#Mae Sperry

[ronancapili]

Sperry Resort Collection

Shoot Coordinators for brand: Sam Guison & Von Villanueva Models: Juan Daniel Souffront & Anna Clara Barcante HMUA: Nina Mae Catalan & Camille Cancio Fashion Styling: Jecho Dionisio

[wutbju]

Richard Walter Teskey, age 91, of Oakdale, Minnesota passed away on April 26, 2023.

He was born on April 25, 1932 in Blue Earth, Minnesota to Walter and Mae Teskey. He attended Bethany College from 1950 to 1952. He enlisted in the US Navy in 1952 and served as an electronics technician, ET3, aboard the USS St. Paul until 1956. He attended Bob Jones University from 1957 to 1958 and then enrolled at the University of Iowa. In 1959 he married Ann Kielsmeier. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor's and Master's in Business Administration in 1961. He worked at Ford Motor Company, Warner Electric Brake, Sperry UNIVAC, Cardiac Pacemakers, Physical Electronics, Trane, and then was self-employed as a manufacturer's representative.

He enjoyed volunteering for many years with Kiwanis and Key Club. Dick loved sports, playing cribbage and scrabble, and spending time at the lake cabin. He also enjoyed writing poetry, and many will remember his amusing annual Christmas letter poems. He was an active member of Faith Christian Reformed Church for many decades where he served as an Elder and enjoyed innumerable friendships as a result.

Richard was preceded in death by his wife, Ann; they were married for 61 years until her death in 2020. He was also preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Larry. He is survived by his children, Gary, Julie (Frank) Papatheofanis and Wendy (Tom) Krahn. He is also survived by his brother David, and by 8 grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Monday, May 15 at 9:30 AM at Faith Christian Reformed Church, New Brighton with a visitation a half hour prior to the service. Reception to follow the service. Interment will be held at Fort Snelling National Cemetery at 1:00 PM. Arrangements are being completed by Starkson Family Life Celebration Chapel of Hastings.

[brandonraykirk]

Gill News 04.05.1923

Community news for #Gill, #WestVirginia in 1923. #LincolnCounty #history #genealogy #Appalachia

“Reporter,” a local correspondent from Gill in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Lincoln Republican printed on Thursday, April 5, 1923:

Prof. Lee Adkins, of near Palermo, has just closed a successful singing school here, and is going to teach another one in the near future.

There is a lot of sickness in this neighborhood.

The Sunday school has opened up at this…

[glenmenlow]

How to Name a Startup: The Crash Course

An important first step is creating a job description for your name. What are its most important duties? The most common decision is that a name should explain to the world what business you are in or what your product does. Intuition dictates that this will save you the time and money of explaining it, which actually turns out not to be true. Why not?

The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support, which, when you think about it, is impossible. The name will appear on a website, a store front, in a news article or press release, on a business card, on the product itself, in advertisements, or, at its most naked, in a conversation.

There is simply no imaginable circumstance in which a name will have to explain itself. This is fortunate, because having a descriptive name is actually a counterproductive marketing move which requires an enormous amount of effort to overcome. A descriptive naming strategy overlooks the fact that the whole point of marketing is to separate yourself from the pack. It actually works against you, causing you to fade into the background, indistinguishable from the bulk of your competitors.

The following is a list of companies in the naming and branding arena. While each of their names describes what they do, you can clearly see the heavy marketing price they pay for such a shortcut:

Brand-DNA (.com) Brand-DNA (.net) DNA Brand Mechanics Brand 2.0 Brand Doctors Brand Equity Brand Evolve Brand Fidelity Brand Institute Brand Mechanics BrandForward Brandico Brandjuice Consulting BrandLadder BrandLink BrandLogic BrandMaverick BrandPeople Brandscope Brandslinger BrandSolutions Brandtrust Name Development Name Sharks Namebase Nameit Namexpress Namelab Namington Naming Systems Namerazor NameSale Namestormers Nametag Nametrade NameQuest Namix Naming Workshop Nomen Namepharm Nomenon Medibrand Absolute Brand Interbrand Building Brands Real Branding Core Brand Futurebrand The Branding Iron Spherical Branding I.D.ENTITY Identity 3.0 Idiom Brighter Naming Corporate Icon Metaphor Megalonamia Wise Name Creating New Names The Name Works ABC Namebank The Naming Company Ivarson Brand Vision Strategic Name Development The Brand Consultancy Lexicon Branding Independent Branding TradingBrands The Better Branding Company Not Just Any Branding

There are three pieces of advice that will serve you well in avoiding a similar dilemma:

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: There are competitors–the idea is to distinguish yourself. Business is a competitive sport.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support. This is never true for any business or product.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: When judged without the context of a clear positioning platform and an intimate understanding of how names work and what they can do, the best solutions are either never considered or quickly dismissed.

For example, any one of the following intuitive concerns could have been enough to keep these powerful names from ever seeing the light of day:

Virgin

Says “we’re new at this”

Public wants airlines to be experienced, safe and professional

Investors won’t take us seriously

Religious people will be offended

lululemon

We are an upscale brand for women.

lululemon sounds like a character from a 3-year olds’ picture book: “lululemon and her best friends annabanana and sallystrawberry were climbing Gumdrop Hill, when suddenly from behind a rainbow the queen of the unicorns appeared…”

Slack

In business, Slack means “characterized by a lack of work or activity; quiet”

A Slacker is someone who works as little as possible. A terrible message for our target audience

Slack means slow, sluggish, or indolent, not active or busy; dull; not brisk. Moving very slowly, as the tide, wind, or water. Neglect, reduce, tardy

Hotwire

It has one meaning, “to steal a car!”

Crime is the last thing we need to be associated with

Oracle

Unscientific

Unreliable

Only foretold death and destruction

Only fools put their faith in an Oracle

Sounds like “orifice”–people will make fun of us

As you can well imagine, this kind of negative deconstruction is at the root of why a committee can’t agree on a non-descriptive name that has any meaning. It’s also what gave birth to the second major school of bad naming: the “unique empty vessel” that “can become whatever you want.” Here are some of the victims:

Acquient, Agilent, Alliant, Aquent, Aspirient, Aviant, Axent, Axient, Bizient, Candescent, Cendant, Cerent, Chordiant, Clarent, Comergent, Conexant, Consilient, Cotelligent, Equant, Ixtant, Livent, Luminant, Mergent, Mirant, Navigant, Naviant, Noviant, Novient, Omnient, Ravisent, Sapient, Scient, Sequant, Spirent, Taligent, Teligent, Thrivent, Versant, Versent, Viant, Vitalent and Vivient.

As with the descriptive list, these names are not part of an elegant solution, they are the seeds of a branding nightmare. This type of name is arrived at because of the lust for a domain name, consensus building and as a shortcut to trademark approval. At some point in the process marketing left the room, and nobody seemed to notice. And while they may technically be unique, it’s at the level of a snowflake in a snow bank.

The third type of name is the evocative name. These include the aforementioned Apple, Stingray, Oracle, Virgin, Yahoo etc. While everyone respects evocative naming when done well, most corporations don’t go down this road because it’s the toughest to understand and execute.

On a very fundamental level, here are the basic ingredients of the best evocative names:

Differentiate

A competitive analysis is an essential first step. How are your competitors positioning themselves? What types of names are common among them? Are they all projecting a similar attitude? Do their similarities offer you a huge opportunity to stand out from the crowd?

Apple needed to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by the other computer companies at the time who had names like IBM, NEC, DEC, ADPAC, Cincom, Dylakor, Input, Integral Systems, Sperry Rand, SAP, PSDI, Syncsort, and Tesseract.

They needed to reverse the entrenched view of computers in order to get people to use them at home. They were looking for a name that was not like a traditional computer company, and supported a Positioning Strategy that was to be perceived as simple, warm, human, approachable and different.

Positioning

The next step is to carefully define your positioning. The idea is to position yourself in a way that rings true in a fresh way–that cuts through all of the noise out there. The goal is to have your audience personalize the experience of your brand, to make an emotional connection with it, and ultimately to take you in. To redefine and own the territory.

One of most important things that the best of the best brands accomplish is to be thought of as greater than the goods and services offered, to create an aspiration. Nike’s “Just Do It’ helps them rise above selling sneakers. Apple’s “Think Different” is bigger than computers. Fannie Mae’s “We’re in the American Dream Business” elevates them from mere mortgage brokers.

On a product level, Velveeta, Slinky, Mustang, Snapple, etc., are tapping into something outside of the narrow definition of what it is they do, and are allowing the consumer to make the connection, to personalize the experience. This type of active engagement created by playing off of images that everyone is already carrying around in their heads is an essential ingredient in creating a great name.

From there, a name should contain as many of the following qualities as possible. The more of them that are present, the more powerful the name:

SELF-PROPELLING

A name that people will talk about.

A name that works its way through the world on its own.

A name that’s a story in itself, whether it’s at the local bar, on the job, or on CNBC.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

What does the name suggest?

Does it make you feel good?

Does it make you smile?

Does it lock into your brain?

Does it make you want to know more?

POETRY

How does the name physically look and sound?

How does it roll off the tongue?

How much internal electricity does it have?

How does it sound the millionth time?

Will people remember it?

PERSONALITY

Does the name have attitude?

Does it exude qualities like confidence, mystery, presence, warmth, and a sense of humor?

