Patrick’s getting coworking going in Montreal and is stymied by that old branding foe: What to name the space?
Alright so this past week has been very productive coworking space wise, a couple of meetings, new people showing interest in membership, full membership (often called anchors) and even investing so it’s looking very promising.
While traveling and visiting spaces I made the decision to push a lot harder for this thing and it’s already showing results. Sweet. One thing that I keep wanting to find and people keep asking me for is a name.
He’s got some great ideas already and there’s more gems in the comments, but I’m sure he’d appreciate more.
Any ideas for Patrick?
We are trying to get the core of a coworking initiative together in Houston, as well. I have been observing the dynamics of the naming thing and have found it to be very interesting. If the space will be used by a company (leasehold sponsor) from which to do business, I could understand using some semblance of the company’s identity. But, if the space is truly used for the creation of a community then I believe the name needs to remain company independent. I also think that it is rather important to put meaning into the name that outsiders can understand what the space is used for.
Without cornering a brand, I like the idea of having a open-platform brand on the spaces as they begin to pop up around the world. Without being too boring, maybe something as simple as “Coworking Houston.” The benefit to the global community is that we know exactly what to expect when we roll into such a space.
Personally, if it were a space that I contributed towards, I would like the name to connote the purpose, such as “The Mashup.” The purpose of the space would be to gather creative technologists wishing to build something significant.
Ah well… Just trying to make some comments and quit the blurking 🙂
– Robert
We are trying to get the core of a coworking initiative together in Houston, as well. I have been observing the dynamics of the naming thing and have found it to be very interesting. If the space will be used by a company (leasehold sponsor) from which to do business, I could understand using some semblance of the company’s identity. But, if the space is truly used for the creation of a community then I believe the name needs to remain company independent. I also think that it is rather important to put meaning into the name that outsiders can understand what the space is used for.
Without cornering a brand, I like the idea of having a open-platform brand on the spaces as they begin to pop up around the world. Without being too boring, maybe something as simple as “Coworking Houston.” The benefit to the global community is that we know exactly what to expect when we roll into such a space.
Personally, if it were a space that I contributed towards, I would like the name to connote the purpose, such as “The Mashup.” The purpose of the space would be to gather creative technologists wishing to build something significant.
Ah well… Just trying to make some comments and quit the blurking 🙂
– Robert