What's in a Name?

Naming a company or product can be a very complicated process.

I know this first hand.  I once convinced a general manager and company that since we were running and marketing two television stations, a handful of websites, some mobile apps, etc, that calling us Tampa Bay's 10 no longer worked.  It was outdated. 

This all happened several years ago.  It may have been one of the more frustrating exercises I have ever experienced.  To begin with, there were no shortages of creative and witty suggestions.  It was clear from the start that reaching consensus was going to be painful.

When we did come up with one or two that we agreed we liked, we had to see if they had been service-marked in the state of Florida.  We wanted to make sure we could own what we chose.  So we called the lawyers... and waited.

While we waited we worked to make sure that the name was available as a website url.  Very few of them were.  Some were held by legitimate companies but most were held by "squatters," people who had bought a slew of url's in hopes that some one like us would decide that we wanted one of them... and wanted it badly.  The negotiations were as entertaining as they were endless.  Prices ranged from $1500 to well into six-figures.

Then the lawyers would clear a name but we couldn't get the url.  Then we'd find a url and the lawyers would tell us that the named was trademarked by someone far away and in a completely different business and rule it out.

Then corporate would slow us down by raising questions that would plant a shadow of doubt in our minds.  Then they'd walk away, saying it was a local decision, while doubt festered.

And then we would launch another new website which wouldn't fit into the names we were considering.

It went this way for more that 14 months.  It was crazy.

Which is why I smiled today when I read about the fix that Netflix finds itself in.

The company just announced that it was changing its name to Qwikster.  Cool, huh?  Turns out that the name Qwikster is already taken on Twitter by some fella who like to tweet about his drug use and ex-girlfriends.   That's just perfect. There has to be a bunch of people shaking their heads and wagging their fingers at each other over this one.  And I predict it will lead to an very entertaining negotiation, after all, they found the problem after they were already committed to the new name.  This fella could be in for a big pay-day.  Some of those ex-girlfriends might want to reconsider their plans.  

Yes I smiled when I read that.  But I felt their pain.  

As for my naming project, we finally went with 10 Connects because we were going to be the station that ushered Tampa Bay into the age of media inter-activity and connectivity.  Cool, huh?  It wasn't our first, or even one hundred and first choice, but it passed through all the layers of scrutiny. Then the company brought in a new general manager and he didn't like it.  So they changed it again.

Naming....  tough way to make a living.