A multi-part series: What makes a crypto brand (Brand Name)
Delving into Grandpappy Bitcoin's lasting power
It gladdens my heart to see 'marketing' becoming more talked about in this space, and over at Crypto Twitter. At last, the intangible side of Ethereum’s mainstream adoption is gaining some representation.
In an earlier post I referred to The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, and how if we were to advance the brand of crypto and blockchain as a whole, we have to promote the category (crypto) instead of fighting among ourselves. But rest assured, as an Etherean I’m not forgetting that we have to put some resources towards differentiating our dear Ethereum. And differentiation is the hallmark of any good brand. With signs of the bull market heating up, now would be a great time to establish a communication framework that fuels explosive growth and onboarding.
:: Law No. 3: The Law of Publicity: “The birth of a brand is achieved with publicity, not advertising.”
In the push for marketing, or as we see it, advertising, there is one more piece to the puzzle. A piece that may have been overlooked. The way I see it, going full steam at marketing now is kind of putting the cart before the horse. And no, it’s not because I’m about to start ranting about development and scalability. I’m looking at brand strategy. Does Ethereum knows its own brand identity? Our most salient strengths? Do we have a framework that ensures this identity remains consistent across a variety of touchpoints? If we don’t know, neither will new money understand. We can only market what we are confident about, otherwise it’s going to come out as gibberish and before long, you will have “lack of leadership” making its rounds again. In fact, aimless brand direction and poor leadership often come up together in many struggling corporations.
Before we figure out our brand strategy, diving into marketing efforts will inevitably spin our wheels in the same spot and do Donuts, rather than racing to the moon like we wish it would. For what it’s worth, Bitcoin does the above exceedingly well. And its market share reflects that. This post will be an unpacking of what went right for Bitcoin’s branding, and how we may do the same for Ethereum.
Now, I’m not saying Blockstream has brand consultants on par with Coca Cola. I believe it’s more likely that they’ve had the benefit of time to let differing paths converge into a common consensus on what they think they are. But Ethereum doesn’t need to waste time on that. We can learn from what’s already been paved, and stand on the shoulders of giants.
What follows isn’t a critical piece of either Bitcoin or Ethereum, neither am I offering solutions. Like I said, it’s merely an ‘unpacking’. I may put forward some recommendations, but the eventual push has to come from the community. Let’s begin with the real ‘simple’ stuff.
What’s in a name
:: Law No. 9: The Law of the Name: “In the long run a brand is nothing more than a name.”
Bitcoin’s name is made up of ‘Bit’ and ‘coin’, both simple enough words. And they mean something. ‘Bit’ conjures up images of ones and zeroes flowing across a dark screen, signifying the connection to the digital world. I don’t really have to explain ‘coin’, since it’s directly related to their cause as a fungible currency. Taken together, you get “peer-to-peer digital cash”. It’s beautiful how the name is so easily understood and tied in with their slogans. Supported by a clear framework, even the most ignorant maxi can make their presence felt. Their loudness might not make sense to us or seem hypocritical, but at the very least, they’re super consistent across different touchpoints. That has momentum.
Now, on to ‘Ethereum’. Say it in your head, what images come up?
Nothing.
What does Ethereum even mean? I had to look up dictionaries for this, and guess what? Nothing. I only found my answer in Wikipedia, where it relates:
“Vitalik Buterin picked the name Ethereum after browsing Wikipedia articles about elements and science fiction, when he found the name, noting, "I immediately realized that I liked it better than all of the other alternatives that I had seen; I suppose it was the fact that sounded nice and it had the word 'ether', referring to the hypothetical invisible medium that permeates the universe and allows light to travel."
Even the derivative name ‘Ether’ is supposed to be invisible, apparently. And for the longest time, and even now among most audience segments, that’s what the brand of Ethereum is to them. Invisible. Of course, there is value in choosing a non-generic name, most branding and trademark professionals will recognise that. It also sounds highly intellectual. But it simply isn’t very impressionable, not to the masses. Did I mention it’s also quite hard to pronounce?
Which brings me to my next point- Is it ‘Ether’ or ‘Ethereum’, ‘Eeef’ or ‘eff’ (ETH)? If we want to drum the name of Ethereum into people’s minds, we have to let them hear the same thing over and over again. Instead, we have people making snarky remarks to newcomers about how they should be using ‘ether’. Look, many of us who have been in the space for years still can’t tell the difference, alright? Newbies are confused and disorientated before they have even started. Remember, this whole thing makes absolutely no sense to most of the world. We need to make it easier.
There is only one ‘Bitcoin’, or ‘BTC’. There are no pronunciation disputes, it’s either “Beet-coin”, or “Bee-tee-see”. Foolproof is the word here.
Recommendations: NIL. Ethereum has come this far not because of its name, but in spite of it. Through sheer hard work of our developers in pushing revolutionary products that simply work, Ethereum has garnered significant brand value in its name, and it wouldn’t be wise to change it now and forgo all of that.
The only thing I would advocate for now is consistency. I personally really want to know, “Eeef”, or “Eff”? Discourage the pronunciation of the ticker altogether? You tell me.
In the works: A logo that burns right into your soul