Is it provocative, engaging?

Is it a tough act to follow?

DEEP WELL

Is the name a constant source of inspiration for advertising and marketing?

Does it have “legs”?

Does it work on a lot of different levels?

The key is to step outside the box that the industry – any industry – has drawn for itself, and to do it in a fresh way that hits home with the audience. To accomplish this, it is necessary to think about names in this fashion:

Slack

Positioning: naming the problem we solve!

Qualities: confident, different, focused on solving the target’s problem.

Hotwire

Qualities: Exciting, different, memorable, viral

Virgin

Positioning: different, confident, exciting, alive human, provocative, fun. The innovative name forces people to create a separate box in their head to put it in.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

Oracle

Positioning: different, confident, superhuman, evocative, powerful, forward thinking.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

These are the qualities that separate a potent, evocative name from a useless one that is built without a considered positioning platform, such as BlueMartini or FatBrain. Random names like these disallow audience engagement, because there are no pathways between the image and the product–there is no connection to be made.

from WordPress https://glenmenlow.wordpress.com/2019/01/10/how-to-name-a-startup-the-crash-course-4/ via IFTTT

[markjsousa]

How to Name a Startup: The Crash Course

An important first step is creating a job description for your name. What are its most important duties? The most common decision is that a name should explain to the world what business you are in or what your product does. Intuition dictates that this will save you the time and money of explaining it, which actually turns out not to be true. Why not?

The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support, which, when you think about it, is impossible. The name will appear on a website, a store front, in a news article or press release, on a business card, on the product itself, in advertisements, or, at its most naked, in a conversation.

There is simply no imaginable circumstance in which a name will have to explain itself. This is fortunate, because having a descriptive name is actually a counterproductive marketing move which requires an enormous amount of effort to overcome. A descriptive naming strategy overlooks the fact that the whole point of marketing is to separate yourself from the pack. It actually works against you, causing you to fade into the background, indistinguishable from the bulk of your competitors.

The following is a list of companies in the naming and branding arena. While each of their names describes what they do, you can clearly see the heavy marketing price they pay for such a shortcut:

Brand-DNA (.com) Brand-DNA (.net) DNA Brand Mechanics Brand 2.0 Brand Doctors Brand Equity Brand Evolve Brand Fidelity Brand Institute Brand Mechanics BrandForwardBrandico Brandjuice Consulting BrandLadder BrandLink BrandLogic BrandMaverick BrandPeople Brandscope Brandslinger BrandSolutions BrandtrustName Development Name Sharks Namebase Nameit Namexpress Namelab Namington Naming SystemsNamerazor NameSale Namestormers Nametag Nametrade NameQuest Namix Naming WorkshopNomen NamepharmNomenon MedibrandAbsolute Brand Interbrand Building Brands Real BrandingCore Brand Futurebrand The Branding Iron Spherical BrandingI.D.ENTITYIdentity 3.0Idiom Brighter Naming Corporate IconMetaphor Megalonamia Wise NameCreating New Names The Name WorksABC Namebank The Naming CompanyIvarson Brand VisionStrategic Name DevelopmentThe Brand ConsultancyLexicon BrandingIndependent BrandingTradingBrandsThe Better Branding CompanyNot Just Any Branding

There are three pieces of advice that will serve you well in avoiding a similar dilemma:

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: There are competitors–the idea is to distinguish yourself. Business is a competitive sport.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support. This is never true for any business or product.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: When judged without the context of a clear positioning platform and an intimate understanding of how names work and what they can do, the best solutions are either never considered or quickly dismissed.

For example, any one of the following intuitive concerns could have been enough to keep these powerful names from ever seeing the light of day:

Virgin

Says “we’re new at this”

Public wants airlines to be experienced, safe and professional

Investors won’t take us seriously

Religious people will be offended

lululemon

We are an upscale brand for women.

lululemon sounds like a character from a 3-year olds’ picture book: “lululemon and her best friends annabanana and sallystrawberry were climbing Gumdrop Hill, when suddenly from behind a rainbow the queen of the unicorns appeared…”

Slack

In business, Slack means “characterized by a lack of work or activity; quiet”

A Slacker is someone who works as little as possible. A terrible message for our target audience

Slack means slow, sluggish, or indolent, not active or busy; dull; not brisk. Moving very slowly, as the tide, wind, or water. Neglect, reduce, tardy

Hotwire

It has one meaning, “to steal a car!”

Crime is the last thing we need to be associated with

Oracle

Unscientific

Unreliable

Only foretold death and destruction

Only fools put their faith in an Oracle

Sounds like “orifice”–people will make fun of us

As you can well imagine, this kind of negative deconstruction is at the root of why a committee can’t agree on a non-descriptive name that has any meaning. It’s also what gave birth to the second major school of bad naming: the “unique empty vessel” that “can become whatever you want.” Here are some of the victims:

Acquient, Agilent, Alliant, Aquent, Aspirient, Aviant, Axent, Axient, Bizient, Candescent, Cendant, Cerent, Chordiant, Clarent, Comergent, Conexant, Consilient, Cotelligent, Equant, Ixtant, Livent, Luminant, Mergent, Mirant, Navigant, Naviant, Noviant, Novient, Omnient, Ravisent, Sapient, Scient, Sequant, Spirent, Taligent, Teligent, Thrivent, Versant, Versent, Viant, Vitalent and Vivient.

As with the descriptive list, these names are not part of an elegant solution, they are the seeds of a branding nightmare. This type of name is arrived at because of the lust for a domain name, consensus building and as a shortcut to trademark approval. At some point in the process marketing left the room, and nobody seemed to notice. And while they may technically be unique, it’s at the level of a snowflake in a snow bank.

The third type of name is the evocative name. These include the aforementioned Apple, Stingray, Oracle, Virgin, Yahoo etc. While everyone respects evocative naming when done well, most corporations don’t go down this road because it’s the toughest to understand and execute.

On a very fundamental level, here are the basic ingredients of the best evocative names:

Differentiate

A competitive analysis is an essential first step. How are your competitors positioning themselves? What types of names are common among them? Are they all projecting a similar attitude? Do their similarities offer you a huge opportunity to stand out from the crowd?

Apple needed to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by the other computer companies at the time who had names like IBM, NEC, DEC, ADPAC, Cincom, Dylakor, Input, Integral Systems, Sperry Rand, SAP, PSDI, Syncsort, and Tesseract.

They needed to reverse the entrenched view of computers in order to get people to use them at home. They were looking for a name that was not like a traditional computer company, and supported a Positioning Strategy that was to be perceived as simple, warm, human, approachable and different.

Positioning

The next step is to carefully define your positioning. The idea is to position yourself in a way that rings true in a fresh way–that cuts through all of the noise out there. The goal is to have your audience personalize the experience of your brand, to make an emotional connection with it, and ultimately to take you in. To redefine and own the territory.

One of most important things that the best of the best brands accomplish is to be thought of as greater than the goods and services offered, to create an aspiration. Nike’s “Just Do It’ helps them rise above selling sneakers. Apple’s “Think Different” is bigger than computers. Fannie Mae’s “We’re in the American Dream Business” elevates them from mere mortgage brokers.

On a product level, Velveeta, Slinky, Mustang, Snapple, etc., are tapping into something outside of the narrow definition of what it is they do, and are allowing the consumer to make the connection, to personalize the experience. This type of active engagement created by playing off of images that everyone is already carrying around in their heads is an essential ingredient in creating a great name.

From there, a name should contain as many of the following qualities as possible. The more of them that are present, the more powerful the name:

SELF-PROPELLING

A name that people will talk about.

A name that works its way through the world on its own.

A name that’s a story in itself, whether it’s at the local bar, on the job, or on CNBC.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

What does the name suggest?

Does it make you feel good?

Does it make you smile?

Does it lock into your brain?

Does it make you want to know more?

POETRY

How does the name physically look and sound?

How does it roll off the tongue?

How much internal electricity does it have?

How does it sound the millionth time?

Will people remember it?

PERSONALITY

Does the name have attitude?

Does it exude qualities like confidence, mystery, presence, warmth, and a sense of humor?

Is it provocative, engaging?

Is it a tough act to follow?

DEEP WELL

Is the name a constant source of inspiration for advertising and marketing?

Does it have “legs”?

Does it work on a lot of different levels?

The key is to step outside the box that the industry – any industry – has drawn for itself, and to do it in a fresh way that hits home with the audience. To accomplish this, it is necessary to think about names in this fashion:

Slack

Positioning: naming the problem we solve!

Qualities: confident, different, focused on solving the target’s problem.

Hotwire

Qualities: Exciting, different, memorable, viral

Virgin

Positioning: different, confident, exciting, alive human, provocative, fun. The innovative name forces people to create a separate box in their head to put it in.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

Oracle

Positioning: different, confident, superhuman, evocative, powerful, forward thinking.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

These are the qualities that separate a potent, evocative name from a useless one that is built without a considered positioning platform, such as BlueMartini or FatBrain. Random names like these disallow audience engagement, because there are no pathways between the image and the product–there is no connection to be made.

[joejstrickl]

How to Name a Startup: The Crash Course

An important first step is creating a job description for your name. What are its most important duties? The most common decision is that a name should explain to the world what business you are in or what your product does. Intuition dictates that this will save you the time and money of explaining it, which actually turns out not to be true. Why not?

