A namer needs a good name. That was the driver behind the change from Andris and Associates to Coin. Just as it is for the transition, effective today, from The Friday Morning Blog to Cache.
Names have jobs to do. One of the most exciting is the requirement that they either create or contribute to a mutually-reinforcing naming system. Think for a moment of BlackBerry as a company, which is on its deathbed and has made a number of poor naming decisions.
But it was not always this way. Consider BlackBerry Jam, the inspired name of BlackBerry’s annual developers’ conference. And also Jam Sessions, the names given the breakouts at the conference.
The result is mutually-reinforcing system. If one of the names happens to enter your mind, it is more likely than it would otherwise be that another name in the system will pop in as well. You can also look at it like a network effect - the concept made famous in our time by the observation that one fax machine has zero value – but as there become several and then hundreds and then millions of these machines, the value of any one machine is increased.
And so it is for what is becoming the Coin system of names. When the Coin name was announced, it was with the subtle wording that Andris and Associates was changing to Coin. If you look at the main navigation of the Coin website, you will see a link named how we roll, which is really an About Us page. Until today, the link to the blog was called our two cents. And then with the double-entendre of Cache, the theme is extended a bit further.
I say “a bit,” because one should never stretch these things too far, lest things get corny.
Why Cache? One definition of the term is as a hiding place for valuable things, which reinforces its reference to cash and conveys that this blog, today in its 134th edition and in operation since 2009, is a trove of branding intelligence and opinion. (BTW, navigation on the blog is being improved, so you can more easily access that trove).
In the coming weeks and months, the exclusivity implied by Cache will take shape with more frequent guest blogs from clients, strategic partners and other notables. Guest posts will sometimes be in addition to my Friday missives (which will no longer necessarily be in the morning). I hope you will give me feedback on how you feel about the frequency of posts. This blog was started as a Friday-morning-only thing, and I do not want to tick you off with too many emails in your inbox.
And finally, special thank-yous to Laura K Brand Design, creator of the Cache logo, and to Ruth Henderson and Nicole Dunn of Whiteboard Consulting Group for their invaluable assistance with developing the Cache name.
–
Your opinions are always welcome, especially if you disagree with something you read here! Just use the comments form at the bottom of this post. You will always receive a response, along with our sincere appreciation for joining our community.
–
QUIZ: Does Your Brand Mean Business?
BOOK: Buy the #1 Globe and Mail bestselling Brand: It Ain’t the Logo at Books for Business
RADIO: interview on CBC Radio One about unhappiness with Microsoft Windows 8
TV: BNN interview re. Lance Armstrong’s brand (starts at the 3:30 mark, after the ad).
