How Red Sage Got its Name: The Story of Red Sage, Chapter 2

The top question I always get about Red Sage is how I came up with the name. Naming a company is hard! This is especially true if you want to get a national trademark for the name, which I did. I started out by establishing criteria that had to be met for the new name to be selected.

My criteria for the new company name included:

• The name had to be easily said and understood and easy to spell if conveyed verbally through a phone call (which ruled out using Didier in the name)

• The name had to be unique enough to trademark nationally

• It had to include the word red. Red is my favorite color and it is a good simple strong word. Plus, I wanted red to be the dominant color in the logo.

• It had to have some conceptual tie to marketing.

Being collaborative, I thought the wise thing to do would be to kick it out to our families to get input. I asked them to come up with words that went with the word “red” that would be appropriate for a marketing company. This might have been the stupidest thing I have ever done in business. My advice is to never ask your family for help naming a business or anything else.

My sister Joan suggested, “Red Rover Red Rover send Ellen on over.” My father-in-law hated the idea of anything that was abstract and preferred a name that was direct and to the point like “A Marketing Company”. Other suggestions included Red Light District and other variations too ridiculous to share.

I wisely stopped listening. I brainstormed dozens and dozens of words that could be added to the word “Red.” I finally settled on the word, “Sage.”

And how does Red Sage tie to marketing?

Red is the color you use when you want to stand out and be noticed, which is the point of marketing. Sage is another word for wise, as in sage advice. So therefore Red Sage is a marketing company that shares wise advice to help you stand out better with your marketing efforts.

AND, it is easy to say and understand over the phone, it is unique enough to trademark nationally, and it is memorable.