The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support, which, when you think about it, is impossible. The name will appear on a website, a store front, in a news article or press release, on a business card, on the product itself, in advertisements, or, at its most naked, in a conversation.

There is simply no imaginable circumstance in which a name will have to explain itself. This is fortunate, because having a descriptive name is actually a counterproductive marketing move which requires an enormous amount of effort to overcome. A descriptive naming strategy overlooks the fact that the whole point of marketing is to separate yourself from the pack. It actually works against you, causing you to fade into the background, indistinguishable from the bulk of your competitors.

The following is a list of companies in the naming and branding arena. While each of their names describes what they do, you can clearly see the heavy marketing price they pay for such a shortcut:

Brand-DNA (.com) Brand-DNA (.net) DNA Brand Mechanics Brand 2.0 Brand Doctors Brand Equity Brand Evolve Brand Fidelity Brand Institute Brand Mechanics BrandForwardBrandico Brandjuice Consulting BrandLadder BrandLink BrandLogic BrandMaverick BrandPeople Brandscope Brandslinger BrandSolutions BrandtrustName Development Name Sharks Namebase Nameit Namexpress Namelab Namington Naming SystemsNamerazor NameSale Namestormers Nametag Nametrade NameQuest Namix Naming WorkshopNomen NamepharmNomenon MedibrandAbsolute Brand Interbrand Building Brands Real BrandingCore Brand Futurebrand The Branding Iron Spherical BrandingI.D.ENTITYIdentity 3.0Idiom Brighter Naming Corporate IconMetaphor Megalonamia Wise NameCreating New Names The Name WorksABC Namebank The Naming CompanyIvarson Brand VisionStrategic Name DevelopmentThe Brand ConsultancyLexicon BrandingIndependent BrandingTradingBrandsThe Better Branding CompanyNot Just Any Branding

There are three pieces of advice that will serve you well in avoiding a similar dilemma:

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: There are competitors–the idea is to distinguish yourself. Business is a competitive sport.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support. This is never true for any business or product.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: When judged without the context of a clear positioning platform and an intimate understanding of how names work and what they can do, the best solutions are either never considered or quickly dismissed.

For example, any one of the following intuitive concerns could have been enough to keep these powerful names from ever seeing the light of day:

Virgin

Says “we’re new at this”

Public wants airlines to be experienced, safe and professional

Investors won’t take us seriously

Religious people will be offended

lululemon

We are an upscale brand for women.

lululemon sounds like a character from a 3-year olds’ picture book: “lululemon and her best friends annabanana and sallystrawberry were climbing Gumdrop Hill, when suddenly from behind a rainbow the queen of the unicorns appeared…”

Slack

In business, Slack means “characterized by a lack of work or activity; quiet”

A Slacker is someone who works as little as possible. A terrible message for our target audience

Slack means slow, sluggish, or indolent, not active or busy; dull; not brisk. Moving very slowly, as the tide, wind, or water. Neglect, reduce, tardy

Hotwire

It has one meaning, “to steal a car!”

Crime is the last thing we need to be associated with

Oracle

Unscientific

Unreliable

Only foretold death and destruction

Only fools put their faith in an Oracle

Sounds like “orifice”–people will make fun of us

As you can well imagine, this kind of negative deconstruction is at the root of why a committee can’t agree on a non-descriptive name that has any meaning. It’s also what gave birth to the second major school of bad naming: the “unique empty vessel” that “can become whatever you want.” Here are some of the victims:

Acquient, Agilent, Alliant, Aquent, Aspirient, Aviant, Axent, Axient, Bizient, Candescent, Cendant, Cerent, Chordiant, Clarent, Comergent, Conexant, Consilient, Cotelligent, Equant, Ixtant, Livent, Luminant, Mergent, Mirant, Navigant, Naviant, Noviant, Novient, Omnient, Ravisent, Sapient, Scient, Sequant, Spirent, Taligent, Teligent, Thrivent, Versant, Versent, Viant, Vitalent and Vivient.

As with the descriptive list, these names are not part of an elegant solution, they are the seeds of a branding nightmare. This type of name is arrived at because of the lust for a domain name, consensus building and as a shortcut to trademark approval. At some point in the process marketing left the room, and nobody seemed to notice. And while they may technically be unique, it’s at the level of a snowflake in a snow bank.

The third type of name is the evocative name. These include the aforementioned Apple, Stingray, Oracle, Virgin, Yahoo etc. While everyone respects evocative naming when done well, most corporations don’t go down this road because it’s the toughest to understand and execute.

On a very fundamental level, here are the basic ingredients of the best evocative names:

Differentiate

A competitive analysis is an essential first step. How are your competitors positioning themselves? What types of names are common among them? Are they all projecting a similar attitude? Do their similarities offer you a huge opportunity to stand out from the crowd?

Apple needed to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by the other computer companies at the time who had names like IBM, NEC, DEC, ADPAC, Cincom, Dylakor, Input, Integral Systems, Sperry Rand, SAP, PSDI, Syncsort, and Tesseract.

They needed to reverse the entrenched view of computers in order to get people to use them at home. They were looking for a name that was not like a traditional computer company, and supported a Positioning Strategy that was to be perceived as simple, warm, human, approachable and different.

Positioning

The next step is to carefully define your positioning. The idea is to position yourself in a way that rings true in a fresh way–that cuts through all of the noise out there. The goal is to have your audience personalize the experience of your brand, to make an emotional connection with it, and ultimately to take you in. To redefine and own the territory.

One of most important things that the best of the best brands accomplish is to be thought of as greater than the goods and services offered, to create an aspiration. Nike’s “Just Do It’ helps them rise above selling sneakers. Apple’s “Think Different” is bigger than computers. Fannie Mae’s “We’re in the American Dream Business” elevates them from mere mortgage brokers.

On a product level, Velveeta, Slinky, Mustang, Snapple, etc., are tapping into something outside of the narrow definition of what it is they do, and are allowing the consumer to make the connection, to personalize the experience. This type of active engagement created by playing off of images that everyone is already carrying around in their heads is an essential ingredient in creating a great name.

From there, a name should contain as many of the following qualities as possible. The more of them that are present, the more powerful the name:

SELF-PROPELLING

A name that people will talk about.

A name that works its way through the world on its own.

A name that’s a story in itself, whether it’s at the local bar, on the job, or on CNBC.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

What does the name suggest?

Does it make you feel good?

Does it make you smile?

Does it lock into your brain?

Does it make you want to know more?

POETRY

How does the name physically look and sound?

How does it roll off the tongue?

How much internal electricity does it have?

How does it sound the millionth time?

Will people remember it?

PERSONALITY

Does the name have attitude?

Does it exude qualities like confidence, mystery, presence, warmth, and a sense of humor?

Is it provocative, engaging?

Is it a tough act to follow?

DEEP WELL

Is the name a constant source of inspiration for advertising and marketing?

Does it have “legs”?

Does it work on a lot of different levels?

The key is to step outside the box that the industry – any industry – has drawn for itself, and to do it in a fresh way that hits home with the audience. To accomplish this, it is necessary to think about names in this fashion:

Slack

Positioning: naming the problem we solve!

Qualities: confident, different, focused on solving the target’s problem.

Hotwire

Qualities: Exciting, different, memorable, viral

Virgin

Positioning: different, confident, exciting, alive human, provocative, fun. The innovative name forces people to create a separate box in their head to put it in.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

Oracle

Positioning: different, confident, superhuman, evocative, powerful, forward thinking.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

These are the qualities that separate a potent, evocative name from a useless one that is built without a considered positioning platform, such as BlueMartini or FatBrain. Random names like these disallow audience engagement, because there are no pathways between the image and the product–there is no connection to be made.

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Cashing in Bitcoin on Real Estate

This post originally appeared on tBL Member, Sperry Van Ness Graham Langlois Legendre's SVN GLL News Blog and is republished with permission. Find out how to syndicate your content with theBrokerList.

It is 2018, the year that cryptocurrency will begin to takeover the world’s payment systems. In my last article, I explained what cryptocurrency is, how to buy it, and some of the hundreds of retailers that use it. In the second half of 2017, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin made incredible increases in price, and those who held it saw a huge payday. Of course, the moguls who have made significant profits from digital currency investment will need a way to cash out and avoid the tax burden. Therefore, we are now seeing several website startups where real estate sellers can list their homes or commercial properties, and buyers can purchase them with cryptocurrency. The sales have already started, and will continue to grow in the real estate market. Either that or the investors will just continue buying Amazon gift cards with Bitcoin profits.

As expected, the easiest way to conduct a sale in digital currency is for the buyer to purchase a property in full, with a seller who prefers to receive payment in cryptocurrency. This has worked well for a real estate developer in Manhattan, Benjamin Shaoul of Magnum Real Estate Group, who has clients who prefer to use Bitcoin over USD. Reasons for this could be due to taxes or the privacy of his clients.

Considering the fact that the majority of real estate buyers need to secure a mortgage in order to purchase a property, they may need to cash out their digital assets for USD in order to use as a down payment. As of today, I could not locate a mortgage company that is willing to take my cryptocurrency as payments. If you’re looking to change careers, “crypto-mortgage” is about to be a booming industry.

