Introducing our newest megawatt name: Illumineering™

We have never been asked to name a psychotherapy before, but Eat My Words is always up for a challenge. Renowned coach and psychotherapist Lauren Mackler, (and best-selling author of the book we named "Solemate: Master the Art of Aloneness & Transform Your Life), asked us to name her new therapy, which is based on the premise that when we're born, we are whole, integrated human beings with tremendous potential. As Lauren explained to us, "Growing up, we respond to our life conditioning by adopting habitual patterns of thought and behavior, many of which erode our innate wholeness. We carry these patterns into adulthood, and they shape our feelings, relationships, lives, and careers. Illumineering™ is a groundbreaking coaching method that integrates family systems work, psychodynamic psychology, and coaching." After exploring a wide range of names, we discovered that combining the words "Illuminate" and "Engineering," created the perfect word to describe this process: Illumineering. Illumineering™ Relationship Coaching helps people break free of their self-defeating patterns, develop strong interpersonal skills, and create the quality of relationships to which they aspire. Lauren also has developed Illumineering™ Executive Coaching, Illumineering™ Career Coaching, and Illumineering™ Life Coaching.

Wanted for TV: Estranged Family Members Who Would Like To Repair Their Relationship
A national TV news show is doing a segment on Lauren working with estranged family members. They’re looking for 2 estranged family members who would like to repair their relationship. It can be a couple, a parent and child (20s+), or siblings. The estranged pair will spend 3 days working with Lauren, during which she’ll use her Illumineering method to help them identify and address the root causes of the issues that led to the estrangement, and concrete actions they can take to build a healthier and more fulfilling relationship.

If you or someone you know is estranged with a family member and is interested in being part of this groundbreaking segment (which will include working with Lauren on camera), please send an email to info@laurenmackler.com and tell her you were referred by Eat My Words.

Spicy Eat My Words Fallapalooza Party - Photos Now Posted

On a perfect Indian Summer evening last Friday, more than 60 clients and friends came over for our 3rd annual Fallapalooza Paella Party. What a blast! Held on our spacious party patio, guests dined on delicious chorizo chick peas, succulent mushrooms, caprisi salad with fresh mozzarella and garden tomatoes, and of course, the culinary centerpiece, Spanish paella cooked before our eyes by the always entertaining Chef Ciado. (We named his business - Paella Party.). Beverages (named by Eat My Words, of course) included Fall Down Drunk, Red October, and the always popular, Mother Pucker. Thanks to everyone who made this the best Fallapalooza party yet.

Click here to relive the fun or see more of what you missed.

Client Charlene Li's book, Groundswell, wins 2009 Marketing Book of the Year!

Congratulations to Charlene Li of Altimeter Group (a company named by Eat My Words), for winning the American Marketing Association's 2009 prize for best marketing book of the year for her groundbreaking book, Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies.

(CHICAGO, IL, October 15, 2009) — The American Marketing Association Foundation (AMAF) announces Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (Harvard Business Press) as the recipient of the 2009 Berry-AMA Book Prize for the best book in marketing.

Groundswell, by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, explains how to turn the force of customers connecting via social technologies, the groundswell, to your own advantage. Through the use of case studies, Li and Bernoff show how leading companies are gaining insights, generating revenue, saving money, and energizing their customers through social technologies such as blogs, YouTube, Facebook, and wikis. Groundswell provides targeted advice with ROI, which makes this book a critical starting point for companies developing a social technology strategy.

Li previously served as a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, a technology and market research company that provides pragmatic advice to global leaders in business and technology. In 2008, she founded the Altimeter Group, a strategy consulting firm that provides a pragmatic approach to emerging technologies to companies. Bernoff is Senior Vice President, Idea Development at Forrester Research and is responsible for identifying, developing, and promoting some of the company's most influential and forward-looking ideas.

Order Groundswell here.

Grounds For Optimism: I Have a Bean coffee featured in Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune wrote a wonderful piece on the story behind Second Chance Coffee Company, makers of the brand we named "I Have a Bean." Enjoy!

Getting a job is one of the toughest parts of post-prison life. But a tiny coffee roasting company in Wheaton is doing what it can to give former offenders a fresh start.

By Joan Cary
Special to the Tribune
October 14, 2009

In 2007, three Wheaton men, Pete Leonard, Ron deVries and Dave Scavotto, met for their weekly breakfast and came up with an idea for a small business that would provide fresh coffee and fresh starts.

Fresh start: Each had witnessed the plight of former prisoners in the job market.

Fresh coffee: Each enjoys a cup, although Leonard was more passionate about it than the others.

In August, after 2 1/2 years of brewing over it, they opened Second Chance Coffee Co. with two primary goals: to roast the best and freshest coffee, and to give former prisoners a chance at reliable employment.

"Starting a small business in a down economy and hiring ex-offenders? I'd say hard. Very hard," said Leonard,

Kraft cans iSnack 2.0

Kitchen Sink fan Igal Gabbay tipped us off to this naming mistake from our friends down under...

Consumers aren't happy little vegemites with the new name of Kraft's cream cheese and Vegemite blend.

Vegemite maker Kraft Foods has binned the name of its new product line iSnack 2.0.

In a statement this afternoon, the company said it had listened to the public and would go back to the drawing board.

An announcement about another name will be made on Friday.

"We have been overwhelmed by the passion for Vegemite and the new product," said Kraft Foods Australia/New Zealand head of corporate affairs, Simon Talbot.

"The new name has simply not resonated with Australians. Particularly the modern technical aspects associated with it."

iSnack 2.0 was chosen from 48,000 suggestions made as part of a public naming competition run by the company.

It has been roundly lambasted by the consumer public, however, spawning Facebook hate groups, blogs and angry Tweets on micro-blogging site Twitter.

T-shirts trashing the name have also gone on sale on the internet.

Vegemite has been manufactured in Australia since 1923. The new variant, launched in July under a 'Name Me' label, includes a cream cheese blend to make it more spreadable.

Kraft has denied the naming disaster was an attempt to gain free publicity for the product, which was due to go on sale with the new label today.

"At no point in time has the new Vegemite name been about initiating a media publicity stunt," Mr Talbot said.

"We are proud custodians of Vegemite, and have always been aware that it is the people's brand and a national icon.

"Our Kraft Foods storeroom currently has thousands of jars of the iSnack2.0 named Vegemite. This product will be distributed around Australia, and will continue to be sold in supermarkets for months to come - until Australia decides upon a new name."

Consumers in Australia and New Zealand will get another go at choosing a name, he said.

"Please bear with us for the next 48 hours as we finalise how Australians and New Zealanders can decide the new name through an independent popularity vote."