Company Name Contest

If you've started your own business or renamed a company, you may have felt the pain I'm feeling now. I'm in the process of renaming my company and everything that I like is taken or has trademark risks. So I'm going to open it up to the blogosphere and see how creative you guys and gals can be! The winner gets a $100 gift certificate from GiftCertificates.com, acknowledgement on my web site and fame throughout the blogosphere. :-)

If you accept the challenge, read on.

I originally started my company, Mantra Brand Communications, as a virtual marketing agency using freelance creative. I did the brand strategies and farmed everything else out. Gradually I realized that the only part of it that I enjoyed was the brand strategy aspect. And if you've followed my blog, you know that I'm not fond of the word 'branding'. It's overused, misused, and there's far too many people in this space. It's time to follow my own advice: differentiate myself and do what I really enjoy.

The part of my job that really jazzes me is bringing completely new perspectives to the client and catalyzing an "ah hah" moment. Usually it comes through customer research where we discover that what customers think is important is not at all what the company thinks is important. I also like to look at a business from multiple perspectives: talking to employees on the front-line, finding untaken opportunities in the space, and looking at how future trends will impact my clients' businesses. Lastly, I see a lot of waste that happens in customer research: often a research firm is hired by a specific department (usually marketing) to answer a specific question, and the results are only used by that department. Or the report ends up as a dust-collector because the wrong questions were asked, or execution strategies weren't included.

So my new space is customer strategy consulting, which encompasses evaluation, research middle-man and strategic interpreter. What are the business challenges that need to be solved? What are the right questions to ask for the results to have relevance to all departments within an organization? What different perspectives will yield 'ah-hah' insights? I'll source the right resources for the job (anthropologists, quantitative researchers, database analysis, smart people in different industries, etc.), supervise the project and then apply the learnings to the business. This is, by the way, the same process that would yield a brand strategy. It's framed differently to be more relevant to senior execs, and it also opens up opportunities to solve problems and create opportunities in various departments like customer service, product development and sales.

The name I really like so far is Perspective Lab. My web designer has a cool site design that uses photographs of buildings and other objects from artsy, interesting perspectives. But there's a videoconferencing router company called Perspective Labs, and although we're in completely different industries, my TM attorney says there's some risk because the name is almost identical. It's still viable so I might go with it anyway, but I'm looking for alternatives that are fun, original and --most importantly -- not taken. If you want to play, assume that anything remotely descriptive of what I do is taken. One random idea I had was Highway 39... did you know there's never been an interstate highway 39? So it's the "take the road not traveled" idea. But the highway motif has been overused so I nixed it.

OK, enough rambling. If you've got some ideas, toss them into the Comments Hat in the next few days. Deadline is when someone submits a name I like, or when I get tired of the process and risk going with one of my other ideas. Whichever comes first. Thank you for helping, good luck and have fun!

Comments

[megan olson]

Hi Jennifer:
Well, what can I say? I opened my own tailoring/sewing home-based business 11 years ago and I know that the name of my business is not what you're looking for, but i thought I would tell you anyways just to get a smile from you and anyone else reading this. I wanted to name my business a name that would be "remembered" because I feel that is the key point is clients "remembering" what your services are and of course to remember your business over your competitors. So as i said, I have tailor & alterations business and i named it "Stitch and (a picture of a bee)...itch Tailoring and Alterations". I offer "on the spot" alterations, so my clients have coffee, tea and gab while they're waiting. I wanted to call it "Stitch and Bitch Tailoring and Alterations" but of course our bylaw wouldn't allow me to use the word "bitch" so i had to "alter" (no pun intended) the word with a Honey Bee Picture and then the word "itch" attached. But hey, people sure do remember my business name.

[Satz Nadkarni]

Hi Jennifer,

Have you found a name yet? I like the name Mantra. Maybe I could come up with some more on those lines (if you're still looking).

Cheers,
Satz

[Alison Fraser]

People react well to my company name- The Better Idea. It's memorable and a great name to answer the phone with. Who doesn't want The Better Idea anyway? I spent 2 hours coming up with it because the name I wanted wasn't available-some dumb luck. I bill myself as a marketing consultant- I too think brand is abused as a term.

How about The New Perspective. The domain is taken, but inactive.

[Bob Watkins]

The word that comes to mind from your description is Parallax. Dictionary.com describes it as "An apparent change in the direction of an object, caused by a change in observational position that provides a new line of sight." I'm sure there are a bagillion Parallaxes out there, but perhaps combined with Strategy or some other word that's more descriptive of what you do, it might work.