New websites dedicated to cryptocurrency-fueled real estate purchases are launching daily, for example, the site bitcoin-realestate.com has nearly four hundred listings in their database that can be purchased with Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Ethereum (ETH).

Purchasing a $415,000 home using Bitcoin Cash (BCH) worked very well for 23-year-old investor, Cary Kuo, of Seattle. Kuo used his earnings that he had made since June 2017 (from a $4500 investment) to fund the 10% downpayment on his home. This was the first cryptocurrency real estate purchase in Washington, and was a learning experience for all parties involved. Both brokers involved as well as the mortgage lender experienced cryptocurrency for the first time in this process. The lender also had confusion on how a paper trail could be traced for the payment, which can be complicated as it is a privacy feature for blockchain asset traders. Guild Mortgage had to consult with Fannie Mae to confirm the legality of the funds, and was given permission, provided Guild could prove the dollar amount processed. In the end, the process was seamless and the sale went through with ease. According to Oleg Tkach, branch manager at Guild Mortgage, as quoted in Seattle Times, “It was just like any typical transaction — people cash in their 401(k)s, or stocks” or other investments, Tkach said. “To me, it makes sense, as long as you can document the purchase of it.”

The irony that people are purchasing the most tangible asset with arguably the least tangible asset can be a shock to those outside of the digital currency space. With the mid-January Bitcoin plummet, you can expect that press will invite new investors in, as well as motivate older investors to take their profits and invest elsewhere. With the rapidly increasing rate of real estate investment by foreign capitalists, particularly those in China, it can be anticipated that the use of cryptocurrency will speed up the process of wiring money out of their country into other markets.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on taxes, the legal system, or finance. I just spend my days watching my crypto-portfolio go up and down, reading crypto news, and participating in crypto forums.

Chase Cangelosi is an Associate Advisor & Marketing at SVN | Graham, Langlois & Legendre and is currently a full-time student at Southeastern Louisiana University, where he is studying Marketing and Economics. Chase specializes in growing businesses through using state-of-the-art marketing tactics to increase property visibility and, in turn, property revenue. He has a special interest in start-ups and small business and can be reached at chase.cangelosi@svn.com.

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[sportsbetting]

Horse Racing Results - 12/18/2017

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[davisgordonc]

How to Name a Company / Product: The Crash Course

An important first step when naming a business, product or service is to figure out just what it is that your new name should be doing for you. The most common decision is that a name should explain to the world what business you are in or what your product does. Intuition dictates that this will save you the time and money of explaining it, which actually turns out not to be true. Why not?

The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support, which, when you think about it, is impossible. The name will appear on a website, a store front, in a news article or press release, on a business card, on the product itself, in advertisements, or, at its most naked, in a conversation.

There is simply no imaginable circumstance in which a name will have to explain itself. This is fortunate, because having a descriptive name is actually a counterproductive marketing move which requires an enormous amount of effort to overcome. A descriptive naming strategy overlooks the fact that the whole point of marketing is to separate yourself from the pack. It actually works against you, causing you to fade into the background, indistinguishable from the bulk of your competitors.

The following is a list of companies in the naming and branding arena. While each of their names describes what they do, you can clearly see the heavy marketing price they pay for such a shortcut:

Brand-DNA (.com) Brand-DNA (.net) DNA Brand Mechanics Brand 2.0 Brand Doctors Brand Equity Brand Evolve Brand Fidelity Brand Institute Brand Mechanics BrandForward Brandico Brandjuice Consulting BrandLadder BrandLink BrandLogic BrandMaverick BrandPeople Brandscope Brandslinger BrandSolutions Brandtrust Name Development Name Sharks Namebase Nameit Namexpress Namelab Namington Naming Systems Namerazor NameSale Namestormers Nametag Nametrade NameQuest Namix Naming Workshop Nomen Namepharm Nomenon Medibrand Absolute Brand Interbrand Building Brands Real Branding Core Brand Futurebrand The Branding Iron Spherical Branding I.D.ENTITY Identity 3.0 Idiom Brighter Naming Corporate Icon Metaphor Megalonamia Wise Name Creating New Names The Name Works ABC Namebank The Naming Company Ivarson Brand Vision Strategic Name Development The Brand Consultancy Lexicon Branding Independent Branding TradingBrands The Better Branding Company Not Just Any Branding

There are three pieces of advice that will serve you well in avoiding a similar dilemma:

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: There are competitors–the idea is to distinguish yourself. Business is a competitive sport.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support. This is never true for any business or product.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: When judged without the context of a clear positioning platform and an intimate understanding of how names work and what they can do, the best solutions are either never considered or quickly dismissed.

For example, any one of the following intuitive concerns could have been enough to keep these powerful names from ever seeing the light of day:

Virgin Airlines

Says “we’re new at this”

Public wants airlines to be experienced, safe and professional

Investors won’t take us seriously

Religious people will be offended

Caterpillar

Tiny, creepy-crawly bug

Not macho enough – easy to squash

Why not “bull” or “workhorse”?

Destroys trees, crops, responsible for famine

Banana Republic

Derogatory cultural slur

You’ll be picketed by people from small, hot countries

Yahoo!

Yahoo!! It’s Mountain Dew!

Yoohoo! It’s a chocolate drink in a can!

Nobody will take stock quotes and world news seriously from a bunch of “Yahoos”

Oracle

Unscientific

Unreliable

Only foretold death and destruction

Only fools put their faith in an Oracle

Sounds like “orifice”–people will make fun of us

The Gap

Means something is missing

The Generation Gap is a bad thing – we want to sell clothes to all generations

In need of repair

Incomplete

Negative

Stingray

A slow, ugly, and dangerous fish–slow, ugly and dangerous are the last qualities we want to associate with our fast, powerful, sexy sports car

The “bottom feeding fish” part isn’t helping either

Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac

I don’t want hillbilly residents of Dogpatch handling my finances.

They don’t sound serious, and this is about a very serious matter.

As you can well imagine, this kind of negative deconstruction is at the root of why a committee can’t agree on a non-descriptive name that has any meaning. It’s also what gave birth to the second major school of bad naming: the “unique empty vessel” that “can become whatever you want.” Here are some of the victims:

Acquient, Agilent, Alliant, Aquent, Aspirient, Aviant, Axent, Axient, Bizient, Candescent, Cendant, Cerent, Chordiant, Clarent, Comergent, Conexant, Consilient, Cotelligent, Equant, Ixtant, Livent, Luminant, Mergent, Mirant, Navigant, Naviant, Noviant, Novient, Omnient, Ravisent, Sapient, Scient, Sequant, Spirent, Taligent, Teligent, Thrivent, Versant, Versent, Viant, Vitalent and Vivient.

As with the descriptive list, these names are not part of an elegant solution, they are the seeds of a branding nightmare. This type of name is arrived at because of the lust for a domain name, consensus building and as a shortcut to trademark approval. At some point in the process marketing left the room, and nobody seemed to notice. And while they may technically be unique, it’s at the level of a snow flake in a snow bank.

The third type of name is the evocative name. These include the aforementioned Apple, Stingray, Oracle, Virgin, Yahoo etc. While everyone respects evocative naming when done well, most corporations don’t go down this road because it’s the toughest to understand and execute.

On a very fundamental level, here are the basic ingredients of the best evocative names:

Differentiate

A competitive analysis is an essential first step. How are your competitors positioning themselves? What types of names are common among them? Are they all projecting a similar attitude? Do their similarities offer you a huge opportunity to stand out from the crowd?

Apple needed to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by the other computer companies at the time who had names like IBM, NEC, DEC, ADPAC, Cincom, Dylakor, Input, Integral Systems, Sperry Rand, SAP, PSDI, Syncsort, and Tesseract.

They needed to reverse the entrenched view of computers in order to get people to use them at home. They were looking for a name that was not like a traditional computer company, and supported a Positioning Strategy that was to be perceived as simple, warm, human, approachable and different.

Positioning

The next step is to carefully define your positioning. The idea is to position yourself in a way that rings true in a fresh way–that cuts through all of the noise out there. The goal is to have your audience personalize the experience of your brand, to make an emotional connection with it, and ultimately to take you in. To redefine and own the territory.

One of most important things that the best of the best brands accomplish is to be thought of as greater than the goods and services offered, to create an aspiration. Nike’s “Just Do It’ helps them rise above selling sneakers. Apple’s “Think Different” is bigger than computers. Fannie Mae’s “We’re in the American Dream Business” elevates them from mere mortgage brokers.

On a product level, Velveeta, Slinky, Mustang, Snapple, etc., are tapping into something outside of the narrow definition of what it is they do, and are allowing the consumer to make the connection, to personalize the experience. This type of active engagement created by playing off of images that everyone is already carrying around in their heads is an essential ingredient in creating a great name.

From there, a name should contain as many of the following qualities as possible. The more of them that are present, the more powerful the name:

SELF-PROPELLING

A name that people will talk about.

A name that works its way through the world on its own.

A name that’s a story in itself, whether it’s at the local bar, on the job, or on CNBC.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

What does the name suggest?

Does it make you feel good?

Does it make you smile?

Does it lock into your brain?

Does it make you want to know more?

POETRY

How does the name physically look and sound?

How does it roll off the tongue?

How much internal electricity does it have?

How does it sound the millionth time?

Will people remember it?

PERSONALITY

Does the name have attitude?

