Blog Title: Thingnamer, The

Let's Be Honest. Really. (Really.) (Really.) (Etc.)

Things aren't good out there, are they?  No, they're not.This has become abundantly clear in recent weeks as our email boxes have overflowed with offers and/or pleas for us to attend various conferences and events both in person and online.  Gone are the days of "Only Three Spots Left" a ...

A Branding Firm With No Tagline?

We get lots of great comments and feedback about our brand when people encounter it.  Sometimes it's a reference to how cool or unique it is, sometimes it's a comment about the fact that a brand like ours would never get through the approvals process at a company such as ...

Who wants to build crowdsourcing done right?

Really.  I mean it.After being prodded by a few of my peers I've got to make a quick appeal - if only just to see what happens.crowdSPRING is pretty awesome, but isn't quite right for the level of brand development that professional organizations need.  That's one of the reasons why ...

Sometimes Crowdsourcing Sucks.

So I'm sitting at my desk and a tweet comes across telling me that a "Company Slogan needs a name."  Not sure how to interpret that... So I check it out.  Apparently one of the crowdsourcing companies out there has an automated broadcast that just says "[Fill in the blank] ...

It has to do this, and this, and this, and this, and...

Let's hear it for home pages.A while back we were reviewing the existing home page for a prospective client and I asked what the purpose of the page was.  His response was that it had to make all the points necessary to attract the interest of anyone who could possibly ...

What's Goin' On? (Hi crowdSPRING)

Hey gang.  About three weeks worth of updates to make and about five minutes to do it in...A few goings on of note:We've gone social!  Check out @Thingnamer, @Stokefire, and our shiny new Facebook Page (We could do with a fan or two.)Stokefire signed our first social media client, so ...

iMAGINE Alexandria Shout Out

Nancy Belmont and I were interviewed by Missy Frederick at the Washington Business Journal earlier this week.  Great things are coming from the non-profit and the article gives a peek into what's coming.  Look for more in the near future from our all-star communications team.  (They're so good that in ...

Crowdsourcing Takes On Verbal Branding

I'm on record as supporting crowdsourcing as a solution to branding, though I tend to rant a bit about the ways in which people are trying to get the job done.  Stokefire tried an experiment with naming and crowdsourcing and got pretty horrid results from the activity about a year ...

Now THAT is real communication. Thanks!

One of the knocks I have heard about crowdsourcing is that the buyers are not savvy enough to recognize good (or bad) work, and even if they are they are not willing to risk upsetting the designers working without a paycheck by telling the bad ones that they really shouldn't ...

Let's Stop Complaining and Start Fixing Crowdsourcing.

We're workin' on it, how about you?In addition to placing a creative director on all crowdsourced projects we've added a pool of money to reward great work.  We know it doesn't solve everything, but we see it as a good second step.  (In the first day we already identified one ...

Does Your Blog Need A Lift?

If it does then you might want to check out Chuck Westbrook's project: BlogHiker. He's got a great concept that helps worthy blogs find traffic and get noticed on a national level.  Interested?  Join the conversation and maybe even get your own blog on the list of those ready to ...

Judgement Day

Yep.  I'm headed over to the American Chamber Of Commerce Executives association to help judge the location-based marketing campaigns they've developed over the past year.  I went last year and was astounded by the creativity.  I'm guessing '08 will be at least as impressive, in part because most budgets weren't ...

We Got Haxxored (AGAIN.)

In case anyone noticed that the last few posts from the blog got wiped out (along with quite a few comments) I figured I should take a moment to explain.Apparently all my non-techie fiddling with our web servers about four years ago has resulted in numerous random scripts floating around ...

Google Autopilot

Imagine a world where you no longer need to sift through piles of email and strategically answer only the ones that matter.  According to Google's Gmail that day is finally here.  Google Autopilot handles all the dirty work for you.Just log in to your Gmail account and look in the ...

Brand-oriented Thought for the Day

The best way to communicate your brand position is to occupy it.  If you have to tell people what your brand positioning is then you haven't actually established the position yet. ...