Thursday, September 21, 2006

Finding Vimo

Finding a short, meaningful, memorable and legally unencumbered trademark to name and brand an internet startup is obviously hard to do today, especially in the US where you need the precise .com domain name to prevent web leakage. Just as when we name our children, entrepreneurs must also avoid selecting names that evoke unintended meanings or nicknames. Chevrolet allegedly learned this lesson when it failed to sell the Chevy Nova (Spanish for "No Go") in South America.

So the folks at Healthia were happy to announce yesterday that they have selected a long term moniker for their company (and without retaining a "naming consultant"). The new name Vimo evokes:

(i) vim, as in health, vigor, and vitality;

(ii) the Gujarati word vimo, meaning insurance;

(iii) the Swahili vimo, meaning measurements and also stature;

and, most importantly

(iv) the urban slang vimo meaning sexy, cool and impeccable.

Vimo announced its new name as it launched several impressive new features of its free healthcare shopping portal (full details here). For example, the MyVimo service tracks your doctors for new patient reviews and disciplinary actions. And the insurance comparison tool identifies the particular plans your doctors accept (submit your age and gender here, and then filter the results based on your doctors).

For a limited time, get a free T-shirt from Vimo just for reviewing your doctor. While Vimo's portal will enhance your vigor, the shirt will make you sexy, cool and impeccable.



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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:13 AM

    Is it safe to assume that the team at Healthia/Vimo contains at least (i) one american; (ii) one indian; (iii) one african and perhaps (iv) one yuppie? ;-)

    p.s. I initially misread your title to be "Findig Vino" in my RSS client (Thunderbird) and had assumed this was a post describing a trip to some Californian vineyards! :-D

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  2. Anonymous9:38 PM

    Whether the Chevy No Va story is urban legend or not, the raciest naming horror story is the Clairol screw up - introducing Mist Stick (Miststu(umlaud)ck) to german market not realizing mist is german slang for manure. lovely.

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  3. Anonymous8:51 PM

    Great company to work with, have been one of our largest provider of leads.

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