Does it exude qualities like confidence, mystery, presence, warmth, and a sense of humor?

Is it provocative, engaging?

Is it a tough act to follow?

DEEP WELL

Is the name a constant source of inspiration for advertising and marketing?

Does it have “legs”?

Does it work on a lot of different levels?

The key is to step outside the box that the industry – any industry – has drawn for itself, and to do it in a fresh way that hits home with the audience. To accomplish this, it is necessary to think about names in this fashion:

Virgin

Positioning: different, confident, exciting, alive human, provocative, fun. The innovative name forces people to create a separate box in their head to put it in.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

Oracle

Positioning: different, confident, superhuman, evocative, powerful, forward thinking.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

Go back and see how the other names deconstructed above stand up when held to these high standards. These are the qualities that separate a potent, evocative name from a useless one that is built without a considered positioning platform, such as BlueMartini or FatBrain. Random names like these disallow audience engagement, because there are no pathways between the image and the product–there is no connection to be made.

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[joesbrownusa]

Houses For Sale in Novelty, OH

14726 Clydesdale Trl

Price: $525000

Charming stone and cedar colonial in tranquil wooded setting with its own waterfall. 4 Bedrooms 4.5 Baths plus Family Room, Loft, 2 story Hearth Room, Library, 2 story Foyer plus an additional Living Suite. A screened in porch and multi-level deck is off the Kitchen. Large windows open up the home to magnificent views in all seasons. Large Kitchen features granite counters and Thermador appliances. Master Bedroom has a vaulted ceiling, walk-in closets and a large remodeled bath with jetted tub. Red Raider also is home to Blue Moon Stables for the equestrian in your family.

8740 Galloway Trl

Price: $529000

Nature lovers paradise with your own metro park in your very own backyard on over 7 acres! This tranquil setting, including the sacred sounds of water, will have you sold on this property instantly. Various living spaces through out with a beamed family room and wood floors, vaulted living room with walls of windows, and even an indoor heated pool! 4-5 bedrooms with the master suite on first including 2 walk-in closets, jetted tub, fireplace and slider with views of the lush woods. The spacious eat-in kitchen has ample counter space and cabinet storage for any cook, along with access to the deck and extraordinary views of nature. Office/den plus additional bedroom, laundry and dining room round out the first floor. The two story foyer leads you upstairs to a 1 bedroom suite w/full bath and 2 additional bedrooms that share a jack and jill. Enjoy the bonus room as a craft room, reading sanctuary or study room. Ample room sizes, great closet space and 3 car garage make this house worth seeing! Look into Red Raider Stables which is a full service boarding facility. Special offering.

15725 Buckland Trl

Price: $599900

Absolutely spectacular custom designed manor home built by Marc Chapic! Stone & cedar transitional features exceptional millwork and is sited on 3+ acres on a wooded lot! Two-story foyer is highlighted by a custom staircase. Great room has stone to ceiling fireplace surrounded by windows with great views of the wooded setting. 1st floor library can be used as a music room. formal dining room is conveniently located off kitchen. Kitchen has cherry cabinets, center island w/granite countertops, stone backsplashes, upgraded appliances and eating area. First floor Master Suite w/his and her closets. Multi-level deck is great for entertaining! Finished walk-out lower level w/fireplace, rec room and office.

15369 Chillicothe Rd

Price: $144900

Ranch home on 6 acres in Novelty. Includes two large heated outbuildings, one is 30×40 and the other 30×30

7981 Kinsman Rd

Price: $124900

This is a Fannie Mae Homepath property. Big 4 bedroom home with 2 ½ baths. Big family room off kitchen. First floor laundry room with a dog washing area as well. 2 car attached garage along with a 2 car detached garage. This property also has a cottage with a spiral staircase to a loft. Deck on side and rear of home. Lots of room in this home.

V L Music St

Price: $440000

This Lot/Land located at V L Music Street, Novelty, OH is currently for sale and has been listed on theochomesearch for 29 days. This property is listed by howardhanna.com for $440,000. The property has a lot size of 16.0 acres. V L Music St is in the 44072 ZIP code in Novelty, OH.

13794 Sperry Rd

Price: $149900

4 bedroom 2 full bath Victorian on almost 11 acres with a pond and a 3 story 40x 20 barn. Back property line is the Chagrin River. Home needs work. Cash or rehab loan only. Buyer to assume Geauga Septic inspection. Do not walk Property with out an agent present.

8900 Antelope Run

Price: $649900

Stunning, meticulous, high quality 6000+sqft home within incomparable Deer Lake Estates situated on a quiet, wooded cul-de-sac lot. Custom built by Mark Chapic offering gracious, yet intimate living with soaring ceilings and one-of-a-kind great room as the heart of the home. This special property is perfect for two and yet also easily accommodates large parties. There’s a first floor master suite, bright kitchen, expansive 31 x 12 sun room overlooking the gorgeous property. You’re sure to appreciate the youthful open floor plan with hardwood floors, library on first, and the f inished lower level including a fireplace, bathroom, and second office. Fantastic, huge garden shed houses everything normally stored in a garage! Deer Lake features a gorgeous lake with private beach and amenities accessed from a trail through the woods. 6 mins to the quaint Village of Chagrin Falls, 20 mins to shopping malls, 35 mins to downtown Cleveland. Bonus: No RITA tax in Russell! Schedule your private tour!

13839 Braeburn Ln

Price: $549000

Immaculate and newly REMODELED. Taste of Country Elegance Braeburn Woods Custom Brick Ranch Dramatic Foyer Entrance to Great Room Complete w/Formal Living.Dining Rooms, Classic Granite Serving Bar, Sunken Family Room Boasting Floor to Ceiling Built-In Cherry Cabinetry, Hunter Douglas blinds,A Rich Stone Fireplace Curved Hardwoods, Crown moldings,Accent Lighting, Inset Carpeting, Wall of Windowed Doors to Private Patio A Haven for True Living! An Absolutely Gorgeous Gourmet Kitchen with Granite Counters; Center Isle, Hardwood Flooring, Double Ovens, Pantry, Vaulted Dining , Back Porch/Patio Access! Owner’s Suite, Also with Back Porch Access to custom built fire pit.Amazing Twin Walk-In Closets, Vaulted Glamour Bath w/Jetted Tub, Large Shower, Double Sinks, Vanity, Privacy Commode! Ingenious 17 X 8 Laundry Room as Part of Owner’s Suite!A Separate Wing Houses Two Additional Bedrooms, One with Walk-In Closet, the Other with Direct Access to a Very Glamorous Bath!The Lower Level Brings Another Phenomenal Living Space Relaxation, Exercise, Gaming, Play and Storage A 4th Bedroom with Full Bath Endless Possibilities!Enjoy the Simple, Yet, Lush Landscaping and outdoor lighting Bordering this Home with Much Privacy! A Convenient Circular Drive and Three-Car Attached Heated Garage and Complete security system This is a Elegant lifestyle.

8970 Galloway Trl

Price: $739000

WOW FACTOR! A very special property. Private, quiet and retreat-like yet minutes from ‘everything & everyone’ Custom built Red Raider Trails home, a blend of traditional and contemporary, w/ open layout, walls of windows, set on 4.4 acres of a truly park-like setting. Meticulous 'pride of ownership’. Five bedrooms, 3.5 baths; Option for master suite on 1st or 2nd floor. Beautifully & thoughtfully updated kitchen for people who REALLY cook. Gas cook-top;double ovens; center island; soft close drawers; quality cabinets & finishes. Eat-in area with built-in buffet, s liders to tiered-deck & brick patio, overlooking gorgeous stocked pond with swimming dock, butterfly gardens, and well-landscaped property. Powder room off kitchen. Dining room with fireplace open to living room, with a front wall of windows. Family room with fireplace with adjacent sitting area, and walls of windows overlooking trees and ponds on property; library or office with built in shelving; 1st fl master suite with small craft room and spa style bathroom. Laundry room with extra refrigerator drawers & storage. Attached 2-car heated garage; Detached 3-car garage; 2nd floor offers an optional master suite with fireplace, Cali-closets & updated bathroom. Three bedrooms with closet systems and full bath with two commodes. Fabulous finished sound proof Rec Room in lower level with plenty of extra storage rooms. See Improvements list for comprehensive list of updates–too many to list! Just move in!

Chatham Glen Dr

Price: $85000

2.52 heavily wooded acres on the cul de sac. This is a prime lot. Deed restriction and architectural review. Bring your own builder.

Chillicothe Rd

Price: $100000

Buyer must do their due diligence on zoning, availability of specific utilities and cost to tie into utilities.

Sl 2 Chatham Glen Dr

Price: $67500

This lot is great for someone looking to be secluded in a subdivision. Close to West Woods Geauga Park which features 1000 acres of conserved recreation. Additional land available.

Sl 3 Chatham Glen Dr

Price: $64900

Secluded subdivision. Perfect for someone who would like to be close to West Woods Geauga Park and Punderson Park.

