What's In A Name?

Yesterday I was driving down the highway and passed a strip mall. On the directory outside the mall there was a sign for a store called Computer Store. Not even The Computer Store, just Computer Store. Zooming passed at 50 mph, I was struck by two thoughts in about five seconds: First, the founders of this store appeared to have spent literally zero minutes coming up with a name. They couldn't even be bothered to think about it and banter a couple of possibilities around - if they had I doubt Computer Store would have been the winner. Seriously, it appears they got everyone who was investing into a room and one person said, "We want to open a store that sells computers. We will call it Computer Store... (45 seconds of silence). Good meeting, everybody." The second thing to hit me was that I have no doubt that if I had a computer issue, I am bringing my PC to Computer Store. Think about it: when you are that unoriginal it must be because you are supremely confident in your abilities. You only have a name that simple if you have no doubts you will be remembered and recommended by customers. You can't be bland and terrible at your job. But, who needs a catchy title like Geek Squad if you can instead be remembered as the guys who fix every problem without a hiccup? No need to think of a marketing plan; just let the work speak for itself.

Further down the road I saw the exact opposite side of the coin, as there was a large billboard for a local attorney, Scott B. Brilliant. Now, I'm not saying that I think this was a made-up name cobbled together by some marketing team, but I do think that this guy has been thinking about what kind of business he was going to be opening since he was about 10. You don't have the last name Brilliant and end up working somewhere your name isn't going to be seen. You just know that as Scott was growing up he had a plethora of fake business cards ready to go for whatever industry he would end up going into: Brilliant Auto Repair, Brilliant Carpet and Window Cleaners, etc. Therefore, I do not think the design meetings for this billboard were quick. Brilliant appears to have put a lot of thought into how he would present himself to potential clients, as evidenced by the use of the middle initial that is also conveniently a verb. Also, I bet he got a lot of traction from those Guinness ads a few years back. (However, I feel like he earned that right because you know every time he got less than an A on a test in school he heard about it from his friends and teachers.) A quick look at his website shows he does Civil Litigation and Insurance Disputes. I just wonder if he helped draw up the insurance coverage plan for Computer Store.