What's in a name?

Choosing a name for your company can be one of the most important business decisions you'll make. Left to whim you could wake up one day and realize your company stands for nothing, or worse, stands for something you no longer do. It's important to take time with choosing a new name. Think about what it is your company does or will do, what you'd like it to mature in to, who your customers are and what will resonate with them. The more thought that's put in to the selection, the better the name will be.

In the A/E/C world many choose to go with the name(s) of the firms' founders and/or principals, it personifies the company and allows clients to put a face with the name, that is until the founder retires, moves on, etc. and the name no longer reflects the evolving persona of the company...Other companies incorporate its activity into its name - Burger King (they make burgers), Finagle a Bagel (bagels), Whole Foods (food), etc. and still others are made up names that at one time made no sense, but in no time at all became synonymous with an action - Google.

Thinking up company and product names and developing the brand identities to support them and carry them can be one of the most rewarding marketing activities around. It's an activity filled with creativity, new beginnings and hope. And it's the perfect activity to start off a new year.

Free 2009 calendar, one month at a time

After searching for the perfect 2009 calendar to no avail, I decided to start designing my own. If you are also in search of a new calendar, something to help you track the days of the month at a glance, then you're in luck, I'm sharing my designs with you. January is done and ready for printing. At the end of each month I'll post next month's design. Print it out, hang it up and enjoy. Download January 2009 today. The calendar is 5 inches by 7 inches and looks great printed on eco-white card stock from Paper Source.

Stretching the holiday message beyond resonation

As the holidays near the intensity of the "buy this for your loved one" messages are all but tattooed onto everyone's forehead. Some products lend themselves to the messages, toys, flowers, jewelry, food stuffs, etc. Others are a stretch, cars, homes and other pricey ticket items that usually need consensus from your loved one and then there are the "products" which force themselves into the holiday banter, like prostate exams.

Last night while watching TV a commercial came on with an spokesperson decked out in all her holiday glory urging women to "buy" the men in their lives a prostate exam, after all what better way to say I love ALL of you (their words, not mine). I don't deny the importance of prostate exams and men do tend to need urging to get them to the doctors, but positioning it among the holiday cheer is just wrong. I'd say save the message for New Year's resolutions instead. It would resonate more and not make a fir trimmed mockery of the importance of the, sometimes, life-saving exam.