14859 Trappers Trl

Price: $550000

This impeccable home, set on 5 wooded acres, is scenically located off the road by a winding drive with plenty of room for parking and turn-arounds, in addition to the attached 3 ½ -car garage. A gorgeous foyer with hardwood floors and staircase, living room with second fireplace, and formal dining greet you upon entry. The main floor has two half baths. A large, newly renovated open kitchen with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances leads itself into the family room, which boasts hardwood floors, a wet bar and vaulted ceilings. A lovely wrap-around deck hugs the back of the house, connecting to the screened-in porch. Master bedroom upstairs has large walk-in closet and full bath. Additional three bedrooms and full bath upstairs are spacious, and all can even be closed off with double doors to provide a “separate-wing” feel. This traditional home with modern updates is a few miles from downtown Chagrin Falls, and within West Geauga School District. Schedule your showing today.

9999 Music St

Price: $199999

If you’re looking for paradise.You just found it! This is your chance to get a piece of heaven. This three bedroom 2 bath home has everything you need. Features include a new two car garage, newer roof, septic system, well, well pump and tank, furnace, water heater, and so much more. Exterior has been completely waterproofed. Home situated on 6 amazing acres with a small creek and unparalleled views. If your fishing for trout in your backyard or enjoying watching the wildlife from your backyard gazebo, this property is right for you! Welcome home!

13695 Northwood Rd

Price: $244500

Enjoy this spacious home on a quiet street with 2700 + square feet on a park like setting. Wonderful Chef’s kitchen with island open to dining and family room with charming stone fireplace and lots of glass windows. Cathedral great room or optional 4th bedroom with three bedrooms and two updated baths. Huge laundry with storage, updated flooring, outdoor covered porch off family room. 2 car garage with upper storage or future man or she cave and delightful 18 x 12 screened porch. Well maintained and move in ready. Basement is outside on North side of house with door, has plenty of storage, Water softener and well pump.

15115 Hill Dr

Price: $225000

Welcome to Hemlock Hills! This spacious home features 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms with hardwood floors throughout. The bright and sunlit kitchen offers stainless steel appliances, plenty of cabinetry, solid surface counters, and an eat-in area. Off the kitchen is a breakfast nook, great for an additional dining area or office space with access to the backyard. Enjoy the warmth of a wood burning fireplace in the living room while looking over the gorgeous backyard through the picture window. Three bedrooms and a full bathroom can also be found on the main floor. Upstairs, you will find a lofted area, full bathroom, a fourth bedroom, and a bonus room that makes for an additional 5th bedroom or family room. The basement offers more living space with a brick fireplace, bar, as well as plenty of room for storage. Hemlock Hills is a wonderful place to live with a community pool, tennis courts, and a friendly neighborhood! Situated on a lovely wooded and landscaped 1.5 acre setting, you will enjoy this home for years to come.

8536 Marden Dr

Price: $108900

Home sits on more than two acres and is all brick with a two car attached garage. Bedrooms are good sized with a fireplace in the living room. Buyer to be responsible for septic inspection and any repairs/replacement. Being sold “as is”. Subject to the recording of the sheriff’s deed.

Vl Music St

Price: $996900

Fabulous parcel of land with unlimited opportunities. This approximately 33.23 acre parcel has 250 feet of frontage and is approximately 3000 feet deep with 560 feet across the rear of the property! Perfect for building your dream home, equestrian’s desiring a barn and arena, or farming! Additional land is available up to 160 acres!!

from Houses For Sale – The OC Home Search http://www.theochomesearch.com/houses-for-sale-in-novelty-oh/ from OC Home Search https://theochomesearch.tumblr.com/post/158014561945

[ronancapili]

Sperry Philippines 2024 Shoot Coordinators for brand: Sam Guison & Von Villanueva Models: Mateo Konradi, Juan Daniel Souffront, Anna Clara Barcante HMUA: Nina Mae Catalan & Camille Cancio Fashion Styling: Jecho Dionisio

[ronancapili]

Sperry Holiday 2023 Shoot Coordinators: Sam Guison & Von Villanueva Models: Mateo Konradi, Juan Daniel Souffront, Anna Clara Barcante HMUA: Nina Mae Catalan & Camille Cancio Fashion Styling: Jecho Dionisio

[joejstrickl]

How to Name a Startup: The Crash Course

An important first step is creating a job description for your name. What are its most important duties? The most common decision is that a name should explain to the world what business you are in or what your product does. Intuition dictates that this will save you the time and money of explaining it, which actually turns out not to be true. Why not?

The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support, which, when you think about it, is impossible. The name will appear on a website, a store front, in a news article or press release, on a business card, on the product itself, in advertisements, or, at its most naked, in a conversation.

There is simply no imaginable circumstance in which a name will have to explain itself. This is fortunate, because having a descriptive name is actually a counterproductive marketing move which requires an enormous amount of effort to overcome. A descriptive naming strategy overlooks the fact that the whole point of marketing is to separate yourself from the pack. It actually works against you, causing you to fade into the background, indistinguishable from the bulk of your competitors.

The following is a list of companies in the naming and branding arena. While each of their names describes what they do, you can clearly see the heavy marketing price they pay for such a shortcut:

Brand-DNA (.com) Brand-DNA (.net) DNA Brand Mechanics Brand 2.0 Brand Doctors Brand Equity Brand Evolve Brand Fidelity Brand Institute Brand Mechanics BrandForwardBrandico Brandjuice Consulting BrandLadder BrandLink BrandLogic BrandMaverick BrandPeople Brandscope Brandslinger BrandSolutions BrandtrustName Development Name Sharks Namebase Nameit Namexpress Namelab Namington Naming SystemsNamerazor NameSale Namestormers Nametag Nametrade NameQuest Namix Naming WorkshopNomen NamepharmNomenon MedibrandAbsolute Brand Interbrand Building Brands Real BrandingCore Brand Futurebrand The Branding Iron Spherical BrandingI.D.ENTITYIdentity 3.0Idiom Brighter Naming Corporate IconMetaphor Megalonamia Wise NameCreating New Names The Name WorksABC Namebank The Naming CompanyIvarson Brand VisionStrategic Name DevelopmentThe Brand ConsultancyLexicon BrandingIndependent BrandingTradingBrandsThe Better Branding CompanyNot Just Any Branding

There are three pieces of advice that will serve you well in avoiding a similar dilemma:

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: There are competitors–the idea is to distinguish yourself. Business is a competitive sport.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support. This is never true for any business or product.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: When judged without the context of a clear positioning platform and an intimate understanding of how names work and what they can do, the best solutions are either never considered or quickly dismissed.

For example, any one of the following intuitive concerns could have been enough to keep these powerful names from ever seeing the light of day:

Virgin

Says “we’re new at this”

Public wants airlines to be experienced, safe and professional

Investors won’t take us seriously

Religious people will be offended

lululemon

We are an upscale brand for women.

lululemon sounds like a character from a 3-year olds’ picture book: “lululemon and her best friends annabanana and sallystrawberry were climbing Gumdrop Hill, when suddenly from behind a rainbow the queen of the unicorns appeared…”

Slack

In business, Slack means “characterized by a lack of work or activity; quiet”

A Slacker is someone who works as little as possible. A terrible message for our target audience

Slack means slow, sluggish, or indolent, not active or busy; dull; not brisk. Moving very slowly, as the tide, wind, or water. Neglect, reduce, tardy

Hotwire

It has one meaning, “to steal a car!”

Crime is the last thing we need to be associated with

Oracle

Unscientific

Unreliable

Only foretold death and destruction

Only fools put their faith in an Oracle

Sounds like “orifice”–people will make fun of us

As you can well imagine, this kind of negative deconstruction is at the root of why a committee can’t agree on a non-descriptive name that has any meaning. It’s also what gave birth to the second major school of bad naming: the “unique empty vessel” that “can become whatever you want.” Here are some of the victims:

Acquient, Agilent, Alliant, Aquent, Aspirient, Aviant, Axent, Axient, Bizient, Candescent, Cendant, Cerent, Chordiant, Clarent, Comergent, Conexant, Consilient, Cotelligent, Equant, Ixtant, Livent, Luminant, Mergent, Mirant, Navigant, Naviant, Noviant, Novient, Omnient, Ravisent, Sapient, Scient, Sequant, Spirent, Taligent, Teligent, Thrivent, Versant, Versent, Viant, Vitalent and Vivient.

As with the descriptive list, these names are not part of an elegant solution, they are the seeds of a branding nightmare. This type of name is arrived at because of the lust for a domain name, consensus building and as a shortcut to trademark approval. At some point in the process marketing left the room, and nobody seemed to notice. And while they may technically be unique, it’s at the level of a snowflake in a snow bank.

The third type of name is the evocative name. These include the aforementioned Apple, Stingray, Oracle, Virgin, Yahoo etc. While everyone respects evocative naming when done well, most corporations don’t go down this road because it’s the toughest to understand and execute.

On a very fundamental level, here are the basic ingredients of the best evocative names:

Differentiate

A competitive analysis is an essential first step. How are your competitors positioning themselves? What types of names are common among them? Are they all projecting a similar attitude? Do their similarities offer you a huge opportunity to stand out from the crowd?

Apple needed to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by the other computer companies at the time who had names like IBM, NEC, DEC, ADPAC, Cincom, Dylakor, Input, Integral Systems, Sperry Rand, SAP, PSDI, Syncsort, and Tesseract.

They needed to reverse the entrenched view of computers in order to get people to use them at home. They were looking for a name that was not like a traditional computer company, and supported a Positioning Strategy that was to be perceived as simple, warm, human, approachable and different.

