Picking a saucy brand name has its risks Tuesday, April 22, 2008
If you ever been involved in starting a company or even a project, you'll know the fun (and effort) that can be had from choosing a brand name.
Inevitably, when you come to check if the domain name is available, most of the ones you first dream up have already been snapped up by domain trolls. Consequently, one alternate is to start misspelling the word [big favourite amongst web companies ala Flickr etc] but of course this presents the challenge of communicating the correct spelling to your market.
I've often found that many of the ideas suggested when brainstorming often have humorous slant, or perhaps it's the company I keep. However, these names can be a double edged sword and so easily impair perceptions of your company if adopted. Hey, if I can be poorly perceived for holding a beer in my blog photo [comment received today - "Your face isn't the problem, but I guess that the photo that you have chosen as your public persona, (given you tend talk about venture capital rather than your personal life) might benefit from a rethink. To us over stateside, it kinda says, hey, beer is the most important thing to me."] then........
So I had to do a double-take when I read about a company on Springwise, called "Blow Me", which opened its review with:
Event organizers can hire Blow Me to attend any party or other happening where alcohol will be served.
they went onto say
With the same equipment used by police forces throughout the UK, Blow Me's trained team conducts unlimited alcohol breath tests for event guests in a non-threatening and professional manner.
For reasons that I am sure will be obvious, I can imagine our US compatriots taking offence to the brand name.
To paraphrase an old UK Govt campaign - "Think before you drink; before you drive; before you blow"
posted by John Wilson @ 1:38 PM Permanent Link
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