Flower Shops

With the arrival of warmer weather (finally!) in Seattle, I’ve been getting off the bus near Pikes Market and walking to my office in Belltown. I like the cool breeze blowing off Elliot Bay, the sounds of the street musicians, and the smell of the numerous flower shops. I walk past at least four small flower shops each day but I only remember the name of one of them: Buckets. Such a simple, memorable name. I’ll bet the other three flower shows are named something like “insert hip area of town” Flower Shop.

But the name, Buckets, works because it invites you to think about the name. Why buckets and what is the tie in to flowers? A bucket full of flowers? I don’t know the answer or if a tie in is even intended. Their logo is a simple, universally understood bucket.

Think for a minute about the names of some software products, especially those from Microsoft: Microsoft ISA Server, Microsoft Sharepoint Portal Server, Microsoft Data Protection Manager and my favorite, Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005 Enterprise Edition. These names don’t exactly roll off the tongue very smoothly. Although some might say naming isn’t a big deal if your products are backend, enterprise focused products. That might be true but even some of the Microsoft consumer product names sound extremely bland: Desktop Search (Oh wow, how exciting!), Money, and the charismatic, Digital Image Suite. The only Microsoft product name that really makes me think much is Xbox.

One of the few companies that has product names which make me think is 37Signals with their Basecamp, Campire and Ta-Da List. Simple yet thought provolking names from a company that creates elegant and simple products that just work.