Positioning

The next step is to carefully define your positioning. The idea is to position yourself in a way that rings true in a fresh way–that cuts through all of the noise out there. The goal is to have your audience personalize the experience of your brand, to make an emotional connection with it, and ultimately to take you in. To redefine and own the territory.

One of most important things that the best of the best brands accomplish is to be thought of as greater than the goods and services offered, to create an aspiration. Nike’s “Just Do It’ helps them rise above selling sneakers. Apple’s “Think Different” is bigger than computers. Fannie Mae’s “We’re in the American Dream Business” elevates them from mere mortgage brokers.

On a product level, Velveeta, Slinky, Mustang, Snapple, etc., are tapping into something outside of the narrow definition of what it is they do, and are allowing the consumer to make the connection, to personalize the experience. This type of active engagement created by playing off of images that everyone is already carrying around in their heads is an essential ingredient in creating a great name.

From there, a name should contain as many of the following qualities as possible. The more of them that are present, the more powerful the name:

SELF-PROPELLING

A name that people will talk about.

A name that works its way through the world on its own.

A name that’s a story in itself, whether it’s at the local bar, on the job, or on CNBC.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

What does the name suggest?

Does it make you feel good?

Does it make you smile?

Does it lock into your brain?

Does it make you want to know more?

POETRY

How does the name physically look and sound?

How does it roll off the tongue?

How much internal electricity does it have?

How does it sound the millionth time?

Will people remember it?

PERSONALITY

Does the name have attitude?

Does it exude qualities like confidence, mystery, presence, warmth, and a sense of humor?

Is it provocative, engaging?

Is it a tough act to follow?

DEEP WELL

Is the name a constant source of inspiration for advertising and marketing?

Does it have “legs”?

Does it work on a lot of different levels?

The key is to step outside the box that the industry – any industry – has drawn for itself, and to do it in a fresh way that hits home with the audience. To accomplish this, it is necessary to think about names in this fashion:

Slack

Positioning: naming the problem we solve!

Qualities: confident, different, focused on solving the target’s problem.

Hotwire

Qualities: Exciting, different, memorable, viral

Virgin

Positioning: different, confident, exciting, alive human, provocative, fun. The innovative name forces people to create a separate box in their head to put it in.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

Oracle

Positioning: different, confident, superhuman, evocative, powerful, forward thinking.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

These are the qualities that separate a potent, evocative name from a useless one that is built without a considered positioning platform, such as BlueMartini or FatBrain. Random names like these disallow audience engagement, because there are no pathways between the image and the product–there is no connection to be made.

[markjsousa]

How to Name a Startup: The Crash Course

An important first step is creating a job description for your name. What are its most important duties? The most common decision is that a name should explain to the world what business you are in or what your product does. Intuition dictates that this will save you the time and money of explaining it, which actually turns out not to be true. Why not?

The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support, which, when you think about it, is impossible. The name will appear on a website, a store front, in a news article or press release, on a business card, on the product itself, in advertisements, or, at its most naked, in a conversation.

There is simply no imaginable circumstance in which a name will have to explain itself. This is fortunate, because having a descriptive name is actually a counterproductive marketing move which requires an enormous amount of effort to overcome. A descriptive naming strategy overlooks the fact that the whole point of marketing is to separate yourself from the pack. It actually works against you, causing you to fade into the background, indistinguishable from the bulk of your competitors.

The following is a list of companies in the naming and branding arena. While each of their names describes what they do, you can clearly see the heavy marketing price they pay for such a shortcut:

Brand-DNA (.com) Brand-DNA (.net) DNA Brand Mechanics Brand 2.0 Brand Doctors Brand Equity Brand Evolve Brand Fidelity Brand Institute Brand Mechanics BrandForwardBrandico Brandjuice Consulting BrandLadder BrandLink BrandLogic BrandMaverick BrandPeople Brandscope Brandslinger BrandSolutions BrandtrustName Development Name Sharks Namebase Nameit Namexpress Namelab Namington Naming SystemsNamerazor NameSale Namestormers Nametag Nametrade NameQuest Namix Naming WorkshopNomen NamepharmNomenon MedibrandAbsolute Brand Interbrand Building Brands Real BrandingCore Brand Futurebrand The Branding Iron Spherical BrandingI.D.ENTITYIdentity 3.0Idiom Brighter Naming Corporate IconMetaphor Megalonamia Wise NameCreating New Names The Name WorksABC Namebank The Naming CompanyIvarson Brand VisionStrategic Name DevelopmentThe Brand ConsultancyLexicon BrandingIndependent BrandingTradingBrandsThe Better Branding CompanyNot Just Any Branding

There are three pieces of advice that will serve you well in avoiding a similar dilemma:

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: There are competitors–the idea is to distinguish yourself. Business is a competitive sport.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support. This is never true for any business or product.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: When judged without the context of a clear positioning platform and an intimate understanding of how names work and what they can do, the best solutions are either never considered or quickly dismissed.

For example, any one of the following intuitive concerns could have been enough to keep these powerful names from ever seeing the light of day:

Virgin

Says “we’re new at this”

Public wants airlines to be experienced, safe and professional

Investors won’t take us seriously

Religious people will be offended

lululemon

We are an upscale brand for women.

lululemon sounds like a character from a 3-year olds’ picture book: “lululemon and her best friends annabanana and sallystrawberry were climbing Gumdrop Hill, when suddenly from behind a rainbow the queen of the unicorns appeared…”

Slack

In business, Slack means “characterized by a lack of work or activity; quiet”

A Slacker is someone who works as little as possible. A terrible message for our target audience

Slack means slow, sluggish, or indolent, not active or busy; dull; not brisk. Moving very slowly, as the tide, wind, or water. Neglect, reduce, tardy

Hotwire

It has one meaning, “to steal a car!”

Crime is the last thing we need to be associated with

Oracle

Unscientific

Unreliable

Only foretold death and destruction

Only fools put their faith in an Oracle

Sounds like “orifice”–people will make fun of us

As you can well imagine, this kind of negative deconstruction is at the root of why a committee can’t agree on a non-descriptive name that has any meaning. It’s also what gave birth to the second major school of bad naming: the “unique empty vessel” that “can become whatever you want.” Here are some of the victims:

Acquient, Agilent, Alliant, Aquent, Aspirient, Aviant, Axent, Axient, Bizient, Candescent, Cendant, Cerent, Chordiant, Clarent, Comergent, Conexant, Consilient, Cotelligent, Equant, Ixtant, Livent, Luminant, Mergent, Mirant, Navigant, Naviant, Noviant, Novient, Omnient, Ravisent, Sapient, Scient, Sequant, Spirent, Taligent, Teligent, Thrivent, Versant, Versent, Viant, Vitalent and Vivient.

As with the descriptive list, these names are not part of an elegant solution, they are the seeds of a branding nightmare. This type of name is arrived at because of the lust for a domain name, consensus building and as a shortcut to trademark approval. At some point in the process marketing left the room, and nobody seemed to notice. And while they may technically be unique, it’s at the level of a snowflake in a snow bank.

The third type of name is the evocative name. These include the aforementioned Apple, Stingray, Oracle, Virgin, Yahoo etc. While everyone respects evocative naming when done well, most corporations don’t go down this road because it’s the toughest to understand and execute.

On a very fundamental level, here are the basic ingredients of the best evocative names:

Differentiate

A competitive analysis is an essential first step. How are your competitors positioning themselves? What types of names are common among them? Are they all projecting a similar attitude? Do their similarities offer you a huge opportunity to stand out from the crowd?

Apple needed to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by the other computer companies at the time who had names like IBM, NEC, DEC, ADPAC, Cincom, Dylakor, Input, Integral Systems, Sperry Rand, SAP, PSDI, Syncsort, and Tesseract.

They needed to reverse the entrenched view of computers in order to get people to use them at home. They were looking for a name that was not like a traditional computer company, and supported a Positioning Strategy that was to be perceived as simple, warm, human, approachable and different.

Positioning

The next step is to carefully define your positioning. The idea is to position yourself in a way that rings true in a fresh way–that cuts through all of the noise out there. The goal is to have your audience personalize the experience of your brand, to make an emotional connection with it, and ultimately to take you in. To redefine and own the territory.

One of most important things that the best of the best brands accomplish is to be thought of as greater than the goods and services offered, to create an aspiration. Nike’s “Just Do It’ helps them rise above selling sneakers. Apple’s “Think Different” is bigger than computers. Fannie Mae’s “We’re in the American Dream Business” elevates them from mere mortgage brokers.

On a product level, Velveeta, Slinky, Mustang, Snapple, etc., are tapping into something outside of the narrow definition of what it is they do, and are allowing the consumer to make the connection, to personalize the experience. This type of active engagement created by playing off of images that everyone is already carrying around in their heads is an essential ingredient in creating a great name.

From there, a name should contain as many of the following qualities as possible. The more of them that are present, the more powerful the name:

SELF-PROPELLING

A name that people will talk about.

A name that works its way through the world on its own.

A name that’s a story in itself, whether it’s at the local bar, on the job, or on CNBC.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

What does the name suggest?

Does it make you feel good?

Does it make you smile?

Does it lock into your brain?

Does it make you want to know more?

POETRY

How does the name physically look and sound?

How does it roll off the tongue?

How much internal electricity does it have?

How does it sound the millionth time?

