– Aaron Keller, Managing Principal, Capsule

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By another other name would still smell as sweet

Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet

During a recent bout with the flu, I visited my local urgent care and was assigned a nice doctor who went by the surname “cure.” Dr. Cure.  I found the implied promise of my future well-being interesting.  As if the capital “D” and lower case “r” wasn’t enough.

In my state of surprise, I failed to ask whether Dr. Cure had changed his name after graduating from medical school (but for the sake of argument, let’s just assume he did not).  Now, after taking a moment to mentally explore the other professions to which the good doctor’s name could have been applied, think about this:

What if my physician’s name had been Dr. Dysese? Or Dr. Flu?

How would names such as these weigh on a patient’s capacity to trust his competency?  Would it even get that far? I am fairly certain a doctor who found himself in this position would consider the snarky comments alone enough to warrant a name change.

This leads to one of our fundamental philosophies regarding a “good” name versus a “bad” one.  Consider names on a scale from –5 to +5, with a name like Dr. Cure on the +5 side.  Any name above zero makes a contribution to the value of a brand and anything below acts more like an anchor than a sail.  The perfect name is the one you own that’s memorable and makes a positive contribution to the value of your brand.

This should inspire you to keep searching for that +5 name, never settling for something below zero—that’s something you’ll always regret.