Monday, December 21, 2009

Don't Name Your New Product "Aciphex"

Say it out loud. It's ridiculous. That is not an area where you really want "effects".

I always wonder, having been in many meetings myself, what the feelings in the conference room were when "Aciphex" was chosen as the new product launch name. Surely at least half the room met in the hall afterward and giggled.

My friend Ruthie has a theory about restaurant successes and failures. She says a restaurant will fail if people are embarassed to say the name of the restaurant to someone they are meeting. Especially if they are meeting there for a first date or a business appointment.

She uses as an example "Fish City Grill". Just say it a few times. It can go very wrong.

We have a restaurant locally which is excellent, but I have yet to hear anyone say the name. The name of it is "Estancia Churrascaria." It's a Brazilian steakhouse and quite delicious. However, this is what people say - "Hey - you want to go to Estancia?" or "We need to go to that Brazilian steakhouse - you know, the one on 290 near Brodie?" or, what I do, "Hey - meet us at Estancia blahbittyblahbittyblah."

Branding has very much to do with a good name. Someone recently observed that the most visited websites in the world right now are single, two-syllable words. Facebook. Twitter. Apple. Google.

A lot of people recently have asked me for help with Etsy, Twitter, Facebook. My best advice is this: Think carefully about your name. Make sure it doesn't limit you to one product, one type of craft, or one person. Martha Stewart is an anomaly. Most businesses need to be bigger than the person that starts them. So choose a word or words that mean something to you. Make sure no one else is using them. Then make sure if you say them out loud they're easy to remember, easy to associate with something about what you do, and that they don't imply that embarassing noises or lights are about to come out of your hiney :)

Anyway, a transition at this point is impossible with that image in your head.

So let's talk about this card. It's not original - I saw this adorable card and decided I would use it for my Christmas Party/customer appreciation Saturday. I wanted to do something everyone could go home and recreate without buying something new, so this punch art card was perfect.It's really simple. The mom's head is the 1 3/8" punch, and the babies have 1" heads. The mom's body is the large oval, and the noses are all hand cut from the small oval. The snow and the mom's nose are with the retired 1/4" circle punch, and the babies' noses are with the 1/8" punch. The baby's body on the right is the 1 1/4" punch. We hand tore the snow and glittered it with dazzling diamonds. The background is Ballet Blue, and I sponged the edges of the bears with Ballet Blue too. All supplies Stampin' Up!

It's sweet, isn't it?

I hope you are having a nice windup to Christmas. Today is the solstice, so we all got a little less sun and a little more time inside with the cookies today. :)

You know what? Make me laugh - since it's Make me Laugh Monday - and I'll send you this card! One rule - the laughs must be holiday themed!!

Loveyameanitbye.

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10 comments:

  1. Love your advice!!! Thanks ever-so-wise one :)

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  2. Cuuuuute bears! Um, I am not feeling very funny today. The only thing I'll say is I have already gained my Christmas 5 by eating all the cookies in sight, and I do not even celebrate the holiday! That is all.

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  3. My 5 year old lost his first tooth a couple of weeks ago, and being the 'good' mom that I am, I made him a tin from the tooth fairy. So... the next day, here's the conversation:
    Him: "Mom, did you make this tin to help the tooth fairy?"
    Me: Yes, I did.
    Him:"Good colouring, mom."
    Heather B

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my gosh, I giggle every time I see that commercial! Who in the world came up with that?!? I agree ... the whole meeting must have been a group disgruntled employees.

    Um, and a laugh ... okay, holiday parade related. My 3 year old was watching a parade with me (I think in July, but let's pretend it's this holiday:) and she asked, "mom, why are they walking so slow? Why don't they RUN?" The visual had me laughing for a while. I want to see that someday ... with commentators, of course.

    Merry Christmas to you!!

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  5. Geez - forget how rediculous the name sounds...think how rediculous it is to replace the symptom with theses other symptoms...Life is tough enough without having to chose "which end is up"!!!!!!!!! "In adolescents, the most common side effects with ACIPHEX include headache, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In adults, the most common side effects with ACIPHEX include pain, sore throat, gas, infection, and constipation. Symptom relief does not rule out other serious stomach conditions."

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  6. Lydia,

    This is too cute! Love it!

    Hugs,

    Lisa Atha

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  7. Oh my gosh, this is sooooo cute!! I didn't have time to add glitter to the snow on my 100 singing reindeer cards so I just put it on the ones to my parents and brother.

    Holiday funny. Hmmm. Have you seen the Jose Cuervo cookie recipe going around? Not new but still funny. Then there are the pictures of my crazy dog in the ~18 inches of snow we got Friday night/Saturday/Sunday morning. They are seasonal if not holiday, lol.

    Hugs, Theresa

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  8. If you have a moment, please go to this link and see the beautiful story of the kitty that was lost for 11 days...its a tear jerker...thanks, Liz Thogersen

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/with-two-broken-legs-missing-cats-painful-odyssey-leads-him-home/1060599

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  9. I'm still laughing (inside my head) about Fish City Grill. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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