I am leading an effort to rename an early-stage company that creates
speech translation systems and training tools for learning a new
language for the military and healthcare markets. As part of the
brainstorming process, I am looking for 25 high-quality candidates
for the new name.
If you provide a several excellent candidates, I will provide a tip.
If you provide the name that is selected, the tip will be $100.
In brainstorming your name ideas, please keep in mind the company's
evaluation criteria. One of the criteria is that the candidate names
be consistent with the brand image the company aspires to in the
future. Here is the brand image in a nutshell:
[Company Name] is the world leader in providing speech translation
solutions and other language technologies for government and business.
[Company Name] is passionate about creating practical, easy-to-use
products that eliminate language barriers for situations where clear
communication is critical. It is one of the most reliable,
professional companies I've ever had the pleasure of working with, and
they have become one of my most trusted business partners.
? Name should evoke positive images for our target audience that are
consistent with the company's brand image.
- Remember that our target audience ranges from 50-60 year old
Generals and Colonels to 20 year old privates on the military side and
ranges from 50-60 year old hospital CEOs and VPs to 20 year old
hospital workers on the healthcare side.
- The vast majority of our target audience is non-technical. They
want technology to solve their problem and be easy to use.
Other evaluation criteria will include:
- Easy to pronounce and easy to spell
- Easy to remember
- Unique and distinctive
- Short, preferably three or fewer syllables
- Has graphic potential for logo
- Will not be easily confused with other companies
- Just sounds right
How Does it Sound?
Try using the name candidates in a sentence.
1. On the phone--Hi, this is [your name] calling from _______________.
2. At a party?I work for _______________.
3. Military salescall?_______________?s technology enables soldiers
to communicate with the Iraqi policemen they are training.
4. Healthcare salescall?_______________ has developed a device that
nurses can use to communicate with their Spanish-speaking patients.
5. Customer?How does _______________?s technology work?
6. Customer?We need a proposal from _______________ for 100 systems.
7. End user?My next patient doesn?t speak English. Can you hand me
the new speech translation system from _______________.
Names to Avoid
The company is not interested in names that are too literal or that
include techno jargon that will not resonate with our non-technical
customers. We are specifically not interested in names with "trans" or
"lingual" or "poly" or "speech."
Let me know if you would like clarification. I look forward to seeing your ideas. |
Clarification of Question by
colinjk-ga
on
18 Nov 2006 10:54 PST
DENCO,
Thanks for your help on this.
As a group, there are some good candidates here, but some are not too
good. Please apply these two tests to the name candidates.
1. Imagine that you are a salesperson calling the VP in charge of
clinical services at a huge hospital. He/she has never heard of your
company and doesn't even know that speech translation technology
exists. You open the conversation with, "Hello, this is [your name]
calling from [company name]." Imagine that this V.P. has pen in hand
and is writing the company name down. When you say the company name,
will they be able to easily spell it correctly? For an ideal name,
he/she could spell it after hearing it one time. Better, but not
great, he/she would only have to ask you a simple clarifying question
like, "Do you spell that with an "i" or a "y." You wouldn't want a big
part of the conversation to be a back and forth on how to spell the
name.
2. Again, imagine a VP of a large hospital reading a newspaper
article about this company. When he/she sees the name in print, would
it be obvious to him/her how to pronounce the company's name.
Applying these two tests to the names you've suggested, I would rate
them like this:
- Easivox-OK on test 1; good on test 2.
- Reliavox-Good on test 1; good on test 2.
- Voxateur-Bad on test 1; ok on test 2.
- Voxpar-Good on test 1 and test 2.
- Invocateur-Bad on test 1; bad on test 2.
- Voxulous-Bad on test 1 and test 2.
- Voxative-Good on test 1 and test 2 (This is my favorite on your
list and is quite good. If you come up with 3 or 4 this good, I would
be very happy.)
- Exvocative-Bad on test 1; ok on test 2.
- Vocommon-Bad on test 1 and 2.
- Vocintel-Bad on test 1 and 2.
This is a good start, and I would encourage you to keep going. Thanks again.
|
Clarification of Question by
colinjk-ga
on
18 Nov 2006 17:02 PST
In your new list, there are a couple that may have potential
(Communivox and Execuvox). I would encourage you to explore ideas that
don't have "vox" in them. I would also encourage you to say the words
out loud to see how they sound. Some of these are not consistent with
the desired brand image (e.g., "Covomix" reads a lot like "Ko vomits."
and "Vocomix" reads a similar to "Vo comics;" neither consistent with
being a market leader in mission-critical communications).
Thanks for your effort. I look forward to seeing more.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
denco-ga
on
18 Nov 2006 20:47 PST
Howdy colinjk-ga,
Here is the latest group. When doing such a process, the "give and take" is
very much part of it all. I greatly appreciate you providing such guidance.
- Reliasonic
- Soluminations
- Reliason
- Sonecutive
- Communitrace
- Sonnections
- Sonopath
- Sonotrace
- Solupath
- Soluvox - Yes, "vox" shows up again.
Here is a "summary" of what appears to be working so far.
Voxative - Glad you like it, but "laxative" is probably evoked.
Reliavox
Execuvox
Communivox - This one is my favorite as it is good and solid. It just works.
