After all the brainstorming of names. After all the think-tanking of USPs. After all the paid and unpaid focus groups and surveys of the "man on the street." And after all the studies of color and what's in (are the bottles lime green by any chance). After all the niche-market considerations as the ideal target market. There is absoluitely no guarantee the product will take off. And if it does, there is no guarantee it will take off in the direction you had figured.

After all is said and done, it might come down to some quirky thing you can't put your finger on. Some blind luck. Fate, if you will. Some cosmic randomness. Right place right time.

You asked for name suggestions when you were really trying to figure how to get free press, or looking for the mythical WOW factor.

Perhaps, Mike, you are being a bit myopic about this. Too compartmentalized. Looking for one single thing.

Maybe you need to step back and look at this in a wholistic way. As an entire package. It's not just the name. It's not just the color of the bottle. It's not just the shape of the bottle. It's not just the font face. It's not just the font size. It's not just the font color. And it's not just the marketing. It's everything working together in some quirky way that makes the thing jump off the shelves.

Like a book, Mike. What is its "pick-me-up-for-a-closer-look" ness?

If it doesn't look good on the shelf, no-one is even going to bother picking it up. Regardless of what it's name is.

Fashion and Books are two industries whose sales depend on the pick-it-up-for-a-closer-look syndrome. So it has got to look good in the shelf (rack).

Granted, there is some name recognition. BUT, that just takes care of the fans. The others. Those who don't know one name from another. They need to be enticed to grab that sucker and hold it in their hands. And while one single thing might be able to achieve that. It is more likely going to be a combination of things.

Michael Ross




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