Eat My Words - The Kitchen Sink

Please visit our NEW blog and website for the freshest tips on how to name your company - www.eatmywords.com

C'mon over to our new website and blog... we'll be waiting for you. All of the same posts are there so you won't miss any of the fun.

The Kitchen Sink blog has moved - www.eatmywords.com/blog

 

Please visit us at our new location:

http://eatmywords.com/blog/

How about renaming it "Brad Pit Bull"?

Recently we were tapped to work on a highly controversial project... to rebrand America's most demonized breed of canine, the Pit Bull.

All of us here at Eat My Words  are dyed-in-the-sheep wool animal lovers with many dogs, cats, goats, chickens, Chia pets, Pet Rocks, and one very angry goose sharing their lives with us.  (Not in a one-bedroom apartment, thank godness.) Therefore, we are predisposed to love our furry and feathered friends. 

However, we admit to buying into some of the myths and misstatements about the Pit Bull and committed ourselves to get educated about this proud beast, which was once known as "Americas family pet."

Our preliminary research has resulted in the following positive findings:

• Petey (a  Pit Bull) ran with The Little Rascals and they all lived to adulthood.

• Jessica Biel and Jessica Alba both own Pit Bulls, and they are hot so whatever they like we like.

• There was a Pit Bull named Grunt in the movie "Flashdance". The story is that not only was Grunt a wonderful dog, but is widely considered to be a better actor than Jennifer Beals

• Cesar Millan says they are OK and he is the Dog Whisperer.  We don't know what the hell whispering to a dog does, but Cesar has his own show and nice teeth.

• Contrary to popular belief, Pit Bulls do not have a "locking jaw" mechanism.  The same cannot be said for Rumer Willis.

• The Pit Bull Registry claims you are more four times more likely to be killed by a cow than a Pit Bull.  Two questions.  1) who keeps track of bovine related deaths 2) how embarrassing would it be to be killed by a cow?  How about a "roaring cow"?

All kidding aside, we have learned a lot of positive things about Pit Bulls and have changed our views. Pit Bulls have only gotten a bad rap because of their association with dog fighting and popularity with MTV gangstas. The good news is that the gangsta thugs we have spotted lately in the hood are all sporting itty bitty Chihuahuas ala Paris Hilton.

Like the breed, the new names needs to be friendly and approachable. Our 5 favorite new names so far:

Rockwell Terrier
(ala Norman Rockwell)

American Spirit Terrier
(Americana, sounds like a top breed)

Emperor Terrier  
(a Pit Bull type dog was given to a Chinese emperor)

Gettysburg Terrier
(Americana)

Relay Terrier
(they exceed in flyball which involves relays)

We'll keep you posted...

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*Pit Bull is not a breed but a description of several dogs with similar characteristics including the  American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier and Sarah Palin.

Gushing Testimonials from our Happy Clients

Here are some recent testimonials from clients who loved working with Alexandra and the talented team at Eat My Words.  For more glowing recommendations, visit our Reviews page.

"Alexandra is truly innovative and distinctive in the business she has built. Recently, a naming exercise came into play at IHG. Because I had experienced good work with Alexandra while VP of Consumer Insights at Dunkin' Brands, I reached out to her company once more.

I received from Eat My Words, on very short notice, a very thoughtful and creative list of potential names for a new Holiday Inn venture. The creativity of Alexandra and team allowed us to perform true "due diligence" as part of our branding work, and we hold her in high esteem for that. We definitely plan to tap into Eat my Words for a project in the Spring ... and what higher advocacy measure is there than, "I plan to use this group again!"

Truly, Alexandra and team are smart boutique shop masters who take you to levels in your marketing work that are not experienced amongst more traditional suppliers. "

- Regina Lewis, PhD

  SVP, Global Insights, InterContinental Hotels Group

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"I engaged Alexandra to work on the naming of a new business - Wavelength. I would describe the experience as seamless, professional and quite frankly inspirational! From the outset the questions posed made us really think about what we were trying to achieve, and the 100's of ideas Alex and her team generated made us pause, ponder and often quite often laugh!!

We were truly delighted with her final recommendation, we'd never have come up with the name without her and can't recommend her services highly enough."

- Adrian Simpson

  Chief Connector, Wavelength Companies, Ltd

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"I hired Alexandra to help name my company because she thinks out of the box, but also is very down to earth in her approach - for example, no bizarre spellings! But most importantly, she really understood my business and me, and took a very human approach to the task. Moreover, she delivered things on time, professionally, and held my hand throughout the entire process, including getting the name and URL registered. Can't recommend her enough."

