We love to highlight interesting brands and find out the story behind their name. Read our interview with Linda Vikstrom about her company The Unclouders.
What does an unclouder do?
To uncloud information is essential in everything we do. I work as a moderator on stage and with investor relations advising. Occasionally, I also work as a journalist which is where I started out. Maybe I am stating the obvious here, but my company The Unclouders is working for clarity in investment cases or other important information. We strive to eliminate the clouds and the fogginess that hides the beauty, or the beast.
How does your name differ from the competition?
Other IR-companies usually have their founders’ names or some short “metaphoric” name. The Unclouders, with its more active form, gives the impression of people actively doing something as a team.
How is naming normally done in your line of business? And what would be a daring name?
If I had named my company the normal way, I would have been working at “Vikstrom & Partners” right now. Or perhaps at “Vikstrom Financial Communication”. But I want this company to be bigger than me. And when I hire people it is nicer to work for a team, not just a branded personal name. I cannot come up with an example of a daring name that’s not silly/stupid at the same time, and if I could, I would have chosen that name.
Have you protected your name as a trademark and on the Internet?
Only the company name as URL in a couple of domains.
How do people respond to your name and what do they think that you do?
The company name is not fronted so much, basically when I send invoices … But when people do hear it, they like it!
What advice would you give people and companies looking for a great brand name?Forget about Spotify. There are too many X-fy names out there already. And don’t be too generic. I meet a lot of Life Science companies and they tend to be quite challenging to differentiate from one another for investors. Their names don’t help, in most cases.
Could you mention a brand name that you love or hate?
I don’t like names that are too modern because it signals that the company is very young, too “trendy” and might not hang around for long. I like names that explain something about the business, like Fingerprint, Bonesupport, Storytel and, of course, Volvo.