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The question is not whether a name or logo is important. The important question to ask -- about any and all aspects of your brand -- is: is it appropriate for the feelings that I want people to conjure up and the subsequent decisions which they'll ultimately make?
That's why Google, after more than five years "testing" its Gmail brand, have finally dropped the "beta" label. They found that the word "beta" was scaring away business customers for their Apps suite:
"Many of the companies that have looked in depth at the apps have seen that they are feature complete," said Rajen Sheth, a Google senior product manager. "But there is a kind of perception thing, and in many cases that [word] stops companies in their tracks from even looking at it."
That darn "perception thing" again. At least the super-smart folks at Google acknowledged it and dealt with it, although I'm sure they resisted the change. After all, it's not rational, right? What intelligent person could possibly care about one little word -- a word, in fact, that means that people are working to make it better -- when it's features, benefits, easy of use and ROI that they're really after? Uh-huh.
But they did "get it," so kudos to Google. And who knows? Perhaps the many super-smart folks with frozen mental models at other companies will finally "get it" too. I sure hope so.
P.S. Here's a super-smart and short piece outlining the objectives of a brand name along with various selection criteria to consider when choosing one (PDF): How to Select a Brand Name by Denise Lee Yohn
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Tom is timely, thought provoking and all about the new brand vision packaged as a Seinfeld stand up. I went to school on his ideas.
Jeff Taylor, Founder, Monster.com and CEO, Eons.
thanks for recommending my piece, tom -- just let me know where should i mail that $20 i promised you! ha ha!
seriously, though, i appreciate the referral and i'm glad to find like-minded people to exchange ideas with!
Posted by: Denise Lee Yohn | July 16, 2009 at 11:01 AM
This reminds of Intel Pentium 4 Processor.
No one knows what it is but everyone wants to make sure that there computer possesses that sticker.
A brilliant method of taking advantage of people's lack of computer literacy and turning into a huge business profit
Posted by: Brian Vandeputte | July 16, 2009 at 11:03 PM