Comments on: Born Again: GodTube Becomes Tangle

By: In defense of “tangle” - Semantic Argument

In defense of “tangle” - Semantic Argument — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:45:17 +0000

[...] name change on CatchThis, a blog produced by the excellent naming firm Catchword. According to the post, a family-friendly video sharing site called GodTube has renamed itself tangle. Laurel Sutton, a [...]

By: Laurel Sutton

Laurel Sutton — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:01:03 +0000

Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Rob. Of course unexpected and potentially controversial names can be powerful marketing tools – they are high risk/high reward names. IMO, Tangle – while attention-grabbing – just doesn’t work with the brand that the former GodTube is trying to build. Both Virgin and Yahoo were renegades from the start, provocative, cheerfully disrespectful, and not afraid to break the rules. That brand personality doesn’t seem to fit at all with the Tangle folks, who are allied with conservative Christianity. That’s where the disconnect comes for me. Jason Illian may be a successful business person, but he’s not Richard Branson!

I agree that it does solve the YouTube/GodTube problem, and frankly, to their core audience it probably won’t make any difference at all. Their challenge will be to make it relevant to a *new* audience, as you point out. Having to explain the name to every single new potential user is a time- and money-suck.

By: Rob Meyerson

Rob Meyerson — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:19:53 +0000

Laurel,

I agree that there may be a contradiction in Tangle’s messaging about Christianity versus being “open to all faiths.” Note that Illian says it’s important that “advertisers…can feel comfortable” with the site. Clearly it’s in their best interest to take money from anyone who wants to advertise with them, even if they want the site to continue appealing to Christians. Cynical, I know, but this may be one reason for the doublespeak.

I’m surprised, however, to hear your opposition to the name “Tangle” based on negative connotations and dislike by bloggers. If this is how we judge name candidates, Virgin and Yahoo never would’ve made it. And I’m sure you (or Catchword, at least) has experienced the joy of standing by a good name that you know will work even as it’s being torn down by the press and the public.

At the very least, “Tangle” deals with GodTube’s immediate problem of sounding like YouTube, and succeeds in allowing the site to stand for more than just Christian-related videos. Now we’ll just have to see whether they can make it stand for anything at all…