"Risque Names Reap Rewards for Some Companies" was the
headline in last week's Business Day section of
The Times (NYT, 4/23/19). The article recounts the experience of a
pair of entrepreneurs by the name of Corin and Brian Mullins. They had been
producing a product with the leaden name of Hapi Food cereal. “But Mr. Mullins, whose career had been spent in marketing communications, allowed his thoughts to wander mischievously,”
the Times piece explained. “Heavy on chia and hemp seeds, the cereal he and his wife had first conceived in 2009 was extremely high in fiber. Why not just call it Holy Crap?”
The Times went on to report that with the new name Holy Crap was doing “$5.5 million in four years.”
The
Times piece quoted Richard Branson about the naming of Virgin, “It
smacked of new and fresh and at the time the word was still slightly risqué,
so, thinking it would be an attention grabber, we went with it.”
Kickass Cupcakes,
Eggslut,
Sassy Bitch and
Fat Bastard,
Master Bait &Tackle are other outfits mentioned in
the Times
story. The piece even cites a tampon company called
HelloFlo. But what about
a public relations company called Get the Clap, an oil rigging concern named Bored to Death or a real estate company called Spaced Out? Of course, as clever as they might sound these names still are no match for
Mammoth Erection, the scaffold concern that’s mentioned in the article.
If you’re going to try to get attention by being outrageous and risqué or both,
you have to go over the top. Remember
Roach Brothel the famed
SNL parody of
Roach Motel? How about Crack House for a home repair service,
The Breaking Wind for a bistro which serves food from some tropical island and
Stuck Up for a company that is trying to compete with
Roto-Rooter in a competitive market. How about a gym called Fit to Be Tied, an upholsterer
called The Electric Chair and a company which specializes after school
activities for kids, called Throw It Up? Wouldn’t Congress be the perfect name
for a hot new dating service?