[jennifer rice]

maybe I used the wrong terminology; there isn't a US Highway 39... see http://www.us-highways.com/us1830.htm#04

[Pedant]

I'm sure people in Wisconsin and Illinois will be intrigued to know there was never an interstate highway 39.

http://shorl.com/dyjetresefromy (mapquest)

[Dan Alsip]

Jennifer,

I concur with the folks advocating keeping the word "Mantra" in your name.

The effect that causes advertisers to tire of running the same ads over and over, even if they remain successful, may be at work in skewing your perspective on the value that you have in the word "Mantra." You have considerable brand equity in it.

Also, I love Stacey Moore's comment above about how "Mantra" powerfully connects the thought of enlightenment to the "ah-hah" moment you are hoping to spark. I also agree that her tactic of supplanting "Brand Communications" with something that has more room to grow could be a good change, although I do think your existing name still works well also. You could become Mantra Brand Strategies and still keep your URL.

"Mantra Moment" is my only other suggestion for a name change. It has the benefit of repetition with two "M" words (Mantra Marketing is already taken).

MantraMoment.com is available (as of 11pm EST June 15, 2004 per Register.com). Also, there are no exact matches in the US Trademark database.

Lastly, company names that include words like Mantra, that are evocative of their positioning, seem to be more likely of being stronger brand names, as evidenced in materials like the Igor naming guide mentioned above.

Best of luck,
Dan

[Robert Paterson]

Jennifer
Are YOU not your brand? It is surely YOU that people want.

My own company, Renewal Consulting has been around for nearly 10 years now. I never get work as a consequence of the brand name - though I think that it is a good one. People recommend and hire "Rob".

Those of us that "see" the world differently all "sell" perspectives.

I join the voices that suggest that you probably do not have to change anything but to become more of whom you are
best wishes Rob

[David St Lawrence]

Reposted without spelling errors:
Abnu and Ilkka made comments that resonate with me. There is much brand equity in your Mantra name.

Why not keep Mantra as part of your new name? It could be gracefully presented as a transformation of the basic ideas of Mantra Brand Communications to a higher level.

Mantra Strategy is not on Google yet... :)

[David St Lawrence]

Abnu and Illka made comments that resonate with me. There is much brand equity in your Mantra name.

Why not keep Mantra as part of your new name? It could be gracefully presented as a transformation of the basic ideas if Mantra Brand Communications to a higher level.

Mantra Strategy is not on Goolgle yet... :)

[Tom Asacker]

Hi Jennifer:

It always interests me how choosing a name becomes an obsessive activity for most entrepreneurs and small business owners. Why do you think that's so? Because it is a critical element of their eventual success?

I can't think of many names that are less inspiring and defining than Wal-Mart, Yahoo, Google, Dell, Nokia, Toyota, Budweiser, Morgan Stanley, IBM, SAP, Harley-Davidson, etc.

I'd simply choose a short word which rolls off one's tongue, and build meaning into it by being passionately focused on your customers and their dreams. After all . . . "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Good luck and stay passionate!

Tom

[Richard]

Further to the interesting and insightful comments on your current use of the word "Mantra", perhaps a new name which retains that word could be something like "Praying Mantras" - the double-sided internal/external metaphor being (1) an organisation's brand as focal point and (2) an organisation's brand becoming or embodying something which attracts or generates something akin to consumer worship.

[Stacey Moore]

Consider how perfect the mantra metaphor is for your new positioning strategy...

You said: "The part of my job that really jazzes me is bringing completely new perspectives to the client and catalyzing an "ah hah" moment."

Through your process of "customer strategy consulting", you are mining for and discovering mantras (customer-centric statements of truth); when these mantras are used as a point-of-focus, the client experiences shifts in consciousness (perspective), ultimately achieving enlightenment (ah hah!).

Metaphor just doesn't get much better than that!

Consider keeping "Mantra" (and its equity) and replacing "Brand Communications" with something more malleable -- something that will outlast even your future evolutions beyond "customer strategy consulting". Further, consider embedding the mantra concept more deeply into your identity -- possibly retooling "The 4D Brand" to become "The Four Mantras...", etc.

[Wordlab]

Jennifer,

Not long ago, this was posted on Wordlab:Building the Perfect Beast: Everything you've always wanted to know about naming companies or products but were afraid to ask. Igor has just completed The Igor Naming Guide, a document that combines many pages from the Igor website into one handy guide.I hope that helps you.

Regards,

Abnu

[kirsten]

hi jen:

Gotcha a short list of 20 names from our team of women associates. Call me when you have time.

p.s. about rice
Rice, like other grains, consists of three parts: the outer bran, the starchy endospern which makes up the bulk of the grain, and the germ, or heart. The bran and germ are the parts of the grain that provide the nutrition, and these are the parts that are removed in the process of refining the brown rice to white rice. White rice has an advantage over brown rice - it is resistant to insect infestation. It has so little nutrition even bugs aren't interested. There is nothing much in white rice, or in any refined grain such as white wheat flour, that would interest our cells either. The nutritious part, the bran, is Risotriene.

