Business Name - Kids Parties

[James Reckons]

I've been trading as a modern freelance kids and family show entertainer and I've just taken on someone else so I need to find a business name to reflect the fact it's not just me now.

After much brainstorming with friends and family we came up with Purple Parties.

I wanted a name that was

1. Easy to remember
2. Doesn't alienate any ages (I do from 3 to 11 so nothing babyish or too old)
3. Has the chance to build a theme (coloured outfits/website etc) - apparently 'colour' is something which has good customer recognition in any business.

I wanted to run this name past business minded people and found this site.

What do you think of the name Purple Parties?

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Hi James,

Welcome to the forums.

Do you own purpleparties.co.uk?

If not then you may want to find a name that has a domain available, depending on how important you think a website will be to driving business - personally I can imagine it being quite useful.

To be honest, the first connotation Purple Parties gives me is something blue, but that may just be me

Colour is important for brand identity, however it doesn't need to be part of the name. Having said that, it certainly can be.

The first colour I would have probably leaned toward for a party related business would be yellow perhaps. Not as a name, but as a colour.

Purple typically conveys luxury, although the two examples that spring to mind - Premier Inn and Cadbury/Milka have a cheap/affordable luxury image. So personally I associate black more with actual luxury.

Blue can convey solidity and professionalism, but could be too cold for a party business. However a light sky blue would work fine I imagine.

Green; energy and the environment.

It depends a lot on the shade. And there are quite notable cultural and personal differences too.

Can you bring something more personal into the name? Or a word based on the type of entertainment you provide?

Also regarding alienating certain ages, surely the parents would book the party, and the kids would have little if any exposure to the name? When you're providing the entertainment they won't care or even notice your branding I would have thought.

So I would focus on the people you're actually selling to, and what they would want, e.g someone that can be trusted, relied on, will show whatever the weather, keep them well informed, and provide some great family entertainment.

I hope that helps.

Best of luck,

Dan

 

[James Reckons]

Thanks Dan

That's all really useful stuff.

When family and friends came up with some names I snapped up the domains just to be on the safe-side

I already have a good reputation and reviews and I'm trusted too, so it's more of a re-brand to reflect the fact there's more than just me now. However, despite the good reputation and full diary, I don't have a recognisable brand with logo/colour scheme/uniform etc. All this means I pay to get much work via Google Adwords where if I had that recognisable brand I'd get more organic work.

I think Purple Parties came up because it has a ring to it more than any colour significance. My sister (a typical booker/parent with kids) said she books parking at Gatwick every year and uses a firm called Purple Parking and described it as the most memorable business she ever uses throughout the year other than Amazon. Of course Amazon has nothing to do with rivers in Brazil and there's nothing purple about Purple Parking other than the colour.

You make a good point about customers buying me not the kids. My main customers are parents with children who are 3-11 (mainly Mums). However, the kids are the ones who need to remember who/what they saw. They are the ones who come away from the gig with the memories and entertainers and party organisers with a good memorable name do well in that respect. I'm always just James.

One of the biggest problems with a name for me is I don't want it to be too specific. For example I do some magic but don't want to mention that in a name because cool 11yr olds will be alienated (they don't want a babyish party provider). Similarly, the other name that came up in brainstorming was Fresh Parties which is very good for older kids but perhaps not so for little ones.

It's a difficult one and I appreciate your comments above and any more you have. Based on your comments so far I haven't ruled it out but you didn't seem 100% sold it's a good name.

 

[James Reckons]

By the way, can I just ask, are all these threads viewable by the public or do we have to be members?

 

[fisicx]

Anybody can see these threads.

Have you googled 'purple parties'? I just did and you will be in the mix with a lot of other purple party people which means your message will get diluted somewhat. I'm usually rubbish at picking names but I'd avoid colours as you may discover purple isn't such a good colour for your business. And parties =/= entertainer. I'd pick something far more random: zpazzle.co.uk sort of thing. That means your business can take a different direction without being hampered with a niche domain name.

 

[James Reckons]

Great advice thanks.

I have done the research on other similar companies and the only other I found was in Australia. Domains for Purple Parties are plentiful.

However, you've made some interesting points about random vs niche.

