Just Bras

There's a phenomenon that seems especially Tasmanian but I assume is actually global.

I'm talking about businesses that are named something like "Just <things>" or "<thing> World" or "<things> only" etc.

We come to know about these businesses through advertising.

Usually that advertising seems to be going to great pain and expense to tell us that they don't only do/have <thing>s.

Funnily enough, the business name in title of this post seems to have changed since I first thought of writing this post.

They are now called "Not Just Bras".

Is that better? I'm not sure.

All I know is I could have picked a less pervy example business for me to be looking up.

Anyway, it seems strange to me that someone would pick a name only to have to invest lots of money into explaining that that's not all they do.

It feels like one step backwards before going forewwards. Why not just have your business name describe and encompass most of what you do (if not all of it)?

My business name popped out of real conversations I had with my neighbour many years ago.

I said "I hate your PC". She said "I hate it too".

As I walked home I thought that would make a good business name - "I Hate My PC".

I was sick of what I was doing so after a few extra visitis to my neighbour I decided I'd register the name.

Most people get the joke. Some think having the word "hate" in a business name, let alone anything, is a bad idea and too negative. I can see that now and I am not sure I'd do the same thing again.

At the time my thinking was that most people would say this to themselves at some point and therefore already know my business name before they knew I existed.

It made it memorable and fairly self evident...or so I thought.

I registered a bunch of similar names including "I hate my Mac", but soon realised Apple people don't think like that and especially don't admit they hate their Mac to anyone (although, Google that phrase and you'll see time has changed that a bit).

These days people's attention is counted in seconds. So if your business name struggles to be memorable or make sense, then it isn't staying anyone's head.

Recently I met someone who remembered me from my business name from 10 years ago!

That's kind of satisfying and validating.

If you've got this far you may enjoy these:

https://worldwideinterweb.com/unfortunate-business-names-ever/

If you've seen any good ones please comment below.

Tell me why you like (or hate) the name.

Enjoy, David