The pitch: Passion, purpose and pride, the right name can say it all

By TIM HICKEY*

What's in a name? I argue - everything. But from a marketing perspective, the names we give to our businesses often seem to reflect as much thought as a randomly generated internet password.

Folklore is riddled with naming basketcases, such as PwC's Consulting's ill-fated renaming to "Monday", and you can ask a Spanish speaker what Mitsubishi's "Pajero" really means.

Recently, a clever Kapiti entrepreneur snaffled www.dominionpost.co.nz from under the nose of Wellington's daily newspaper, grabbing a respectable-sounding name for his postal logistics business as well. Either the newspaper should have secured the domain before announcing its name - or it chose a website (www.dompost.co.nz) that has more in common with compost than communications.

When you meet a person, the first thing you'll probably find out about them is their name. Most of us don't choose our names, so it's perhaps a bit unfair to read much into them.

But when we name our businesses, products and brands, it's amazing how often the opportunity to inject passion, purpose and pride is wasted. Call me irrational, but I probably won't deal with a company with a stupid-sounding name, because I'm likely to think that their offerings are similarly ill-conceived.

A business name should be quick and easy to pronounce, without ambiguous and forgettable corruptions of spelling.

e-Anything is so 1998, and beware, m-Whatever (as in mobile) is headed the same way.

Obscure, unexplained acronyms can mean nothing to prospective customers, or even discourage them because of their perceived technicality. Having said that, my internet service provider, Ihug, seems to have done quite well given its rather utilitarian origins as the Internet Home Users Group.

To me, to call yourself "ABC Holdings" or "XYZ Investments" smells of "We are asset-stripping corporate raiders" and you had better own some subsidiaries or brands that are more customer-focused than that.

Likewise, "So-and-So & Associates" implies to me, "What we do is our business and none of yours."

The epitome of uninspired business tags has to be naming them after oneself, which is lazy at best and downright egotistical at worst.

We all say that our customers are not just numbers, but individuals. Let's give the same respect to our own enterprises. Seize the opportunity to identify yourself uniquely!

* Tim Hickey is a nomenclature consultant for Your Name Means Everything.

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