Brand change in the works at PayPerPost
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Ted Murphy at PayPerPost "let a cat out of the bag" with regard to Argus earlier this evening.
The singular "a cat" rather than absolute "the cat" version of the common metaphor was done purposely, of course, because the Argus bag has about 73 different cats tussling around in there, much like a full-bodied woman in a tight pair of jeans.
This cat amounts to a brand name change, which probably isn’t a completely bad thing given how controversial the brand "PayPerPost" has become. Posties will welcome it, of course, because it means PPP will be spending big bucks in its own marketplace buying posts to get the buzz going for the new brand.
Mmmmmm….. cash…. 
Why the change? PPP feels that the current brand will not adequately describe all that Argus can do. In fact, they are spot-on, a paid-post will simply be one piece of the campaign system that is Argus. So, they’re looking for a new brand and domain and have asked for input. After several iterations and eliminations, here’s the remaining choices:
1. bzzooka.com
2. wompow.com
3. tremblor.com
4. cloudshout.com
My Opinion:
I have to admit, none of them blew me away. I might have to propose something, but Ted and crew are the branding experts so I need to noodle on it for a bit to see if anything worthwhile emerges from the haze in my brain. In the meantime:
bzzooka.com
I’m not a big fan of the missing-vowel domain names, so #1 doesn’t appeal to me. It’s also ripe for misspellings, and my guess is that bUzzooka.com is already taken by someone else, so the last thing you’d want to see is a significant percentage of your traffic leaking away because you have a silly domain name.
But, if I were to lay odds, I’d put money on Ted already having a logo that involves a bumble bee holding an RPG.
wompow.com
Close enough to Wampum, which is the method Native Americans used in the old days to record agreements. So, it’s sort of descriptive, but I’d like to see a name that touts more of the benefits of Argus.
Besides, I could see Michael Arrington leading the demonstrators on Orange Avenue, accusing PPP of embracing a racist brand name. Well, if he REALLY cared, he would.
tremblor.com
Too close to Truemors. Next?
cloudshot.com
Of the options given, this is my preference. We’re all familiar with the "Cloud" metaphor in blogging, usually applied to the Tags on a blog. "Shot" implies that something is being aimed at, like a target. An advertiser picking a target out of a cloud? Yes, I can see this representing Argus, with Argus giving the advertiser deep insight to the blogs available in the marketplace. Another way to look at it is the advertiser has this nebulous thing called "Brand", and wants to take it from an abstract entity to a clearly-defined object. Argus will be able to do this for the advertiser using technologies currently under development as part of the project.
Plus, Ted could still use an RPG in the logo.
UPDATE:
Why didn’t one of you people tell me I misread cloudSHOUT.com? Man, what a dope I am…
Jebus.
So, I guess I came up with a new name of my own. So, I secured it. Not to worry, Ted, if you actually want cloudshot.com, I’m a reasonable guy and I like people that give away free Nanos.
And if you don’t, but decide to go with cloudshout.com, then I just picked up a great domain name for a landing page for my affiliate links and sign up forms. 
Popularity: 19% [?]
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Hey Tim — it was great to finally meet you, at blogorlando.
Ted’s follow-up post on naming has a couple entries that resonated better. In particular, it looks like IZEA is getting plenty of love…I already want a shirt…see http://community.payperpost.com/blog/2007/10/argus-name-the-.html
I like Ted’s instincts on this, resulting in the ultimate “brand conversation”…