

Two-man start up can't afford chi-chi branding, could use your advice. - maxcameron

We're about to launch our first product, and we got attached to a name we had picked for it early on. Turns out there's another company who goes by that very name, and they also work in the same field that we do. So we scrambled to pick something new.<p>Our product is a video-based hosted application that organizations can use to train and educate their members. It's more virtual learning than an LMS. Our customers can upload their own training videos, and if they want they can subscribe to packaged content made by professional trainers. Reporting is an important part of our application, and we can accommodate organizations large and small.<p>Since we're two guys, and neither one of us are experts in the field of naming products, the past 48 hours of creative thinking has left us exhausted. We're left with three potential names, and if we're lucky you'll let us know which one you prefer.<p>Idea 1: Leaderboard<p>Leaderboard urges you to reach for the top. A leaderboard inspires competition, aggressiveness, and acknowledges performance. A Leaderboard is physical, concrete and highly visual.<p>Idea 2: GoldStar<p>GoldStar is reminiscent of your childhood, when performance was rewarded with gold stars on your homework. GoldStar is also concrete and visual, and symbolizes a reward more than an acknowledgement.<p>Idea 3: Canopy<p>A Canopy sits atop of tall trees, and invites you to stand on the shoulders of giants. A Canopy is a place in a forest where life thrives, where collaboration and coexistence is most evident, a safe home for an entire ecosystem. A Canopy is literally where the Sun meets the earth, and a Canopy urges you to reach for the sky.<p>We'd love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and other names that come to mind.<p>Thanks in advance,<p>Max and Cam from Big Bang Technology in Toronto.
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w-ll
Canopy, Its a strong sounding name. Not as sketcy as Goldstar, or leaderboard.

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BigCanOfTuna
Definitely not GoldStar. Reminds me of the third rate electronics company
(notorious for cheap products). That being said, they did become LG. Good
luck!

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bbhacker
You should setup a Google Adwords account and test the different names. Just
put the different names in there and use the same description. This will give
you quickly a feeling what attracts clicks (and therefore also views) and what
not.

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jdee
Dont like any of them to be honest. all sound very 'old web'. You really need
a 5,6 or 7 letter domain name that is humanly speakable and brandable.

Tying to track a brand called 'Leaderboard' on the web is going to be
impossible as there are so many other search results that will use the same
word but rank much higher. Same for Canopy.

Use a good domaining tool ( I like justdropped.com ) and pick a good domain
that you are going to be able to make your own and stamp with your own
identity.

For a website use themeforest.net if you cant afford a designer. Sell your car
to pay for a good designer logo though. its essential. Get good quick at
writing web copy for your site.

Hope some of this helps. all of this advice was passed to me and I havent a
clue when it comes to branding, but its helped me on more than a few
occasions. good luck!

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maxcameron
Great point about tracking leaderboard on the web - that would be a mess. Not
to worry - we hired a kick ass designer for logo/identity/UI revisions - I
hated having to tell him that our first idea fell through.

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joeld42
Canopy sounds like Canopus, which did something with video or something. Might
be confusing. Plus it sucks.

probably some of these are taken but...

ideas: ladderboard, tugboat, spryboard, scrycam, scrysat, canoworms, pandabox,
unlift, topknot, teachr, learnr, smartr, trainr, dumdum, bighead, fathead

my favorite is pandabox, it's an oblique allusion to pandora's box
(knowledge), it's a "negative" or "dangerous" connotation (which helps
stickiness, see the Igor article) but yet still cute and cuddly, and also has
obvious ideas for branding and mascot, etc..

This is a good link about naming.
[http://www.igorinternational.com/process/naming-guide-
produc...](http://www.igorinternational.com/process/naming-guide-product-
company-names.php)

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camwest
Joel,

Thanks for your feedback and suggestions, you've got our brains working!

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ars
What is "shee-shee branding"?

Google did not help me figure out what shee-shee means.

Edit: Submitter changed title to say chi-chi.

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jeremymims
The correct spelling is chichi.

According to dictionary.com it is an adjective which means "showily or
affectedly elegant or trendy; pretentious."

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ahoyhere
Aka, "sour grapes" in this instance.

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omgsean
I like Canopy as well.

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trevelyan
I also prefer Canopy.

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jparicka
imho laderboard is perfect for what you do. sounds inspiring and smells like
work! All the best - apologies for broken english, been up all night
traveling.

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camwest
(this is Cameron the other half of Big Bang Technology)

We really appreciate any feedback or questions anyone has on this.

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arsehole
I like 'Big Bang Videos'

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astrodust
That does have the advantage of consistent branding.

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arsehole
bigbangvideos.com is actually available.. You should REALLY go for it!

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wushupork
did you try to run this by PickFu to see what happens? <http://pickfu.com/>

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Travis
+1 for leaderboard!

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mrfish
It doesn't really matter what it is called. Call it turtlepoo.com if that
helps. Branding is less about describing your services and more about sticking
in people's heads. That's the problem with most of these tricky names. Most
people can't remember them. But something like fishpajamas or thundergnat
would probably stick in the mind of people who heard of you. BTW I'd upload my
instructional videos if I knew people would subscribe to them. Let me know
when you go live. Paul

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dtby
My intial thoughts, I hope they help you in your search:

Leaderboard implies a competition. Are you going to ranking my progress
against other students? How do I win?

GoldStars are for children. Are you going to have exclusively elementary
education videos? Is this some sort of achievement system, like in Halo?

A Canopy casts a wide shadow and protects me from the elements. Do you have
such a breadth of video-training programs that it covers everything in which I
might be interested? From what are you protecting me?

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maxcameron
We're definitely not after the kids market, but we love the idea of
incorporating gaming elements into the app, like achievements.

Competition is a tricky subject: it's good to compete in some circumstances -
but education isn't always about beating your opponents.

