Brainware and Exalead: Name Magnetism
July 20, 2009
A rose by any other name may smell as sweet … not in the world of search companies!
Let me give you two examples of search company naming and point out the importance of eliminating confusion for those seeking information about a search and content processing system.
First, run a query on Google Video for Exalead. The system returned 17 pages of videos. I scanned the 170 links and did not spot a false drop. I like the name Exalead. The “exa” reminds me of exabytes of data. With the volume of email I get as a result of my addled goose musings in this Web log. One thousand petabytes is an exabyte, so Exalead’s name connotes software that can handle large volumes of data. The “lead” evokes leadership. I think the founder of Exalead contributed to the company’s name. Whoever came up with “Exalead” deserves a happy quack. Herewith: Quack.
Exalead’s branding, therefore, is solid and strong in my opinion. Tossing the name “Exalead” into a metasearch engine like Navgle.com, I got a mash up of content from various sources, and again I did not spot a false hit. In fact, it is easy to isolate information about the Exalead search system. For Exalead, Twitter had spot on results. No false hits.
Second, run a query on Google Video for Brainware. Looking through the smaller hit list (roughly one third the number of hits for Exalead videos), I noticed several items of interest. (Please, run these queries yourself and draw your own conclusions.)
I noticed straightaway that another organization uses the name “brainware” as a conference name; that is, Montreal Brainware. Interesting. The conference was given in 2001 and did not seem to get traction. Some confusion, but it is difficult to confuse a conference with a software company. As I scanned the results list, I saw a link to a computer game, which seemed to be five months old but a dead link, a link to a wiffle ball team video, a link to a health related video, and more game references. I ran the “brainware” query on Navgle.com and left the hit list review with these points in mind:
- Navgle returned a number of false drops for the query “brainware”, including a link to a childhood education program
- One of the top Web results was a design company operating under the name “Brainware” at a .net domain which means the search vendor Brainware did not snag other domains to help prevent such brand claim jumping
- There were zero tweets about the search vendor.
There were zero tweets about the search vendor. (Twitter is reviled by many, but it mirrors certain market conditions.)
Why is naming a search and content processing company important? In my opinion there are several reasons:
First, if a searcher is confused about “which Brainware”, it may be a marketing negative. Second, by not buying other domains, the search vendor loses control of the selected name. I was surprised at how many “brainwares” were in the wild. Did the search vendor consider that potential customers, faced with wiffle ball, might give up look elsewhere for scanning and indexing technology? In my opinion, an unambiguous brand is important for search engine indexing robots, but obviously some people do not agree with my view.
My take: Exalead has a name that makes it quite easy for a potentially interested customer to find information about the firm’s search and content processing technology. No brand claim jumping. Even the single word query returns relevant results. Zero confusion in my goose pond. In contrast, Brainware has a name that creates opportunities for confusion. Naming is a big deal for marketing, trademark protection, and getting a high ranking in Bing.com or Google.com result lists.
Google’s and Microsoft’s naming conventions are problematic in my view, but these outfits can cope due to their size and marketing horsepower. Smaller search vendors need to get the basics lined up like toy soldiers. Putting hurdles in front of a prospect does not seem like a good business tactic. In today’s business environment, getting the name associated aspects of marketing nailed down is important because it can affect the perceived value of a company and its
products. Just my opinion. Honk!
Stephen Arnold, July 20, 2009
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3 Responses to “Brainware and Exalead: Name Magnetism”
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Excellent article. Ironically, neither of the ‘big guys’ – FAST and Autonomy – do particularly well. Autonomy fares better than FAST on Navgle, but in general there are too many other meanings of both company names to serve as a useful discriminator. Define a Google alert for ‘autonomy idol’ and for fast esp’ and see how poorly they score.