Will people remember it?

PERSONALITY

Does the name have attitude?

Does it exude qualities like confidence, mystery, presence, warmth, and a sense of humor?

Is it provocative, engaging?

Is it a tough act to follow?

DEEP WELL

Is the name a constant source of inspiration for advertising and marketing?

Does it have “legs”?

Does it work on a lot of different levels?

The key is to step outside the box that the industry – any industry – has drawn for itself, and to do it in a fresh way that hits home with the audience. To accomplish this, it is necessary to think about names in this fashion:

Slack

Positioning: naming the problem we solve!

Qualities: confident, different, focused on solving the target’s problem.

Hotwire

Qualities: Exciting, different, memorable, viral

Virgin

Positioning: different, confident, exciting, alive human, provocative, fun. The innovative name forces people to create a separate box in their head to put it in.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

Oracle

Positioning: different, confident, superhuman, evocative, powerful, forward thinking.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

These are the qualities that separate a potent, evocative name from a useless one that is built without a considered positioning platform, such as BlueMartini or FatBrain. Random names like these disallow audience engagement, because there are no pathways between the image and the product–there is no connection to be made.

[glenmenlow]

How to Name a Startup: The Crash Course

An important first step is creating a job description for your name. What are its most important duties? The most common decision is that a name should explain to the world what business you are in or what your product does. Intuition dictates that this will save you the time and money of explaining it, which actually turns out not to be true. Why not?

The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support, which, when you think about it, is impossible. The name will appear on a website, a store front, in a news article or press release, on a business card, on the product itself, in advertisements, or, at its most naked, in a conversation.

There is simply no imaginable circumstance in which a name will have to explain itself. This is fortunate, because having a descriptive name is actually a counterproductive marketing move which requires an enormous amount of effort to overcome. A descriptive naming strategy overlooks the fact that the whole point of marketing is to separate yourself from the pack. It actually works against you, causing you to fade into the background, indistinguishable from the bulk of your competitors.

The following is a list of companies in the naming and branding arena. While each of their names describes what they do, you can clearly see the heavy marketing price they pay for such a shortcut:

Brand-DNA (.com) Brand-DNA (.net) DNA Brand Mechanics Brand 2.0 Brand Doctors Brand Equity Brand Evolve Brand Fidelity Brand Institute Brand Mechanics BrandForward Brandico Brandjuice Consulting BrandLadder BrandLink BrandLogic BrandMaverick BrandPeople Brandscope Brandslinger BrandSolutions Brandtrust Name Development Name Sharks Namebase Nameit Namexpress Namelab Namington Naming Systems Namerazor NameSale Namestormers Nametag Nametrade NameQuest Namix Naming Workshop Nomen Namepharm Nomenon Medibrand Absolute Brand Interbrand Building Brands Real Branding Core Brand Futurebrand The Branding Iron Spherical Branding I.D.ENTITY Identity 3.0 Idiom Brighter Naming Corporate Icon Metaphor Megalonamia Wise Name Creating New Names The Name Works ABC Namebank The Naming Company Ivarson Brand Vision Strategic Name Development The Brand Consultancy Lexicon Branding Independent Branding TradingBrands The Better Branding Company Not Just Any Branding

There are three pieces of advice that will serve you well in avoiding a similar dilemma:

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: There are competitors–the idea is to distinguish yourself. Business is a competitive sport.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: The notion of describing your business in the name assumes that the name will exist at some point without contextual support. This is never true for any business or product.

Names don’t exist in a vacuum: When judged without the context of a clear positioning platform and an intimate understanding of how names work and what they can do, the best solutions are either never considered or quickly dismissed.

For example, any one of the following intuitive concerns could have been enough to keep these powerful names from ever seeing the light of day:

Virgin

Says “we’re new at this”

Public wants airlines to be experienced, safe and professional

Investors won’t take us seriously

Religious people will be offended

lululemon

We are an upscale brand for women.

lululemon sounds like a character from a 3-year olds’ picture book: “lululemon and her best friends annabanana and sallystrawberry were climbing Gumdrop Hill, when suddenly from behind a rainbow the queen of the unicorns appeared…”

Slack

In business, Slack means “characterized by a lack of work or activity; quiet”

A Slacker is someone who works as little as possible. A terrible message for our target audience

Slack means slow, sluggish, or indolent, not active or busy; dull; not brisk. Moving very slowly, as the tide, wind, or water. Neglect, reduce, tardy

Hotwire

It has one meaning, “to steal a car!”

Crime is the last thing we need to be associated with

Oracle

Unscientific

Unreliable

Only foretold death and destruction

Only fools put their faith in an Oracle

Sounds like “orifice”–people will make fun of us

As you can well imagine, this kind of negative deconstruction is at the root of why a committee can’t agree on a non-descriptive name that has any meaning. It’s also what gave birth to the second major school of bad naming: the “unique empty vessel” that “can become whatever you want.” Here are some of the victims:

Acquient, Agilent, Alliant, Aquent, Aspirient, Aviant, Axent, Axient, Bizient, Candescent, Cendant, Cerent, Chordiant, Clarent, Comergent, Conexant, Consilient, Cotelligent, Equant, Ixtant, Livent, Luminant, Mergent, Mirant, Navigant, Naviant, Noviant, Novient, Omnient, Ravisent, Sapient, Scient, Sequant, Spirent, Taligent, Teligent, Thrivent, Versant, Versent, Viant, Vitalent and Vivient.

As with the descriptive list, these names are not part of an elegant solution, they are the seeds of a branding nightmare. This type of name is arrived at because of the lust for a domain name, consensus building and as a shortcut to trademark approval. At some point in the process marketing left the room, and nobody seemed to notice. And while they may technically be unique, it’s at the level of a snowflake in a snow bank.

The third type of name is the evocative name. These include the aforementioned Apple, Stingray, Oracle, Virgin, Yahoo etc. While everyone respects evocative naming when done well, most corporations don’t go down this road because it’s the toughest to understand and execute.

On a very fundamental level, here are the basic ingredients of the best evocative names:

Differentiate

A competitive analysis is an essential first step. How are your competitors positioning themselves? What types of names are common among them? Are they all projecting a similar attitude? Do their similarities offer you a huge opportunity to stand out from the crowd?

Apple needed to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by the other computer companies at the time who had names like IBM, NEC, DEC, ADPAC, Cincom, Dylakor, Input, Integral Systems, Sperry Rand, SAP, PSDI, Syncsort, and Tesseract.

They needed to reverse the entrenched view of computers in order to get people to use them at home. They were looking for a name that was not like a traditional computer company, and supported a Positioning Strategy that was to be perceived as simple, warm, human, approachable and different.

Positioning

The next step is to carefully define your positioning. The idea is to position yourself in a way that rings true in a fresh way–that cuts through all of the noise out there. The goal is to have your audience personalize the experience of your brand, to make an emotional connection with it, and ultimately to take you in. To redefine and own the territory.

One of most important things that the best of the best brands accomplish is to be thought of as greater than the goods and services offered, to create an aspiration. Nike’s “Just Do It’ helps them rise above selling sneakers. Apple’s “Think Different” is bigger than computers. Fannie Mae’s “We’re in the American Dream Business” elevates them from mere mortgage brokers.

On a product level, Velveeta, Slinky, Mustang, Snapple, etc., are tapping into something outside of the narrow definition of what it is they do, and are allowing the consumer to make the connection, to personalize the experience. This type of active engagement created by playing off of images that everyone is already carrying around in their heads is an essential ingredient in creating a great name.

From there, a name should contain as many of the following qualities as possible. The more of them that are present, the more powerful the name:

SELF-PROPELLING

A name that people will talk about.

A name that works its way through the world on its own.

A name that’s a story in itself, whether it’s at the local bar, on the job, or on CNBC.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

What does the name suggest?

Does it make you feel good?

Does it make you smile?

Does it lock into your brain?

Does it make you want to know more?

POETRY

How does the name physically look and sound?

How does it roll off the tongue?

How much internal electricity does it have?

How does it sound the millionth time?

Will people remember it?

PERSONALITY

Does the name have attitude?

Does it exude qualities like confidence, mystery, presence, warmth, and a sense of humor?

Is it provocative, engaging?

Is it a tough act to follow?

DEEP WELL

Is the name a constant source of inspiration for advertising and marketing?

Does it have “legs”?

Does it work on a lot of different levels?

The key is to step outside the box that the industry – any industry – has drawn for itself, and to do it in a fresh way that hits home with the audience. To accomplish this, it is necessary to think about names in this fashion:

Slack

Positioning: naming the problem we solve!

Qualities: confident, different, focused on solving the target’s problem.

Hotwire

<emPositioning: a travel hack, exciting, fun. (Hotwiring a car is a hack, that’s why this name works)

Qualities: Exciting, different, memorable, viral

Virgin

Positioning: different, confident, exciting, alive human, provocative, fun. The innovative name forces people to create a separate box in their head to put it in.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

Oracle

Positioning: different, confident, superhuman, evocative, powerful, forward thinking.

Qualities: Self-propelling, Connects Emotionally, Personality, Deep Well.

These are the qualities that separate a potent, evocative name from a useless one that is built without a considered positioning platform, such as BlueMartini or FatBrain. Random names like these disallow audience engagement, because there are no pathways between the image and the product–there is no connection to be made.

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