We love the way this name sets up what the product is and we also share some interesting insights on how a very specific name, which can be super helpful in the beginning, becomes a liability when a company succeeds wildly.
Does This Name Suck? SURVEY MONKEY
This video originally appeared in LinkedIn
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TRANSCRIPT:
Hey guys, it’s Rebeca with BrandTrue. And let’s do another, “Does This Name Suck” video. This time let’s focus on SurveyMonkey. So there’s some real pros and cons with this one. Let me take you through the analysis.
The first thing is the T from the TRUE filter. Is it a Transparent communication or is there some kind of transparent connection? Well, it is the preeminent purveyor of surveys, online surveys. So having “survey” in the name is pretty transparent. Also, it’s really, really simple, and I think having Monkey in the name, pretty well conveys that. So I think that they definitely get a yes on the T.
For the Really Reals, the R around is it creating some kind of like Real feeling? Not really. It’s not a particularly emotional name, but maybe that’s okay. Not every name hits everyone. For the one about being Unique, definitely unique, especially when they launched. Two years after SurveyMonkey launched, MailChimp, the CRM software launched, and that makes both feel kind of less unique, but that’s because they got copied. That wasn’t at the time they chose their name.
And then finally, is the name Engaging? It is actually pretty engaging. I think a monkey is kind of you know, accessible. Not accessible, but unintimidating. Right? Kind of playful, kind of fun. So I think that it helps with the engagement in that respect, and also, it’s very visual. You hear the name, you see a monkey. It makes it more memorable. So I think that it definitely doesn’t suck. It’s a great name!
Now there’s a whole other thing going on, which is that we often talk about if you have a sense of your brand’s ambitions, where you might want to go in the future, keep that in mind with your name. I can’t know if they knew they would succeed as wildly as they did. Probably not. But if we’re talking about the SurveyMonkey name, we should talk about the fact that when they did succeed wildly, they actually have had to rename the parent company. It’s now called Momentum because they do a lot of other things in the research field other than just surveys. Their survey business is still called SurveyMonkey, but the company is now big and diversified, and successful and it’s called Momentum. So just a little footnote, a naming footnote. That’s what I think. Let me know what you think. Thanks. Bye!
