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Yesterday Adobe announced the pending release of Acrobat Connect - a rebranded version of Acrobat's Breeze service.
We see this as a pretty good move. Given the ease with which most of the competition in this $1 billion market is able to set up conferences, calling attention only to the ease of use (as the name Breeze seemed to indicate) is a bit weak. It doesn't tell you what is a breeze, and it doesn't really hint at any meaningful benefit of the service. (People don't conference because it is easy - they conference because they need to communicate...) "Connect" (as a concept) doesn't exactly stand out in the field of web conferencing tools, especially since the word is used by almost every competitor in their description of services (e.g., "We connect you seamlessly to your peers...") But
it has a decent amount of distinction...
With names like WebEx, GoToMeeting, Thinkofit, OpenSpace, iVisit, Infinite Conferencing, Linktivity, TrueConferencing, NetViewer, MeetMeNow, WebDialogs, and Conference.Com, there are some clear patterns that are unique to the industry. Lots of three-word-names and shortened/combined names. A single word real-name tactic that isn't purely category-descriptive could work well. The downside is that www.connect.com isn't available. This means that Adobe will be forced to use their parent brand. Lucky for them this is a tactic that they're quite familiar with. Consider Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe [fill in the blank.] They've got a lot of mindshare and goodwill wrapped up in their name so they don't have a pressing need to own the word outside of their brand. And besides... Connect.com sounds more like a dating site than a b2b service - so perhaps it is a good thing they're staying under their umbrella. "Connect" as a name certainly won't hurt them, and may bring a few more converts to their service given that people may have a better idea of what it does now... We'll watch for the launch in November and cover any breaking news. Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925 |
