Speaking of names…sometimes I’m struck by what appear to be brilliant solutions to vexing problems and I came across such an example recently when I heard of a company called ‘Preneur.
What struck me is that I recall, not long ago, a big brouhaha over the magazine Entrepreneur and its successful fight to protect its name through trademark even though most of us would agree that the word “entrepreneur” is fairly generic. But, Entrepreneur Media, the magazine’s parent company continues to battle those who attempt to use the word entrepreneur in their name. Additional information with specific examples can be found on this blog.
It remains to be seen what may happen to ‘Preneur, and I have no idea whether the selection of that name was intended in any way to foil the Entrepreneur brand police, but it made me chuckle just the same. It gets across the same message, but not using the same word. Here’s how ‘Preneur describe itself:
“What is ‘PRENEUR? ‘PRENEUR helps small businesses and ‘preneurs of all kinds grow big ideas. Our mission is to help the people behind these grand ideas connect, promote, learn and grow their ventures. Read and engage in our websites and events, and activate a ProPreneur membership for insider access a carefully curated toolbox of business tools you can use right now to increase exposure to your brand, connect with a supportive bunch of business owners just like you, and learn directly from the pros. ‘PRENEUR: WHAT’S IN A NAME ‘PRENEUR. We really love this name. It encompasses who we represent and the people we created this business for the moment you hear it. It is shorter than the often cumbersome ‘entrepreneur,’ and it’s unique enough that people remember it. We thought of the name one sunny, crisp morning while jogging, but thought ‘Nah…it’s too weird!’ But then we Googled it, and straight away, ‘preneurs of all sorts came up: design-preneur, tech-preneur, actor-preneur, solo-preneur, mom-preneur, – everyone! We dug a little deeper, into the root of the word, and discovered it was French. ‘Prendre,’ the root of preneur, means ‘to pick up,’ ‘to take.’ It is an action word. ‘Prendre les armes’ means to take up arms; ‘prendre de l’avance’ means to forge ahead. We are ‘PRENEUR: we move forward, we forge ahead together!”
I like it–I like the way they’ve described how the word reflects their brand, and I hope they’re very successful.
Tags: Brand Management, branding, Entrepreneur; preneur, naming, trademark