James

 

[HazelC]

As a side note, I did a competition on my personal blog post when I set up my business. I asked people to come up with a company name and the best one would win a blog post (a service I provide) - a guy came up with Creative Content Company and I loved it - gave him a free blog post. Little did I know they were an SEO company and I then worked for them as a freelance writer for 18months

Just food for thought

 

[fisicx]

I have done the research on other similar companies and the only other I found was in Australia. Domains for Purple Parties are plentiful.

But googling purple parties return a whole loade of people ranking well for that phrase. They don't do what you do but it does means you may need to work a lot harder to rank for your biz name. And searchers may get confused with everyone lese ranking for 'purple parties' even though the other on page 1 aren't childrens entertainers.

 

[James Reckons]

Thanks for checking for me. I do understand what you're saying. However, the references to Purple Parties on Google are nearly all from one or two party supplies companies selling purple plates/napkins etc. I don't think that's an issue. Indeed, I'm never going to be able to avoid bumping in to other products on Google which use generic words like purple. The good news is, so far as actual party companies/entertainment goes, the nearest to that name is in Aus

 

[James Reckons]

Great idea Hazel!

By the way as a female, what do you think of the name? Women are my main/target audience.

I have done lots of brainstorming over the last 6 months. It's annoying because I'm not able to progress without the name, it's holding me back.

My sister had a similar competition with the kids/adults from school and they came up with Fresh Parties (because I'm a modern entertainer) and Purple Parties (because they liked the hook and the way I could have colour recognition (things like tee-shirts). But I guess a customer one would be good to run too. Free show for the winner

 

[fisicx]

But do you organise the whole thing or are you just the entertainer? Will mum think you arrange the whole party or will she look for another company because he child wants pink not purple.

Purple parties isn't the right one. A random word gives you much more freedom.

 

[James Reckons]

I get where you're coming from but I'm not sure people think along them lines outside of a forum where you've been asked to offer comments. It's like Purple Parking - people don't think you can only use them if you have a purple car. And say, Orange network was never a company that only sold orange coloured phones. I'm absolutely sure no one who saw an advert with Purple Parties (and a tag line after to the effect of Party Shows for 3 to 11 yr olds) would think they are booking a purple themed entertainer whatever that is). Purple is that random word

You get where I'm coming from?

 

[fisicx]

In may ways I totally agree with you. But you will appear on Google searches with a load of purple party supplies. People will unconsiously connect the two.

But if you really want to keep the purple in the name you still aren't a party organiser. Even if you have a clear blurb (which Google may not use) the idea has been sowed that you do the whole party. Same with an advert. Purple Parties = party organiser, Coco the Clown = Entertainer.

Go random and nondescript. That way you can branch out and be an agent, start organising magic lessons, join forces with face painters and ballon thingys, do stuff in schools and old people's homes and so on without having to change the business name or domain name.

 

[James Reckons]

Go random and nondescript. That way you can branch out and be an agent, start organising magic lessons, join forces with face painters and ballon thingys, do stuff in schools and old people's homes and so on without having to change the business name or domain name.

Totally agree. THAT is exactly what I'm after

Part of the reason for moving from my own name to a business name is I already have someone else involved.

Now, the hard bit is finding that random word/phrase.

Thanks for your continued help.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

I think @fisicx makes some good points.

And like I said, you can use a colour as part of your brand but it doesn't need to be in the name.

I had some thoughts around a non "random" name, so will share those still.

You make a good point about customers buying me not the kids. My main customers are parents with children who are 3-11 (mainly Mums). However, the kids are the ones who need to remember who/what they saw. They are the ones who come away from the gig with the memories and entertainers and party organisers with a good memorable name do well in that respect. I'm always just James.

One of the biggest problems with a name for me is I don't want it to be too specific. For example I do some magic but don't want to mention that in a name because cool 11yr olds will be alienated (they don't want a babyish party provider). Similarly, the other name that came up in brainstorming was Fresh Parties which is very good for older kids but perhaps not so for little ones.

The kids will likely just say it was a really good show, and the mum will be pleased.
They might say James from company x was really good, but the brand really won't matter to them I think.

The mum will then mention you to another mum, and say James from company x put on a really good show for the kids, arrived on time, communicated well, you should check them out etc.

So the brand really does need to be pitched at the buyer - at the mum.

