I’m selling “iProng” on craigslist. I want to be clear that I’m not selling my publication, or any of its intellectual property. It’s just that we’ve changed our name from “iProng” to “Beatweek” and so the iProng name is no longer of any use to us and I thought it might come in handy for someone else. I know, you’re skeptical. But having helmed a publication under the name “iProng” for years, I can tell you first hand that this name has unique powers. A few examples:
– Under the name “iProng” you can publish well rounded content focusing on music, iPhone, iPod, and social media, and yet all you’ll ever get asked about is how the name is pronounced.
– You can become sufficiently influential in the music world that you can land interviews with chart topping musicians and living legends alike, and you can have correctly identified today’s biggest pop stars while they were still obscure, and yet most people will misperceive your publication as either being an “iPod site that dabbles a little in other things” or a porn site.
– Friends and strangers alike will congratulate you for having the guts to publish under such an “intentionally dirty” name, and when you try to explain to them that there’s nothing dirty about it and that it’s actually a clever take on the word “multiprong,” you’ll find that none of them has ever heard of that word – leaving you with the warm and fuzzy feeling that you must be smarter and better educated than any of them.
– You can attend multiple trade shows in which a vendor sees the name “iProng” on your shirt, asks you with a straight face whether it’s pronounced “I pee wrong” and then proceeds to pitch you on his product. Talk about an ice breaker.
Can you think of any other brand name that could put you in the above scenarios? Exactly! This name is magical. And I haven’t even gotten to the best part. After a few years of publishing under the name iProng, you can switch away from it in favor of something more mainstream-sounding (sorry, “Beatweek” is already taken), and when you do you’ll find that the number of people who want to work with you, be interviewed by you, or have their product covered by you, will shoot up tenfold in a matter of days. Review samples will magically start arriving in a quicker timeframe. People will congratulate you on the total redesign of your website, and when you point out that nothing has changed about the design of the website, they’ll swear that it “looks a lot better” anyway. Your email inbox will instantly swell up to the point that you’re working sixteen hour days just to keep up with all the amazing opportunities being hurled your way.
And really, will you be able to any of the above changes unless you first slave away under a name like “iProng” for a few years? And that’s why I’m offering the name to someone else who might want to try it out for awhile. In fact, you might want to hurry up and head over to craigslist before I change my mind; I’ve been so busy trying to keep up with the new world that’s just opened up to me that I’m thinking of changing Beatweek’s name back to “iProng” for awhile just so we can be less desirable and people will leave us alone and I can get caught up and get a good night’s sleep 😛
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In all seriousness, a big thank you to all of you who have stuck with us through the name change, and to all the new people who’ve just recently found their way to us – it’s been a truly exciting few weeks. It looks like I should also thank those of you who stuck with us for all those years when we were publishing under a name that everyone apparently hated. But the past is the past. In fact, and this is saying something considering how many years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never been more excited to see what comes next than I am right now. Beatweek it is, and the sky’s the limit – but do hurry over to craigslist before I change my mind and change our name back. After all, I really could use a good night’s sleep.
Much thanks,
Bill Palmer
Editor in Chief
Beatweek Magazine (formerly… eh, nevermind)
http://beatweek.com
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