Can you look at a golden Labrador without thinking of Andrex?

» By MichaelMoneyMaker | the 01-29-2010 at 13:00 | 22 views (11 unique) | 1 comment | Report post!

"What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet."
All very well in a Shakespeare play, with poor old Juliet Capulet wondering if she’ll be able to ‘hang out’ with the incompatibly named Romeo Montague. But when it comes to naming a business - does a business by any other name smell as sweet? Should you spend a lifetime coming up with the most original name you can
imagine?
Simple answer – NO.
Who would have thought Shakespeare applied to business?
Take your mobile phone...
Would it really make a difference if Orange Mobile were called Red Mobile – if O2 were called O3 – if Samsung were Hamsung?
Not really. The rose would be just as sweet.
But it doesn’t hurt to consider a few points when it comes to naming your business...
Can you look at a golden Labrador without thinking of Andrex?
I received an email from one budding entreprenuer who raised two important issues. The first we dealt with earlier – we found that it’s wrong to not start your business for fear of others ‘stealing’ your idea. I explained how there is no competition, there are only new partners. How by partnering up with those who do use your idea you can reach potential customers you might never have reached otherwise. Now I want to look at the second part of the reader’s email:
“2) The other point is naming the site/service. I think the name is so important, it has to be ‘catchy’ so people are drawn to it, but once established it’s not important for the name to ‘identify’ the product. However, if the name doesn’t establish what the business is, it’s more difficult to get it noticed, i.e. lots of advertising required, therefore higher start up costs etc.”
Here the reader essentially answers his own question... Yes, it helps for a name to be ‘catchy’. No, the name doesn’t always have to be related to the product. Take Andrex toilet tissue. What’s the name 'Andrex' got to do with toilet tissue? Nothing. The name Andrex comes from the mill - St Andrew's in Walthamstow where the toilet tissue was originally produced. But it was only the invention of the Andrex Puppy in 1972 that really made the brand name synonymous with toilet tissue in modern minds. The Andrex puppy is a ‘catchy’ or ‘sticky’ idea. Can you look at a golden Labrador without thinking of Andrex? Probably not.
But in 2004 Andrex moved away from the puppy as a direct advertising tool and introduced the slogan ‘Soft, Strong and Very Long with Tuggable, Huggable Softness’. Apart from the ‘very long’, what do you notice about that slogan? It describes an Andrex puppy! You see the Andrex puppy was an abstract representation of Andrex toilet tissues’ USP – its unique selling point. In 2004 Andrex chose to skip the abstract and just come right out with it. When it comes to naming your business it’s best to try - where possible – to reaffirm your business’ USP. What makes your business different, what makes it stand out from the crowd? If you can capture that you won’t go far wrong... Let’s look at another example closer to home...
This shouldn’t take more that a few minutes: Take this article hopefully shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes to read. I aim to write a article that only takes you a few minutes to read. Meanwhile, I take time to read, research and put into practice all the things we discuss so that I can report them to you and you can use me as a Wealth of information for you. That’s where Health and Wealth comes from. It's for you. It’s easy to remember. And it’s catchy enough. And Health and Wealth really explains that we look at ways to save money, make money and improve your lifestyle. It really captures our USP. And that's what you can do to...
Look under the heading of the article – a slogan to reaffirm that aim: “Your daily guide to escaping the daily grind.” A slogan just like Andrex used. The slogan sums up our aims – to give you ideas and advice on how to save money, make money and improve your lifestyle IS to help you escape the daily grind. So we can see with Andrex and we can see with Health & Wealth, the name itself doesn’t necessarily have to mean a whole lot in relation to the business – Andrex means nothing, Health & Wealth only suggests a Health & Wealth (but to what?) But most importantly the name is simple and easy to remember. At which point you can cheat with a slogan that deals with your businesses USP. As for advertising – with the added advantage of a USP- specific slogan, you can use that as your main thread of advertising. Just make sure that wherever your slogan is – your business’ name is. Over time the two will become synonymous. And as a final thought – do just make sure that you don’t pick a name or slogan that could be read the wrong way!