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher
|
Clarification of Question by
colinjk-ga
on
19 Nov 2006 11:54 PST
I see your point on "Voxative." It evoked "talkative" for me, and when
I thought of the similarity with "laxative," I thought that might not
be too bad for the medical field (e.g., when communication is blocked,
you need a voxative). Actually, I didn't think in the end we would use
it, but I thought it would provoke further fruitful brainstorming
among others who are helping, so that is why I really like it.
I think you are really starting to come up with some good candidates.
So far, I like the following as either having potential for the new
name or for helping generate other new ideas:
1. Voxative
2. ReliaVox
3. CommuniVox
4. ExecuVox
5. ReliaSonic
6. Sonnections
7. SoluPath
8. SoluVox
I look forward to seeing any new ideas.
Thanks
|
Clarification of Question by
colinjk-ga
on
19 Nov 2006 12:01 PST
Wilmar,
Thanks for your suggestion. I like your creativity and reasoning
behind the name. My only problem is that the name will be commonly
mispelled by people who have heard about the company but not read
about the company. With a tight marketing budget, the company needs
all the help it can get in building its brand, and it will be a
challenge to create awareness for the technology and create favorable
impressions about the company without also having to tell a back story
on why the name is appropriate. The company's goal is to have a name
that sounds and looks so right that customers don't even need to ask,
"Why did you name your company ___________?"
|
Request for Question Clarification by
denco-ga
on
19 Nov 2006 23:45 PST
Howdy colinjk-ga,
The latest batch.
- Solumeta
- Plexpath
- Plexipath
- Lexipath
- Lexmorph
- Leximorph
- Sonomorph
- Lexitrace
- Lexmeta
- Lexemeta
- Soluphonic
- Lexiversal
- Soluversal
I like these three.
- CommuniVox
- Sonnections
- ReliaSonic
- Voxative
- ReliaVox
- ExecuVox
- SoluPath
- SoluVox
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher
|
Clarification of Question by
colinjk-ga
on
20 Nov 2006 09:32 PST
DENCO,
Thanks for the new batch, but none of the new ones is hitting me as
strong as the eight I've already listed. I want to be sensitive to how
much work you're doing for $35, and I am happy with these eight. Feel
free to declare victory and offer your answer at any time.
If you feel inspired to do more, I would encourage you to explore
ideas that evoke the benefits a healthcare provider would get from
using speech translation technology to remove language barriers with
their non-English-speaking patients. There may be fertile ground in
combining the ideas of language and:
- Confidence that the patient understands what you said.
- Satisfaction in knowing that you are providing better patient care.
- Reduced time spent trying to communicate with the patient or in
waiting for a human interpreter.
- Ability to communicate in urgent situations.
Or there may be some good ideas in evoking important features of a
speech translation system like:
- Accuracy
- Convenience
- Reliability
- Giving language ability to any employee who needs it
I think what we're really looking for is a company name that makes the
technology sound innovative and important yet practical and user
friendly.
Thanks again for your help.
|
Clarification of Question by
colinjk-ga
on
20 Nov 2006 09:35 PST
Pinkfreud,
Thanks for your comment. I looked at all the names that you and others
came up with for the audio learning site. I saw some great ideas for
that concept, but none hit me as appropriate for this company.
If you and other researchers are feeling inspired or have names off
the tip of your fingers that you want to offer, please list them in
the comments. If you offer some strong candidates, I'll post the
question again, so you can get paid, too.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
denco-ga
on
20 Nov 2006 10:20 PST
Howdy colinjk-ga,
Greatly appreciate the acceptance of the short list of eight, but I want to
work on the additional angles as suggested before doing an "Answer" posting.
Here is the first set from that feedback. Thanks!
- Medsona
- Lexicure
- Communicure
- Vocamed
- Acuravox
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher
|
Clarification of Question by
colinjk-ga
on
20 Nov 2006 14:39 PST
DENCO,
Thanks for your latest ideas. My prior suggestion may have led you
astray. The company name must be relevant for a military audience,
too. Ideally, it would be broad enough to cover military and medical
and speech translation and language learning tools using interactive
voice technology.
The benefits to military users are basically the same as in
healthcare, just a different setting with different people. Benefits
include confidence that civilians understood what you say, less
tension from miscommunication, and ability to communicate in urgent
situations.
By the way, I just got out of a meeting where I added your ideas to
the brainstorming mix, and "Voxative" created a couple of humorous new
suggestions, including "Logorrhea" and "Preparation V."
Thanks again,
colinjk
|
Request for Question Clarification by
denco-ga
on
20 Nov 2006 16:16 PST
Glad I could add some humor to your latest session, colinjk-ga.
Were there any that got a favorable response? Thanks!
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher
|
Clarification of Question by
colinjk-ga
on
20 Nov 2006 16:41 PST
DENCO,
Your ideas have been well received and are stimulating new thinking
that is creating other good candidates. Sorry to be coy, but I prefer
not to be too specific about the company's internal discussions in a
public forum just in case we decide to use one of your suggestions and
need to trademark it and get a web address. I'll let you know what has
been decided once the decision has been made, and we have our bases
covered.
Thanks,
colinjk
|
Request for Question Clarification by
denco-ga
on
23 Nov 2006 12:46 PST
Howdy colinjk-ga,
No need to apologize. I understand the process all too well.
Back to the task.
- Clarimorph
- Confivox
- Directavox
- Voxecta
- Vectavox
- Clarinection
- Voxvector
- Sonavoca
- Sonasonic
- Vocalinity
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher
|