Personally I don't see what's "uncool" about magic. If I were 11 I'd much rather watch some magic tricks and illusions than the alternative, which would be what, music perhaps? Stand up comedy could be fine.

I don't think the little ones would have any problem with Fresh Parties, they'd just take it more literally, if they even noticed the brand. Not that there's anything "cool" about the name to be honest.

But not wanting to pigeon whole what you do is a good reason to not pick a name with Magic in and so forth, so I agree with the conclusion.

For initial brainstorming you should just throw random ideas around, not rule anything out, use scrabble pieces, word games, and so forth, and be completely free with your ideas.

However for something more structured later on my line of thinking would have been more like this:

Target market - mum's with kids
What do they want - Someone reliable, that can be trusted, will show up in any weather, and put on a decent show - keep the kids entertained.
What you provide - Parties, Entertainment
Possible name - Anyweather Parties

So you're communicating that you provide entertainment regardless of the weather, that you'll show up regardless, solidity and reliability.
The corporate identity could be a cloud, and in place of a sun you'd have a yellow balloon - like a weather pictogram. The cloud could even have a slight magic look.
Key brand colour can then be yellow. With yellow t-shirts etc.
That looks lively, fun, and is pretty neutral, as well as often used by personnel at leisure facilities.

You could then even make a joke about your surname when you introduce yourself as James from Anyweather Parties

It can also work as Anyweather Entertainment

But yes, you might just want to get the scrabble and post it notes out, a big sheet of paper and some pens, and throw some letters and words around.

But if you were to go with the real word route, I would follow some reasoning more like that above. Do start as free as possible though.

Later you can always run a poll, including on here, with a shortlist of names.

I hope that helps.

If you have any questions on the hosting side of things then feel free to get in touch.

Best of luck,

Dan

 

[fisicx]

It can also work as Anyweather Entertainment

I like this one.

 

[James Reckons]

It's decent of people to make suggestions but I don't like Anyweather at all. That doesn't even make my Z list

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Fair enough.

It was more of an example of the thought process and how you can communicate a message through it.

 

[fisicx]

It's decent of people to make suggestions but I don't like Anyweather at all.

But....

It doesn't matter what you like. It only matters what your potential clients like. You might not like pink pictures but if that what sells your services then you need pink pictures on your website/leaflets/posters.

 

[japancool]

Colours mean different things to different people. Purple makes me think of helmets, personally. Shiny ones.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Yeah, if you're open to ideas/other names - and aren't dead set on Purple Parties (and just want people to say go with that), then I'd recommend doing some brainstorming again and getting on Netmums and asking them.

They're ultimately your target market I believe.

Best of luck

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Colours mean different things to different people. Purple makes me think of helmets, personally. Shiny ones.

Purple helmets makes me think of Evangelion

 

[Jim Barker]

It may sound silly, but when you come to get a namestyle/logo designed, please be very careful with the font. There isn't a lot of difference between a lower case "r" and a lower case "n" and I genuinely read the name in your first post as "Purple Panties". Which conjures up an entirely different sort of event...

 

[James Reckons]

I like this one.

Fair enough.

It was more of an example of the thought process and how you can communicate a message through it.

Of course buddy. I'm grateful of your suggestions

 

[James Reckons]

Definitely not set on the name.

My process until now has been to brainstorm with friends and family most of whom have kids. I've also put it out to my Facebook pals. The two most popular choices were Purple Parties and Fresh Parties.

Fresh was most popular. People who know me and know my business will tell you that 'fresh' is a unique selling point for me. The shows are modern so 'fresh' describes that well (fresh in the new urban sense of the word not the fresh cakes meaning). However, I started to get uncomfortable about using an urban descriptive so scrapped that idea and moved over to second choice - Purple Parties.

As I say friends and family liked it. One female said it may have slight girl connotations but I've never heard of purple being gender specific so I got her to ask her 8yr old son who said it sounds fine - not at all girlie.

So I moved on to here. I wanted to a a perspective from more business minded people.

Based on all your comments I don't think I'll run with this one. Sometimes you have to ignore what people say and go with instinct (I've no doubt the guy who created Moo.com was told it was silly but he went with his instinct). But on this one I wasn't 100% so I'm glad a came here. Glad in more ways though. Looks a fab forum and I hope I can join in on other threads and help others as you guys have me.