Four Aussie Start-up Success Stories – Brand Names Australia

What’s in a name you ask? Well the best brand names are part of our vocabulary: they signify their product like Kleenex or are the result of a spelling mistake like Google.  We love these four Aussie success stories that boast memorable names with intriguing stories behind their monikers.

Second chance success: Tempus Two
In 1997, wine entrepreneur, Lisa McGuigan created Hermitage Road after the road where she grew up. With her first bottles labelled and ready to sell Lisa dealt with her first major business hurdle, the French appellation’s campaign to prevent her use of the name ‘Hermitage’. At the eleventh hour she came up with Tempus Two, (‘second time’ in Latin), which flourished with its trademark pewter labels. Lisa is no longer with Tempus Two but with her name now synonymous with wine, she masterminded a new brand in 2011 under the eponymous label, Lisa McGuigan Wines.

The power of social empathy: Thankyou 

In 2008, uni students Daniel Flynn, Justine Flynn and Jarryd Byrnes learnt of the global water crisis and were abhorred by the millions that Aussies spend on bottled water. So they created Thankyou Water, a social enterprise selling bottled water to fund safe water projects in developing nations. Today it has evolved into Thankyou, a movement overseeing water, food and bodycare products available in over 4,000 outlets. In a smart transition, when they dropped Water from the name, for a limited time the product label was simply ‘Thankyou’ with ‘Water’ scribbled out.

[pullquote]We love creating brand names & identities, it’s our speciality.[/pullquote]

Knowing what a girl wants: Shoes of Prey
Shoes of Prey is a global multi-channel retail brand for shoppers to design their own shoes online. Founded by Michael Fox, Jodie Fox and Mike Knapp in a Sydney loungeroom in 2009, it was inspired by Jodie’s experience of finding someone to custom design shoes for her on her travels. Her friends loved her collection and wanted to get in the act, so Shoes of Prey was born, breaking even at two months and hitting multi-million dollars in revenue in under two years. Michael Fox told The StartupAngel that the idea behind the name is that when women see another’s fabulous shoes “…it brings out that predator instinct…”

The pull of numbers: Xero
OK they are from across the pond, but we’ll claim them too. Xero is the emerging leader in online accounting software providing business owners with real-time visibility of their financial position in a simple, smart and secure manner. Founded in 2006, today Xero is a global company and was just named #1 Forbes Most Innovative Growth Company for the second year in a row. Of the name, founder Rod Drury says they wanted a four letter .com domain but as they were quoted big bikkies to buy their chosen name ‘Zero’ from its domain holder, Rod’s friend Dot came up with the alternative Xero.

Let us help 

At Creative Order we love creating brand names and identities. It is our speciality. Find out how we came up with names like Aqueus, Zest+Zing, and AXXIS, visit our Business and Brand Names page and contact us to help you to create a winning brand for your new business.