No Accounting for Taste
One of my company's clients is an accounting firm. They are going to start sending an accounting-type-stuff newsletter to their clients. They're part of an organization that writes it for them, making it such that they don't have to do shit but put their name on it and take credit for it.
Their organization calls this newsletter "Client Friend." Using their better judgment, our clients came to us to brainstorm a new name.
I used my tried-and-true method of creative thinking, staring blankly at a notepad for awhile. After a few bad ones I eventually came up with "Black Ink," what with black ink meaning fiscally solvent and such. My boss suggested "The Ledger," which also sounds accounting related. Our clients' slogan is "Partners in Your Success," so we also tried a few that played on that.
After an hour meeting with my boss we were sent back to the drawing board. It bears mentioning that these particular clients are known for being indecisive; it took them a whole year to approve their damn logo. Certainly a newsletter title is easier to decide than a logo, right? Apparently I was wrong, as they weighed each name we gave them as if it would be the moniker of their first born.
We began anew. Creative frustration in a brainstorming session does not make for good productivity. They want names? They got names; we spat out anything even remotely related to accounting, partners, or finances. This at first led to suggestions like:
Profit Partners
Partner to Partner
Debits & Credits
Accounting Advantage
Taxing Issues
Balancing Act
Saving Savvy
Accruing Interest
And soon led to suggestions like:
Ka-CHING!
Partner Potpourri
Fickle Finger of FICA
Partners in Crime. Er, I Mean Success!
Don't Account Your Chickens Before They're Hatched
Down for the Account
Account Dracula
For this we charge $85 an hour.
If only every workday was like this.
Their organization calls this newsletter "Client Friend." Using their better judgment, our clients came to us to brainstorm a new name.
I used my tried-and-true method of creative thinking, staring blankly at a notepad for awhile. After a few bad ones I eventually came up with "Black Ink," what with black ink meaning fiscally solvent and such. My boss suggested "The Ledger," which also sounds accounting related. Our clients' slogan is "Partners in Your Success," so we also tried a few that played on that.
After an hour meeting with my boss we were sent back to the drawing board. It bears mentioning that these particular clients are known for being indecisive; it took them a whole year to approve their damn logo. Certainly a newsletter title is easier to decide than a logo, right? Apparently I was wrong, as they weighed each name we gave them as if it would be the moniker of their first born.
We began anew. Creative frustration in a brainstorming session does not make for good productivity. They want names? They got names; we spat out anything even remotely related to accounting, partners, or finances. This at first led to suggestions like:
Profit Partners
Partner to Partner
Debits & Credits
Accounting Advantage
Taxing Issues
Balancing Act
Saving Savvy
Accruing Interest
And soon led to suggestions like:
Ka-CHING!
Partner Potpourri
Fickle Finger of FICA
Partners in Crime. Er, I Mean Success!
Don't Account Your Chickens Before They're Hatched
Down for the Account
Account Dracula
For this we charge $85 an hour.
If only every workday was like this.