffing search. While others wander, we know just where to look. Often, the best candidates aren’t in the job market – they’re hiding out in jobs they like, unaware that your better opportunity awaits. Whether you need a solo top performer or a temporary team, we’ll put our extensive network in action, track down the most qualified candidates and bring them to your door.

Staffing. It’s not just what we do…it’s in our blood.

See how the Bloodhound name drives the language in a compelling and evocative way that wouldn't even make sense with any other name?

I could ramble on (as most of you well know), and if anyone wants to discuss a naming project I'd be happy to do so. But in the interest of time I'll close with my patented reminder: If you're going to cut corners somewhere, don't do it with your identity – how people perceive you is just too important. And unless you really want to Alligator-Arm it, that includes the name Sparky!

Our Work is Going to the Dogs

If a person is ever

going to do anything

worthwhile, there will

be times when he must

risk everything

by his leap . . .

Oswald Chambers

I love working with clients who are a little adventuresome – who are willing to step out on the ledge a bit and look at themselves from a different perspective. Not shrinking back from a challenge, but vigorously embracing it as an opportunity can take us places we wouldn’t have otherwise gone.

That’s the case with a new client we began working with early this year. As we plowed through our Discovery session and discussed initial branding, it became obvious (to one of us at least) that we needed a more compelling company name – and an evocative tagline – if we were going to create strong, competitive differentiation from their competition (more on the importance of a strong name in the next post).

In all honesty, they were reluctant. The two principals, Marc Fairchild and Joel Doyle, had planned all along to just use their last names as the company name and weren’t convinced about their return on investment in the naming process. We had some great conversations and they finally decided to take the plunge – and we got to work.

Marc and Joel are in the staffing business, primarily for the insurance industry. What makes them unique is their extensive network, and how they work it. They find potential candidates who are hiding out in successful jobs and aren’t looking for a change. The new name and tagline needed to directly address this unique point of differentiation. We came back with three potential names, type treatments and sample copy to illustrate how a compelling name drives the language you use to tell your story. All three were very well received, and the clients started to see how a new name would position them in a way that simply using their names never could.

They settled on one of the names and, with a good deal of excitement and expectation, we were off to the races on logo design. Without further ado, allow me introduce one of our newest clients . . .

While designing logos is one of my favorite things, let me say that I was much more excited to work on concepts for Bloodhound than I would have been for Doyle & Fairchild. And not just because I like drawing dogs (which of course I do), but because of the challenge that was embraced and the resulting potential for creating a stronger, more appealing and memorable brand.

Marc and Joel have been great fun to work with throughout the process. They’re already seeing the return on their investment, as Marc points out in this wonderfully glowing testimonial:

The thoroughness demonstrated by Todd and his team throughout the creative process was impressive. They took the time to understand our business, the target audiences, and what we were trying to accomplish with our branding campaign. In doing so, the team captured the personality of our company and created a brand and logo that visually conveyed who we are and what we do. Any hesitation evaporated when presented with the first set of ideas.

Our firm is a new partnership and it was incredible to be asked on several occasions at a recent trade show, “so, how long have you been at Bloodhound?”. Todd and his team created a brand that conveyed market presence and provided immediate credibility. Our brand has and continues to create interest and excitement – it interests people and allows us to tell our story. The quality of the business collateral has been phenomenal. The attention to every detail is observed in the final work product. We are now moving forward with our web and marketing materials. We can’t wait to see what they come up with next. Truly exciting!

I’ll close with a heartfelt thank you to Marc and Joel for trusting us in this undertaking – and with a little sniff of their business card design for everyone else.

WOOF!

Alligator-Arming It

Alligator Arm

[al-i-gey-ter ahrm]

(verb) To shoot in a weak, goofy style without extending the arm; to short-arm.

(adv.) In American football, a would-be pass-receiver's arm extended timidly, less than full length . . . not whole-heartedly eager to catch the ball.

source: urbandictionary.com

I first heard the term "alligator arm" from Clark Kellogg doing color commentary on the Indiana Pacers. He said it after a shot came up well short of the rim because the shooter simply did not follow-through.

When looking up a definition online I found that it also refers to football receivers missing a pass because they failed to really reach out for it. Both of these seemed appropriate for this post.

I've recently had a client alligator-arm it. I want to be careful here, but let me surgically provide an explanation.

We were hired to design a website for a new client. Great – I love new opportunities! We were told that they had their own web guy and would need us to only provide the design and their guy would take care of the back-end coding. In the back of my mind, I wrestled to push down the red flag that was popping up.

We delivered a design that we were very proud of and the client loved. We handed off Photoshop files and instructions to the client and held our breath (some day I'll post about why handing off our native Photoshop files sends chills down my spine).

Last week the site went live, and as I had feared, there were numerous issues. Not horrific things, mind you, but things that were clearly not right. I subsequently found out that their web guy was really more of an application programming specialist, and web programming was not his forte. Great design was in place, but they alligator armed it when it came to bringing the site to life. The downside from a personal perspective is that I won't be able to point potential clients to them as another example of our web capabilities.

I often tell people, "if you're going to cut corners someplace, don't do it with your identity – how people perceive you is just too important." And with this particular client, their web presence is vitally important to how their potential clients will perceive them.

Alligator-arming it is poor follow-through, coming up short by not paying attention to the details – and you don't want to give your target audience the impression that little details aren't important.

This concept, of course, stretches beyond web programming. Sending a well-designed piece to the wrong printer can achieve the same results, as can failing to implement your branding consistently across ALL touchpoints with your audience.

Have about you? Have you ever alligator-armed it? Please comment with the story and any lessons learned.

My encouragement is to reach out and strive for excellence in every aspect of your marketing efforts – from start to finish and at all points in between.

See ya later alligator!