[Wordlab]

Jennifer,

Ilkka has a point. There's brand equity in your Mantra moniker. Why not keep Mantra for your name? You could use www.mantralab.com and www.mantralabs.com for URLs. You could morph the blog title into "What's Your Mantra?" That gets you off the big bad "brand" word, but keeps you on strategy!

Cheers,

Abnu

[Ilkka Huotari]

I really liked the Brand Mantra though. It was one of the reasons this blog caught my interest. Yes, a blog and business don't have to have things in common, but anyway - for a person who didn't know much about marketing (me), Brand Mantra seemed to be something which would solve all the problems :-)

Maybe the Mantra word is what is appealing in the name, could you use that somehow? Zen fer ...

[Wordlab]

Jennifer,

It's hard to find the best time to rename a going concern. Especially a concern that's going great, as it is.

For you, though, there might not be a better time than 2004, the International Year of Rice.

That said, we'd look for a new name for you that draws upon the significance of rice as the essential ingredient.

Jambalaya is the name we'd recommend. There are many appropriate URLs still available for this name, should you choose it for your brand.

Jambalaya is a great word. It rolls off the tongue. It's intriguing. It's spicy. It's mouth-watering. A tasty American dish, based on rice, that can include as many different ingredients as a chef might find appropriate for the occasion. Jambalaya is a word that has entered the language as a noun meaning: "a mixture of diverse elements" according to Merriam-Webster.

All the best,

Abnu

[David St Lawrence]

Jennifer,

I feel this is like bringing coals to Newcastle. You have forgotten more about branding than most of us know.

Don't get too complex. Either there is a need out there that you can satisfy or there isn't. Once you have a real focus on the need and have talked with some potential clients, you should have a better idea of the promise that these people are looking for and what kind of authority figure you have to be in order to have them listen to you. At that point, it sounds like a branding problem to me and I know who can solve that problem! :)

You epitomize the higher end of the micro-business spectrum I am writing about, but you might find some useful inspiration in my recent posts.

Good luck!

[Adam]

Hmmm... I like Richard's idea, but I would go with just "Chameleon". It has all the aforementioned qualities, and is a bit more elusive (in a good way, to my thinking).

Or you could pay off William Gibson and go with "Pattern Recognition." :)

[Damon]

SlantSpective
GazeWorks
Insightive
ScopeFocus
Regaze
SightWarp
übersight (über is german for over, above, super)
VoyezWorks (French for sight according to babelfish)
PerspektiveWerks

[Richard]

This is probably pretty left field, but what about:

Chameleon(ic) Consulting

(The chameleon is an amazing creature, being able to change colour as a means of communication and in response to temperature, light and mood - perspective, perspective, perspective; they are unique among lizards for having pincer feet (enabling them to grasp things) - what you do - asking the right questions; they have an amazing curled up tongue with which to rapidly snap up their prey - can be twice as long as their body) - metaphor for hidden strength?; and they have independently moveable eyes which allow them to survey the world with nearly 360-degree vision - again, perspective. Perhaps some relevant metaphors? One could imagine some beautiful design work with photos of a chameleon.)

P.S. Needless to say, there may be others monitoring your site for names which they might grab and register first. So if you read something you like, better whip off the comment a.s.a.p.

[Chris Lawer]

Jennifer, it seems we will be in much the same space.. bringing new perspectives on creating / delivering customer value is of course my big thing too. How about The OMC Group (US)?!! I'll put my thinking cap for a name as well...

[Derek Woolverton]

putting these kind of ideas into words is always a fun challenge. don't have anything yet, but I'm trying to get a handle on the real value you provide. its not an outside perspective, execs could get that from anyone; and its not just talking to the customer; its about helping companies align themselves with their customers, discovering core truths about their markets, and casting off distractions.

still, throwing words about, my scratch paper ended up with: deep thoughts, breaking the box, outside in, idea discovery, strategy alignment, and true perspectives.

[adrian woodliffe]

jennifer

being a brand consultant in new zealand (i see you have allaboutbranding.com as a link) i empathise with your conundrum. am going thru a bit of re-engineering myself. a couple of things that i felt were pivotal in your article re help on naming:

1. multiple facets
2. new space

while you mentioned a little about business premise i didn't really get sense of what your value proposition is or your real differential.

will keep thinking. not an easy one. i personally feel it may well be a contrived name that works. or something as aspirational as highway 39

[Peter Caputa]

I'll be thinking about it for you. However, rather than just guessing, you could actually put some science and methodolgy behind the name. Here is some diy taxonomy stuff.