Ahoy matey! Our newest name, Emerald Island, sparkles brilliant green.

We're thrilled to announce that we can finally let the cat out of the bag and tell you about Emerald Island, the cool new eco-inspired virtual world for kids that Eat My Words named for one of our favorite clients, Fluid Entertainment. On Emerald Island kids become part of an engaging storyline and work together to save Emerald Island from the evil (yet adorable) ‘Pirat’ antagonists. Along the way they grow into champions for the environment and become trusted eco-heroes of Emerald Island, The game is currently in beta testing and you are welcome to give it a whirl... just email support@emeraldisland.com and tell them we sent you. (Currently the game is only available in a PC version – the Mac version coming soon.)

Jennifer Chapin, VP of Marketing at Fluid Entertainment recently wrote this gushing testimonial about working with Eat My Words...“It was the 11th hour and our product needed a name. In swooped Eat My Words to save the day and the rest is name history. We had spent several months generating and qualifying names for our new kids product. We were ready to test the names with kids. It was obvious we had some good names but we didn’t have what I believed to be a great name. The question became, were we ok launching with a name that was good enough? As the person tasked with leading the naming process I felt strongly we needed not only a great product but a great name to compliment it and most importantly a name that kids loved. In stepped Eat My Words. It was a tough brief ¬¬– could you come up with a name in a week? They rose to the task and unequivocally came up not only with the favorite name among kids but with the internal team as well. A matter of fact it was the only name on an exhaustive list of combined of names (our internal list and Eat My Words list) that we had complete consensus on. It was a joy and relief to work with Eat My Words and I’d work with them again in a heartbeat. They love what they do, are incredibly passionate about naming and it shows! This comes with my highest recommendation. If you want a fabulous name and a group that’s fun, professional and works outside the box then definitely work with Eat My Words."

Congratulations to everyone involved with the launch of Emerald Island. See you there!

Rival firm Igor continues to dominate Google

Our friends at Igor have long dominated Google, always appearing in the top results for key phrases including "naming firms," "branding firms," and "name my product." Masters of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Igor is the bane of many naming firms who obsessively monitor their biting blog, Snark Hunting, and are baffled by how Igor continues to stay on top. One rival naming firm owner has paid thousands of dollars to SEO experts, yet still can't make it to the first-page results. Now the Igorians have really outdone themselves... as of 1:48pm PST today, Igor is the #1 search result on Google for the phrase, "does this make you horny, baby?" We love the guys at Igor too much to try to compete with them over this priceless phrase. (For the record, Eat My Words doesn't spend any resources on SEO - our highest caliber clients come through word of mouth.)

Mistubishi: Is Drive@earth a good idea?

The official explanation of Mitsubishi's new, um, tagline, Drive@earth is this twofold nonsense:

1. The first is the company's heritage of helping people get anywhere on the planet, particularly with its four wheel drive vehicles.
2. The second aspect is a recognition of the environment and issues relating to it.

What?

To us it sounds like they are encouraging something like this:

Seriously, what were they thinking? We don't get either of their two tries at reasons for Drive@earth. Not only is it phony looking and trying too hard with the asperand, but "Drive at earth" just doesn't make sense from 1, 2 or any aspects.

They may also have some unintentional international pronunciation issues. For example the @ is called:

• Bulgarian - Monkey A
• Czech - Rollmops
• Dutch - Little Monkey Tail
• Greek - Duckling
• Hebrew - Strudel
• Hungarian - Worm, Mite or Maggot
• Serbian - Crazy A
• Tagalog - Nipple

So go to the Philippines and DriveNippleEarth

The countdown for a new Mitsubishi tagline starts now.

Eat My "Wordle" Meets the SMILE & SCRATCH Test

Lifehacker, one of our favorite websites, introduced us to the tasty and addictive Wordle. In their own words "Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide." This is so cool that we don't even care if the name is good or not. It amazes us that people create this stuff and send it out to the world for free. Kudos to the creator, Jonathan Feinberg.

Here is our world famous SMILE & SCRATCH Test Wordlized:

Now, go forth and Wordle.

Alexandra sheds some Light on naming in Smart Money

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Asked & Answered: Marketing Multiple Businesses
June 24, 2008

By Colleen DeBaise

QUESTION: Your Oct. 30, 2007, article described people who run multiple businesses. My problem is a little different. I am a freelance writer offering business- and career-writing services. Last year, I also started a direct-sales business (selling health and wellness products). How do I incorporate the range of services I offer under one umbrella and market it in a way that is cost-effective, but not confusing to the client? What business name should I consider? —Gloria Brown, Menifee, Calif.

ANSWER: Essentially, you want to be a one-woman conglomerate, tying together seemingly unrelated businesses into one neat package. Even big-name companies with lots of marketing muscle (think Altria (MO), Time Warner (TWX) and Tyco (TYC)) have run into trouble doing this successfully at times.

As a small-business owner with limited resources, you'll face even more challenges. The biggest hurdle? Explaining to potential customers what it is, exactly, that you're selling. "To get momentum, you really have to narrow your message, so someone says 'Oh, I get that, you're talking to me,'" says John Jantsch, a marketing coach and founder of Duct Tape Marketing in Kansas City, Mo. "When you start adding things on, it starts getting hard to explain to people what you do."

Of course, many entrepreneurs tack on a new line of products or services to complement an existing business — and, in some cases, that works well. For instance, a popular restaurant might open up a kitchen store that sells appliances, cookbooks and food items that would logically appeal to its customer base. But when the two businesses are dissimilar, it's the "classic sushi bar and bait shop" scenario, Jantsch says. "That's always going to be a challenge."

Some entrepreneurs dig deep to find a link. When Cindy Light wanted to combine her two services — she's a fashion consultant, plus an expert on Chinese business etiquette — she turned to a business-name expert for help. Alexandra Watkins, founder of Eat My Words, a San Francisco firm that specializes in memorable names, reasoned that both services help make Light's clients look like superstars, both personally and professionally. So she suggested that Light use her evocative last name to tie the services together. Light has since named the business Cindy Light and plans to use the tagline "Making you shine" in her marketing materials.

Unfortunately, in your case, there appear to be too few links between your professional-writing services and your direct-sales business. "I can't imagine a way to combine these two together, and for it not to be confusing," Watkins says. As many conglomerates have found, trying to operate unrelated businesses under one big heading can lead to customer confusion — and make it difficult to focus resources and manage the company effectively. For the time being, you might try building both businesses separately, and if it's too draining on your time, energy and bottom line to do both, "then just make a determination which one you really think has the best potential," Jantsch advises.

Got a question? Send us an email at Editors@smSmallBiz.com. Due to the volume of questions we receive, we are not able to answer all questions. Questions that are selected for publication may be edited for length and clarity.