- Charlene Li

  Founder, Altimeter Group

Frigid, Mixin' Vixens Stuff a Sock In It

If you guessed that Frigid, Mixin' Vixens, and Stuff a Sock In It are all cool brand names created by Eat My Words, congratulations! Bonus points if you figured out that Frigid is the name of a gourmet ice cream store, Mixin' Vixens is an all-women bartender service, and Stuff a Sock In It is a laundromat. When you see or hear an "Eat My Words name," you'll never ask what it means, how to pronounce it, or "What were they smoking?!" Our super-likable names make powerful emotional connections, build instant brand affinity, and make our clients rich. Yes, rich. We are the only naming firm that monetizes names. For instance, we turned the name Frigid into cold hard cash for our client by creating a t-shirt for them that says, "Not tonight dear, I have an ice cream headache." Ca-ching! Our Stuff a Sock In It client will be slapping their new logo on laundry bags, t-shirts, and other merchandise geared at their college kid customers. Ca-ching!

Of course, the client who is monetizing the bejesus out of their Eat My Words name is Spoon Me, the frozen yogurt store that is one of the hottest franchises in the country. They are selling Spoon Me pajamas, booty shorts, underwear, baby clothes, stickers, buttons and of course t-shirts with slogans we created like "Shut Up and Spoon Me." Ca-ching! Ca-ching! Ca-ching! 

Would someone buy a t-shirt with your company or product name on it and pay you to advertise your brand? To see if your name has potential, take the Eat My Words SMILE & SCRATCH Test, which was recently featured in The Wall Street Journal.

Our newest client Rachelle Goodfriend helps couples in the bedroom and beyond.

Does it really matter if you and your partner have vastly different design tastes? Can style disagreements really lead to big-time marital problems? What are some of the juiciest conflicts couples have? See our newest client, Rachelle Goodfriend of Goodfriend Design Group, answered these questions and more in a revealing interview in the glossy new August issue of San Francisco Magazine.

Rachelle is a successful psychotherapist- turned-interior designer based in San Francisco. She is gaining notoriety for her niche of helping couples that face challenges as they design an environment together. Her expertise in this area, often an emotionally charged minefield, includes proprietary "couple design compatibility tools," which will be included in her upcoming book.

Eat My Words is helping Rachelle change the name of her business to be more reflective of her specialty, capitalize on the massive need for couples to fuse their furnishings and design taste in harmony, and appeal to a national audience. In addition to a focused new business name, we are rebranding her business with a strong tagline to support her new brand, as well as a title for her first interior design book for couples.

Those of us in the Bay Area can also see Rachelle on The View From the Bay this Thursday, July 31st at 3pm on KGO-TV where she helps a couple fuse color, furniture, accessories, and window treatments to dramatically transform a bedroom from schizophrenia to synchronicity.

 

Eat My Words hits the cool client jackpot

Eat My Words has so many fun new clients that we have barely been able to catch our breath since Memorial Day. Some of the cool things we're naming are an uber-hip PR firm, a tasty new vodka, a modern day fortune teller (so to speak), a new tuna sub-brand for Star-kist, a yummy new cracker for Frito-Lay, a sizzling new menu item for Long John Silvers, an exotic adventure travel business, and shoes, shoes, and more shoes. Plus we're re-branding an as-seen-on-HGTV interior design firm with a new name, tagline and the first of many book titles. And we are helping SIGG launch a top-secret new product. I'll let you know when I can let the cat out of the bottle.

What's Cooking

We have a lot of food on our plates right now including naming healthy snacks for kids and two new Star-kist products which we have to keep under wraps for now. Sorry, Charlie. About 60% of our current naming gigs are for products that don't make you fat or drunk - like software, schools, and sportswear. We're doing name explorations for sound pioneer THX, Knowledge Learning Corporation, a luxury goods retailer, and lots of Web 2.0 start-ups. We'll let you know when we can let the monkey out of the bag.  

Because we don't do stale names... Frito-Lay taps EMW

As vending machine junkies, we were floored when Frito-Lay called us out of the blue. The salty snack giant was attracted to our whimsical style and fresh approach to naming, which is a great fit for their new flavors and products. With brands like Cheetos, Doritos, and Tostitos, Frito-Lay is the snack jackpot and we're thrilled to have them as a client. Of course our projects are super top secret, but we'll let you know when we can let the cat out of the potato chip bag.

New client: Sydney Opera House

We just finished a top secret naming gig for the prestigious Sydney Opera House. When it's over and the fat lady sings, we'll let you know all about it. But until then, our lips are sealed. Here's a photo of one of the friends I made when I spent a year down under.