When Bad Names Happen to Good Companies.

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.”

William Shakespeare -- Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

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You have an idea, you have the ambition, you have the time, and most importantly, you have the funding.

Now all you have to do is come up with a simple, but easy to recall name for your new business venture or product. Easy right?

Wrong.

Never in the history of marketing, branding, advertising or design has the naming convention game been more important or more difficult. The major hurdle that you will deal with won't be with your business or product’s name. It will be with your business or product’s domain name. And if you know anything about branding or brand identity you'll probably want the two names to match.

Just for kicks and giggles, enter a name or product you may have been mulling over into one of the various internet "WhoIs" search forms. (Okay, I'll make it easy on you as we both know you're a very busy entrepreneur; try this link:
http://www.internic.net/whois.html . Go ahead, type it in, no one is looking.

Oh, too bad! If your business or product wasn't named after, hmm, let's say a blend of 37th century B.C. Sumerian cheeses, chances are high it was already taken. In fact, last I checked, I think every word or letter in the previous sentence was already taken.

That doesn't leave you with a whole lot of wiggle room when naming your new 21st century business baby, but don't get discouraged. With the strategic thought and creative care of a professional team at your helm, the letters will all fall into place. Just like apple, adobe, windows, amazon, google, vonage, skype, viagra, zyrtec, vioxx and xanax.

And no, I'm not picking on the big pharmaceuticals. It's just that, unlike Sumerian, the Klingon language should stay where it belongs.

Gary LoBue Jr / Art Director / The Russo Group

ps: ga-àr-ra: a powdered or finely grated Sumerian cheese ('milk' + 'to grind'); gaarra.com: a product, company and domain name that's just raring to go --