Innoveering Nebraska

The issues of  naming things and trademarks have been popping up a lot lately in my conversations.  I’ve also received a lot of questions about these topics in the last two weeks and the Wall Street Journal ran a good piece on Thursday by Emily Maltby titled “Name Choices Spark Lawsuits.” 

Right from the start I make it clear to everyone – and I want to make it clear here – that I’m not an attorney and none of this is legal advice,  I’m only sharing what I do for myself to ensure that I’m on solid ground with regards to the words and phrases I’m using. 

“Solid ground” is a great phrase for discussing trademarks right now because words are the new real estate.  There are only so many real words, so many combinations of letters that make new memorable words and only so many desirable .extensions. 

Although I have a theory on the .extensions.   According to my father, back in the day AM radio was where it was at.  FM was so ungroovey that no one would touch it.  And then something happen (the dial became too crowded?) and suddenly all the newest coolest stations where on FM.  It seems likely that the same thing eventually will happen to the .com extension.  When and which new extension are the big questions.   

But how about right now?  How do you find the best real estate?

I start by thinking about what is the essence of the thing or concept I’m trying to name – its wabi-sabi.  I make lists of snippets of language that fit and are descriptive.  I’m not discerning at this point and I’m not picky about whether terms contradict themselves.  The more you list, the easier it will be to find the trends that lead to the real essence of your new endeavor.  On rare occasions this step might only take an afternoon.  More often, this will be something you pick up and put down several times.  The key is to keep all your notes together in one place so nothing is lost. 

For example, when I was naming Innoveering Nebraska, my notes went on for pages and included “entrepreneurs, innovation, basic and understandable, new approach, new frontiers, educational, trying new things, bravely trying new things, not being afraid to fail, sensible and adventuresome, pioneers…and on and on. 

Once you’ve identified the true essence/wabi-sabi of your new project, identify the words or phrases in your notes that fit best.   In my example entrepreneur, innovation and pioneers  seemed to embody the concept of bravely and practically doing something new and different.   

I wasn’t thrilled though.  Pioneers is such an old fashioned word, entrepreneur is so vague and innovation has been overused to the point that I saw it on an old rusted out service truck one day.  (I think it was innovation plumbing.)

Which brings us to the next step (which some of you may get to skip if you’re content with one or more of your wabi-sabi words). 

• Are there any similar but better words that have the same or even a better meaning than your wabi-sabi words?  Brainstorm and make a list.  For example, if water is on your wabi-sabi list you would make a list of  water words – rain, pond, ocean, wet, pool, facet, ice, steam, river, stream, etc.
• Can any of the words be combined to convey a clearer meaning?  (Matt Secoske’s NimbleLogic is my current favorite in this category.  You want your software to be logical, but also flexible/nimble)
• Can you smoosh any of the words together to convey a new and/or better maning?  This is what I ended up doing for Innoveering.  It’s a combination of pioneer and innovation.  Also, a new word suits its meaning.  If your goal is to pioneer a new way of looking at innovation and entrepreneurship as something everyone is capable of doing, establishing a new word is good place to start. 

The next steps describe how to check out the landscape – how to determine if anyone has beat you to this particular real estate.  It seems like a good breaking point so I’ll describe the next steps in another blog entry.

In the meantime, remember that there is a lot in a name.  The perfect name can convey just the right meaning.  It can also serve as a great, memorable handle for what you represent.  Words and names are important and deserve your time and effort.  Of course names aren’t everything – but I think that’s yet another blog entry. 

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