Everyone loves a good pun.
There is nothing better than making your audience and consumer instantly smile, or even laugh, just by hearing or seeing your business name. It’s an instant icebreaker and lets the consumer know that you’re an approachable, down-to-earth business.
However, we realize that not everyone feels the same way about the idea of turning a business or brand name into a play on words. They may not work for everyone, and instead of attracting a consumer, it may turn them off entirely. Also, there is the potential for confusion around different cultures and translations: if you want to appeal to a more international market, it’s probably best to stay away from a branded play on words.
However, most adversities for business and brand puns are pretty unfair. Many companies are thriving on business puns, and it makes some companies reputable solely based on their name. So if you don’t believe in the power and attraction of puns, we hope to bring you our appreciation after reading this!
Free Promotion!
The promotion, reputation, and publicity that comes from simply having a business name pun is undeniable, as well as laughably underrated.
When your business has a funny (or funny!) name, people will definitely take photos and share those images with their friends. Today, that image is sure to end up online, on social media, and possibly in a UK epic pun trending list item.
Since all business goals revolve around gaining a reputation and getting your business known, this is definitely one way to go about it. This is a free promotion; you just need to make sure your phone number and business information are closely related to the pun on your business name. For every person who clicks on that pun image with your company name, there will be someone searching for what you do who will take note of your number.
However, to get promotion and publicity for your pun name, you don’t have to wait and depend on others to draw attention to your business. For example, it can be a selling point for a social media promotion or competition. You can offer incentives for everyone who takes a photo with your funny sign, or use it as a way to encourage other puns or funny business names in another campaign.
make it memorable
Perhaps the most important and valuable fact about using a clever pun as a business name is that it is bound to be memorable. A play on words makes everyone smile, laugh, or even groan (in a good way!), and this humor helps people remember. Be careful though, as one of the worst things you can do for your business is to choose a name that is misspelled in some way, even if it has been tweaked to fit a play on words.
For example, you might remember an optometrist named “OptimEyes,” but would you necessarily remember how it’s spelled? It wouldn’t be harmful as a store, to get attention on the street, however, if people tried to google the name, they might be looking for a lot of wrong spellings.
Alternatively, spelling and having to explain your company names are always obstacles to naming your company or brand. Even if you name your company with a simple and relatively normal name, you will be asked about your choice. At least if you’re explaining a meaningless business name, there’s a story behind your decision. It’s easier to explain “OptimEyes – eyes like we specialize in!”, rather than explaining how you came up with “Eyesify” and how exactly that is spelled, or worse.
Aside from spelling, one of the main advantages of a pun name, as opposed to a made-up or plain name, is that there will be a story that people will enjoy hearing and will certainly remember. The funnier and more unique the pun and the story behind it, the better! Also, even if there’s no story other than “rhymes/made us laugh,” your name will still be much more memorable as a play on words.
multiple meanings
A useful advantage of using puns in your company name, or even tagline, is that you can be quite clever with them. You can use your business pun to mean many different things and add different facets to your business and what you provide.
Of course, this isn’t possible for all puns, but there are some gems that can get away with multiple meanings that can be attributed to your brand in a positive way. For example, there’s a cheesecake (and we literally mean a cake, made of cheese) purveyor, who primarily supplies mounds of cheese for weddings and special occasions, called C’est Cheese.
This is a great example of a play on words with multiple layers of meaning that can be attributed to the provider in a positive way. First of all, their name is cleverly chosen in French, literally meaning “it’s cheese”, which is true, but they also play into the fact that they’re being cutesy in our British associations of the word. Also, they’re playing on the fact that the French line rhymes with “say cheese,” as well as playing on the well-known French term “c’est chic,” which means “has style.” There are so many positive associations with the name, as well as the fact that you will remember it, which makes it a perfect pun.
Also, even if the meanings are easy to understand, a play on words will usually add an extra layer of meaning for your business. For example, we discovered a tile laying business, simply called Bonnie Tiler. This is a perfect example of an easy pun that makes you smile with its simplicity. Of course, it plays on the famous singer Bonnie Tyler, while adding the additional facet that the business is bonny tilers (bonny or bonnie as attractive and happy), which is an association you’d like to be known for as a business.
Overall, we believe that these positive aspects and benefits of word games far outweigh any negative associations. Of course, puns on trademarks and trade names tend to work better for smaller businesses, mostly nationally. However, there are plenty of examples of larger brands using puns in taglines or advertising slogans, rather than keeping them permanently in their name.
Also, some are so subtle that you may not even notice them at first: for example, Absolut vodka is famous for its advertising campaign revolving around its name, such as “Absolut magic”. This is smart, as you don’t notice it at first, but they are using their name to describe their product and add positive attributes to it, easily playing on “Absolute/absolute”.
Therefore, no one can deny that puns are effective and a good way to market your business or product. There is an acknowledgment that puns are cheesy, and they exist in a clever, ironic and self-aware comedic form as business and brand puns often. So what’s not to like?