

Using science to rebrand - wsul
http://blog.pistollake.com/post/36656367475/using-science-to-rebrand

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stephengillie
Good to hear you guys survived that challenge. The new name's nice, it should
be popular with outdoorsmen, hunters, and gamesmen. I'm not sure how well
it'll go over with backpackers, conservationists, and tree-huggers like
myself.

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sachinag
There are some liberals who like guns. And lakes. And lakes named after guns.

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mcrider
Whats the deal with validate.io? I'd like to rebrand my website (flapcast.com
-- sort of a silly, brash name decision :) and this looks like a great tool to
use, but the website only has an email address on it.

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wsul
Its an incredible service in alpha by the guys from SocialSci.com -- happy to
make an intro if you'd like.

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mcrider
Sure, thanks, my email is in my profile.

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ricardobeat
That's how every rebranding has been done for the past 50 years, lots of field
research. But usually more importance is given to qualitative research, not
quantitative. Focusing on numbers gives too much leeway for interpreting data
in the wrong way.

btw I'm right in the target demographic and I'm not very fond of the new name.
Something with "pistol" in it evokes not-so-nice concepts, and teenage brands
with words like army/fight/420/skulls/maryjane/etc.

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wsul
Well then, hopefully we can win you over with quality products, a great value
prop, and a nice design and brand aesthetic!

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cocoflunchy
The name's good, but maybe it's not the best URL-wise... pistolake or
pistollake?

Wish you the best anyway :)

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wsul
Glad you like the name. We bought the variations we could think of and we'll
redirect them soon!

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cocoflunchy
Awesome!

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cllns
Please include a link to your main site from your blog, for your readers'
sake.

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wsul
You mean a link on the blog.pistollake.com index page or within each blog
post?

Just added to the index page.

Thanks for the heads up!

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cllns
Like in the title would be ideal, I think.

Also, what you have right now is the URL but it's not linkified. You might
want to do that.

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eps
Regardless of what the math said, I'm afraid it's a big notch down from
Holden. Holden was cool, masculine and _classy_. This is just masculine, in a
fishing trip kind of way.

More specifically, "pistol" = wild west, unkempt cowboys, sweaty mexicans,
dusty towns, etc. Similarly, "lake" = tranquility, fishing, retirement,
discomfort (to the urbanites). It's just a conflicting mess of associations. I
think you are shooting yourselves in the leg with this rebrand, and I really
wish that you weren't.

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wsul
We loved From Holden as well; we grew up there and it meant a lot to us. We
might have been able to contest the C&D but at the end of the day, those guys
have done exactly what we are doing -- poured their blood, sweat, and tears
into building a company from the ground up. If they felt we were going to do
harm to their brand, we definitely weren't willing to move forward because we
loved the name or felt attached to it.

So that leaves us with establishing a new brand, and while there were some
good ideas, none of them really stuck. We're investing our lives into building
a long-lasting company and I'd rather build a brand around something that is
already really meaningful to me than a made up word or one that has less
emotional connection.

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eps
I know the story behind your name change, and I can't complement you enough on
the way you handled it. But the new name is not engaging, it's off. It doesn't
even connect to the imagery you have on your Kickstarter's page, and it feels
like a rushed decision.

Also, I think you might have your priorities wrong. There certainly should be
an emptional connection, but it should be that of your _customers_ rather than
yourselves. In the end it's not you who's going to be buying your shirts.

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gojomo
Cool process.

I'd guess that for the desired characteristics -- masculine, trustworthy --
respondents wound up applying a sort of 'handicap theory' analysis to the
names. That's the idea that in certain status/fitness competitions, sometimes
strength is signaled by demonstrating the ability to take on otherwise
costly/tangential burdens. (A peacock's feathers and other sexually-selected
exaggerated characteristics are the classic examples.)

That is, certain _flaws_ in the names actually indicated: this brand is strong
enough not to pander. 'Rowe Brook' is a bit mysterious. Probably a name, but
one that is uncommon, not definitively gendered, and perhaps prone to
mishearing (that silent 'e') or teasing puns. A person with that name, and
choosing to use that name for their business, has nothing to prove and isn't
cloying for approval: hence the high 'trustworthy' rating. (Two of the lowest-
trustworthy are pandering: 'rogue ethike' and 'unbeholden'. Real unbeholden
rogues don't have to remind people they're that way!)

'Pistol Lake' is sure to turn off a few people due to its gun-association. But
again, the subconscious reasoning among a wider audience may be: if a brand
can shake that off... maybe it's strong in other dimensions? ...or they're so
manly they don't care what some may think?

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wsul
Very interesting concept -- handicap theory. At the end of the day, we're
confident our craftsmanship will speak for itself and will be what matters
most, and the data from the survey did a lot to calm our own doubts about a
name that we were very personally attached to.

It has been fascinating though, and we definitely plan to do further research
for other decisions in the future.

