Who is John Staufenberger?

We're called Staufenberger, Smith & Butte. But as none of us are called Staufenberger, Smith or Butte people are naturally curious about why we would give our outfit such a name. Here's why.

When you decide to set up a business, the most pressing issue is not the important stuff like backing, premises or clients. It's the name, isn't it? Well, we didn't want to do the groovy, one-word thing. It's already been done really well by loads of other people. We could've put our names over the door, but neither of us are famous enough to get any benefit from naming it after ourselves. So we made up three fictitious partners. Simple.

To help us in our search for the perfect three names we turned to the Kleimo Random Name Generator. It takes names from the US census and spits out names based on the relative obscurity - or otherwise - of every name in America.

At an obscurity rating of about 75, Staufenberger came out as our favourite. We liked Butte because, well, you know, it makes us laugh. And Smith made sense as a foil for the other two.

So there you have it: Staufenberger, Smith & Butte.

We like it because it sounds as if we've been going for decades, like an established New York legal practice. And it probably won't scare any procurement people.

And without realising it, we gave ourselves a name that makes us easy to find on google. Not so easy if you call yourself bingo. Or Amp, say.

And last week a client of ours told us he gave us his business on the strength of that story. Not bad for a bunch of gonzo planners, eh?

Comments

[Charles Frith]

Brilliant. I was always curious to know. Thought you might have a visiting professor from the university of Leipzig or something ;)

[janson]

What about that article on campaign where you guys were lauded for finding such an unusual name? come on. dig it out!

True about making it easy to find on google. I was trying to google Cream and no prizes for guessing what kind of hits I got.

PS i meant the US magazine, if anyone have heard of it, where can I get it?

[Faris]

Makes sense mate - if you can brand yourselves that well, build a brand narrative and a distinct positioning on the back of the name, surely your clients will get the same.

Nice.