Discussion

By Ken Hoffmann on Nov 09, 2010

Agreed! Save the three-letters for great universities such as RIT. Of course, is USC Southern Cal or South Carolina? Is OSU Ohio State or Oklahoma State or Oregon State? Is MSU Mississippi State or Michigan State or Montana State? And on and on...

By Gina Danner on Nov 09, 2010

I believe the challenge here is that our industry is having challenges figuring out who we are. Are we Marketing Service Providers, Printers, Service Bureaus, Technology Companies, or what?

AND, then try to tell people what you do that is unique and different... come on. People don't get what we do. They get printing, but it's not sexy so we have to change our name.

My company's name is Mail Print -- it says exactly what we do -- but when I call a CMO I never use my company name because I create innovative technology driven results oriented marketing programs that drive revenue. I do it using the latest technology that blows their minds.

The initials allow us to hide from negative stereotypes and getting dropped down to the print buyer which is NOT where we need to be.

We are toying with a new name... Pickle Solutions. I'm not really digging it, but if it will get someone to listen to me -- not sure I really care.

By Frank Romano on Nov 09, 2010

I am starting the Association Against Acronymic Appelations -- AAAA

Frank

By Pat Mcgrew on Nov 09, 2010

OMG. LOL. BTW, TLA-speak is a problem. I'm not sure, though, that FLA-speak is the solution.

Translation. Oh My Gosh. I am Laughing Out Loud. By the way, Three-letter-acronym-speak is a problem. I am not sure, though, that four-letter-acronym speak is the solution.

We used to do a presentation at Share where we bundled all of the acronyms together to see how many "names" we could identify with a specific acronym. It was scary then, more so now.

Has anyone else noticed that "receive" is spelled incorrectly below the comments box?

By Chris Bauer on Nov 09, 2010

Actually, most naming consultants would advise against an acronym as they are the least memorable of all choices and it is far more costly to introduce and support one as a result. Where it works best is when a marquee client reduces its name down to a three letter structure such as IBM who was formally International Business Machines.

By Patrick Henry on Nov 09, 2010

What would ex-printer Sam Clemens say if he knew that his nom de plume stood for Technology Without An Interesting Name?