Naming your company would seem to be relatively simple and straight forward. I mean, how many choices can there be? How hard can it be? Pick from the options: 1.) Your Name: “Wright Brothers .” 2.) What you do: “Fly You there.” 3.) Your name and what you do: “Hughes Air Transportation.” 4.) Something random: “Nike.” Just pick a name and “do it!” After all, a rose by any other name is still a rose. Right?
Well, perhaps not that fast. If you want to be first among directory listings, then you might consider: “AAAAAA Flight Services.” If you would like something catchy and easy to remember you might consider “Itchie Goomie Zoomies.” If you can say that, how could you forget it? Perhaps something to inspire and garner respect: “Intergalactic Mega Transport.” (A moment of quiet reflection, please.)
Well, we thought we had come up with a name that met all possible criteria. It pretty much says what we do going from Airport to Airport, so Air2Air is just a shortened version of Airport to Airport. Since it starts with an A, Air2Air is sure to be one of the first listings in any directory. Air2Air is easy to remember. Air2Air rolls right off your tongue, no one will ever mispronounce it. And last, but not least, it is a clever play on words imbedding a little heritage with it. Most of us at Air2Air are former Navy and Military pilots and Air to Air is the generic term for air to air combat.
Sheer genius. Right?
Not so fast. Every time, I mean every time, I have to tell someone my email or website address I have to carefully spell Air2Air out, normally two or three times. I normally sound like this: “Yes, Air2Air is a seven character word with the numeral two in the middle, so I will spell it for you: Hay, Eye, Arrrrr, the numeral 2, Hay, Eye, Arrrrr.… What? No there are no spaces between the letters and the two.” “Am I sure its spelled like that. Wellll, yes!”
And the spelling over the phone is not half the problem. We find our company name misspelled all over the place. Incoming email, mail, documents, etc. etc. all come to us with such appellations as: Air to Air, AirtoAir, Air 2 Air, AirTwoAir, Air Two Air, and Air Too Air. I’m just waiting for the genius who sends us something with AirTuAir on it. Et 2, Brute?
But then we have website addresses. I think I’ve bought up everything that someone might type in to find us, but who knows. AirToAir.com, AirTwoAir.net, AirTooAir.biz, who knows if I got all of them. Maybe I should have a contest.
Try going to a Building Industry or Contractors meeting or convention with our name. “Hey, what type of Air-Conditioning do you guys do?” “Is that air ducts, HVAC, or something new and green?” “Say, I’ve been looking for an Ionizer, is that what you guys do?”
So, do we like our name? Absolutely! Are there problems with it? In spades! Are we going to change it? Never2Never!
