Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Name Help! Improving Health Thru Better Policies

Posted by Anonymous on 3/8/2010 at 10:57 AM ET 2750 Points
HELP WITH NAME FOR NEW NON-PROFIT

Mission: Non-partisan, non-profit center committed to helping private and public stakeholders navigate policy-making and planning decisions that balance economic and social considerations with important health implications.

What we do: Trained experts (MA, PhD) conduct impact assessments on proposed plans, policies, programs, projects that will affect the community in order to determine potential harms and/or benefits to health. The goal is to create thriving communities where social, economic and health goals and needs are considered and triangulated in order to come up with the most practical solutions for how to modify proposals to get the best outcome. Another group, Human Impact Partners (https://www.humanimpact.org) is similar to what we will be doing but we are different in that we will be focusing on encouraging evidence-based decision-making: so we don't look only through a health lens, but through a health, social, and economic lens in order to make recommendations for how best to alter policies to promote health and minimize or reduce risks. Think of urban planning/transportation proposals. Putting a subway stop in a new neighborhood has all sorts of potential for creating health risks or promoting physical activity and good health. These things are often not looked at, but things like traffic reduction, pollution, potential for business growth in the area are.

"Improving health through better plans and policies" is a tagline that is already used by someone, but that does sort of describe what we do. So is something very similar (too similar) to "creating thriving communities through better plans and policies", which also describes us b/c we are considering more than just physical health.

We had come up with kompas (dutch word for compass, a nod to where this type of assessment first became law), tagline: guiding policies and plans toward optimal health

But legal advice was that there is oversaturation and even potential conflicts with similar organizations & companies. Now we are back to square one and need HELP! It was suggested that we could add something to the work kompas to make up a word and that might help it. But all I can come up with is Hlth*Kompas, which seems pretty lame.

Can you help? We are gridlocked and want to avoid bland names like Health Impact Group (which is taken anyway) or Impact Institute, that sort of thing. We want creative but something people will take seriously, as we are providing real data-driven analysis by experts and not "fluff" research.

THANK YOU!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 3/8/2010 at 11:30 AM Accepted
    Who are you trying to influence/attract with the name? What is the marketing objective? Why does it matter that the name is (or is not) "creative" or "bland?"

    What geography do you serve? Maybe reference to the location (neighborhood, city, state, region, country) would help come up with a good name.
  • Posted on 3/8/2010 at 12:15 PM Author
    Since we are a non-profit, we want to provide services to local governments, business, community... from neighborhood up to state (no Fed). Would accept projects from all over the US - urban, rural, suburban. A component would also be to educate decision-makers about the utility of doing such assessments.

    We've been lagging behind other countries, where health impact assessments (and social and economic) have been done for nearly 20 years in some cases; many of these countries mandate it.

    In our country only environmental impact assessments are mandatory and so doing health impact assessments is entirely voluntary and in many cases people do not know about them/trust them. A health impact assessment helps to identify potential health consequences -- positive and negative -- of a proposed plan, policy, law, change in practice, new program, etc.

    Rather than being paid by "clients," we will be receiving funding from grants and the like to actually complete the research, and then we will identify business, govt, community proposals that would benefit from examination from a health perspective and approach them. But unlike other health impact assessments groups that have sprung up in the US, we want to accentuate that we understand that modifications to proposals cannot eclipse the original goals of the proposal. We will strive for well-balanced recommendations on how to ensure a thriving community (physical, mental, social, economic, equitable, social/economic justice).

    In such, we are fostering cross-collaboration among sectors so that each can see how their decisions can contribute to or detract from health.

    We need a creative/powerful/impartial sounding name b/c we don't want to put off business/commercial planners. They are about the bottom line, and if we approached them in the wrong way or our name sent the wrong message they might see us as a watchdog type organization, which we are not. We would provide a report based on the best available data and methodologies, and make recommendations that keep those from such sectors from immediately discounting our ideas.

    We want to be able to build bridges across sectors and to highlight the value of our services while we project the image that we value what they think is important.

    So in essence, while the name will be important as we apply for funding, it will also be of critical importance to business, govt, community leaders b/c we will be approaching them with these ideas.

    Does this make it any clearer (or are you now totally thinking... 'what the..()*#@()$?)
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 3/8/2010 at 1:55 PM Accepted
    Some Name Ideas:

    Commviro

    Vircomm

    Communitas

    Colleto

    Virtuallages

    Healthy Villages

    Village Health

    Socinviron

    Dorpendo

    Stadunity

    Planetis

    Health Planet

    Planet Community

    Enveritas

    A Tagline:

    Community Environmental Health Impact Assessment Organisation

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 3/8/2010 at 3:21 PM Accepted
    Health Nav
    Community-Optimal Health Strategies (COSH)
    Community Health Impact (CHI)
    Community Health Hub
  • Posted by NovaHammer on 3/8/2010 at 4:12 PM Accepted
    Sounds like this definition fits.
    " Praxis is the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted or practiced. It is a practical and applied knowledge to one's actions. It has meaning in political, educational, and spiritual realms."

    Build something with Praxis and see how that works ie:

    Praxis Health: Solid Communities From Solid Research
  • Posted on 3/10/2010 at 7:30 PM Author
    The Praxis example is more along the lines of what we are looking for, I'd like some other examples in that realm if you could come up with that. There is already a "Praxis Health Management" out there that may cause confusion with our endeavor, as well as a series of Praxis Health tests that are trademarked.

    We do like the idea of a one word name w/ a tagline, one that is easily remembered by the community and has positive, progressive, impartial underpinnings.

    Thanks in advance for your continued help.
  • Posted by NovaHammer on 3/11/2010 at 9:44 AM Member
    Sublimis from which we get 'sublime'....

    Sinew any source of power or strength; means of supplying strength ...

    Cruciform many positive vegetables have a cruciform structures that are just now being recognized as very influential in overall health.

    Crucible a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development.

    GoodLuck




  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 3/11/2010 at 3:22 PM Accepted
    One of the challenges you will hit is that people need to figure out what you do. You say you want to avoid "bland names", but these bland names are actually descriptive. And a 1 word company name adds to this challenge. So I would suggest using multiple words and sticking part of the "bland name" on as part of your more creative name. e.g. Kompas Health Impact Group.

    You seem to like the idea of Dutch, so how about using the following as part of the name?
    gezondheid - Dutch word for "health"
    gezondheids effect - Dutch for "health impact"

    Some suggestions:
    Gezondheid Impact
    Gezondheid Impact Group
    Gezondheid Impact Partners
    Gezondheid Effect
    Gezondheid Effect Group
    Gezondheid Effect Partners

  • Posted by rjohnni on 3/18/2010 at 5:40 AM Accepted
    Reading through your mission and what we do, what you do is an initiative.

    You should look at that perspective and should not stop at the policy levels for the brand naming, and extend it to the next level (impact, etc. ), which over a period will be taken up by non stakeholders too if the particular 'initiative' makes sense.

    With this premise you can start calling yourself


    Planetus Initiative.


    The all encompassing name talks of you not short changing the base philosophy: That you want the planet to be...

    And the Initiative part makes it more like a movement, that can be taken up by othersstakeholders/in the long run...




    PLANETUS INITIATIVE: Because Better Policies Lead to Better Life.

    or on a brief fashion as a tagline:

    PLANETUS INITIATIVE: Better Policies. Better Life.

    or another twist would be

    PLANETUS INITIATIVE: Better Policies Better the Life.


    ThnQ,

    RJ
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