Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Name Poll

Posted by jayme.mcclellan on 5/20/2013 at 3:04 PM ET 25 Points
We are an online gift card mall working in the branding phase. We have come up with a set of names and would like your vote. (Note: Thank you to posters of our question asking for help with the name last week!)

First, some background. The following are examples of businesses that are similar to our business model:
www.giftbar.com
www.giftly.com

We care deeply about the quality of the gift card we sell. We only provide gift cards to hand-picked merchants who provide high quality products and services. Our heartfelt goal in going into this business is to ease the pressure of finding the perfect gift and bring joy to the lives of others.

Our demographic is the US, ages 20-70. We assume most shoppers will be female (just because in our lives it’s the women who buy all of the gifts!), but we definitely want to appeal to the male market as well.

So, without further ado, the names we have chosen are:

• Baubles to Bistros
• Exclusively Gifted
• OMG GiftCards
• The Gift Scene

Please reply letting us know your #1 pick and/or if you have an alternative name for us. Thank you for your time!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Moriarty on 5/20/2013 at 3:16 PM Accepted
    Firstly I'm in your target demographic - that is to say, female and fifty.

    However, the chance of me using your mall is about as likely as you being struck by lightning.

    What you need to do is start a small display network campaign (Google and Bing do them - they're all the little ads in the corners of online newspapers, magazines, blogs - anywhere they can get a toe in the door). Do a daily/weekly* split test and see which comes out top for your demographic. (*depending on how much traffic you get).

    That way you'll know the truth from your customers and not just marketeers taking a chance.
  • Posted by jayme.mcclellan on 5/20/2013 at 3:29 PM Author
    Moriarty - yes, that is our phase II, but I wanted to start here (hoping to get it down to 2 names). You had replied to my other question with some other fun names. Did any of these names have an initial appeal to you?

    Thanks!
  • Posted by Moriarty on 5/20/2013 at 4:03 PM Accepted
    Names can be fun - and yes, I can come up with fun ones, sad ones, ones to make you go "ouch, that hurt" and ones that will have you snoring. Only - and this is the crunch - what I can't do for you is gauge your immediate market for you.

    If you narrowed the names down here - how much money would you be leaving on the table because you ditched the very name that really struck a chord with your own customers? You've gotten it down to four for goodness' sake! Test them!

    Now, I really don't mind expressing my own ideas - but that's all they are. They are irrelevant to your needs. You need the hot data from your target audience. An online study of this kind in your locality will cost $100 or so*. It need not be big and it need not be comprehensive - it does need to be actual.

    *You may also find Facebook advertising good in this instance. Add to the information you gather that you'll generate some leads too - which in all likelyhood will bring you well over $100 worth of income.

    So my apologies for dodging the question, again. I do so with the best of intentions - that **you get the right name for your business**. And if you don't want to do it online, just go out with a piece of paper with the four names written on it. Then ask anybody wandering by in the street where most of your customer's shops are and get that data!

    Only don't do it when its raining. The piece of paper will get wet and the ink will run.
  • Posted by jayme.mcclellan on 5/20/2013 at 4:20 PM Author
    I feel a bit differently. I agree with this approach for product conceptualization and when you have something to show. I don't know that I agree that an ad would get us the real answer. It would measure the success of how we wrote the different ads (which is not saying that is not a beneficial exercise as well), but it isn't a direct answer to which name is best. It also tests a method of targeting users, which our online presence is just one facet.

    Right now, I truly want a first glance intuitive feel on what name people like. Besides, you did say you were in my target demographic right?
  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 5/20/2013 at 4:30 PM Accepted
    Of the four, The Gift Scene is the most generic and closest to your giftbar competitor, so for this reason it gets my vote.
  • Posted by Moriarty on 5/21/2013 at 3:19 AM Accepted
    Okay, on your head be it.

    Without prejudice and without any "thought" I plumped for "Baubles to Bistros" if only that Bistro evoked something.

    This is me being as close to my self as possible and leaving all marketing, professional or intellectual questions aside.

    Having said that you could have

    The Gift Bistro

    Hope this helps. M
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 5/21/2013 at 7:48 AM Accepted
    Of the names you like, "The Gift Scene" comes closest to conveying that you "provide high quality products and services". However, even that name doesn't convey it's a gift card.
  • Posted by jayme.mcclellan on 5/21/2013 at 9:10 AM Author
    Curious, why does the majority feel the name should describe the business? Look at Nike, Apple, Sony, Kleenex. All household names, but none actually describe their business model or what products/services they provide. I have been pondering this as I started out feeling like the name should relate to what we do, but over time I feel a short simple fun name would be better. Just interested in expert thoughts.
  • Posted by Moriarty on 5/21/2013 at 9:32 AM Member
    Your business does not have the resources of Nike or Starbucks. They spend millions of dollars on advertising and branding their image. What's more much of it is wasted because their name does not communicate what they do. Indeed in not having a 'sensible' name means that they are trapped in this need to brand their image constantly because it does not communicate effectively.

    As an aside, Sony is a Japanese take on various aspects of the latin for sound (sonus) and the trend in the 1950s for kids to call themselves Sonny. So in a way it did communicate what they did.

    The real issue here is that the money you spend on advertising is money you could use elsewhere. Unless that money is actively bringing you good customers, it would be better spent on the family shopping basket. Corporations do not have that constriction and rarely seem to remember the essentials.

    My take on all this is that any name that is chosen needs to reflect some aspect of your business. I was taunted on one forum as being too bossy and know-all - it really makes me wonder sometimes ;-) - anyway they called me "the cat's whiskers" and thus it stuck. Moriarty has the same sort of heritage. Both are totally unconnected with my business as such, both imply something about it.


  • Posted by jayme.mcclellan on 5/21/2013 at 1:13 PM Author
    Moriarty - I don't find you bossy. I find you want to teach and share which you know, which I greatly appreciate. I also feel is one of the purposes for this forum; to share wisdom and knowledge along with ideas. If it makes you feel better, I've had the same said about me. Most importantly, you pushed me to not take the easy road, but roll up my sleeves, take some time and do this right. For that, I thank you!

    Thank you to everyone else who also provided your responses and the why. This is what I was looking for and gives me a great start.
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