SoundRocket: A Name is Selected
With six names to choose from, it was time to make a decision. Today I will emphasize the process of elimination, and in my next post, I will make the case for why we found SoundRocket to be such an excellent fit.
Fieldstorm
The easiest to reject – not because of the quality of the name, but because of the industry term “field”. Used often to represent “field interviewers” in survey research, this was one service that was not in our list of capabilities. The name was rejected immediately.
Counterpart
Practicing the science of survey research in a field with mostly PhD level researchers who are funded on government grants (usually National Institutes of Health or National Science Foundation), we have learned that we can build strong collaborations. However, our customer is the principal investigator who has received the funding – and we understand our role as their methodological support team. Counterpart felt like it was crossing the line and claiming too prominent a role in the research. We understood that our customers were the only ones who could assign us such prestige.
Wheelhouse
A favorite from the start – Wheelhouse had a comfortable nautical feel, and spoke to the feeling of adventure and movement that we often conveyed. This name didn’t lose – it was simply bested by a name that was exactly what we were looking for. We have something in mind for how we may use this name in the future and have acquired several domains that would work with it in case we do pursue them.
Stridepost
While this name conveyed both movement and stability, its western feel turned us away eventually as we found ourselves looking for places to tie up our horses and shovels to clean up the mess.
Honest Table
Transparency and collaboration are key to our character, and Honest Table does well at communicating both. Our trouble with this name was its similarity to a well-known restaurant reservation service.
Describing the reasons for rejection of these five names makes this process look simpler than it was. We discussed, debated, laid down definitive objections and preferences, and allowed the names to rest in our minds. It wasn’t long though – from start to finish, it took us less than two weeks to finalize our choice: introducing SoundRocket!
Come back tomorrow to learn why SoundRocket earned its place on our wall…
