What’s In a Name?

Angela Prentner-Smith

Managing Consultant, This is Milk

This is Milk...a business change consultancy – but how did we come up with the name?

​If This is Milk has any frequently asked questions, the one that tops the list is “How did you come up with the name?”
The truth is the name was the end-result of some serious deliberation about our brand. It went a little like this.

Gillian (This is Milk’s co-founder) and I began by batting about some ideas about what and who we wanted to be, then taking the time to refine those statements into the words that best described how we wanted to appear to the world. We wanted to be different, to stand out from the crowd, to be a breath of fresh air.

At the same time as thinking about what we were going to call ourselves, we were also considering our Vision, our Mission, our Ethics, and our Visual Style.

​How it all started

Here are our original company description and some thoughts we had about our corporate identity and brand.

• Company Description

This is Milk provides services to business in response to specific problems, perceived needs and complex processes. We will understand and articulate the problem, provide a plan of action and work with companies to improve their capacity for change, their growth and their market offering.

• Corporate Identity

A consistent brand is key to our company’s growth and identity. This brand includes all communications - verbal, visual and written - as well as the services we offer. Our brand will be developed around the concepts of simplicity, authenticity, accessibility and aspiration.

• ​The Brand Spectrum

We looked at the brands we thought personified these concepts and plotted them on a spectrum.

​The Competitor Landscape

We also looked at what we didn’t want to be, and how we wanted to set ourselves apart from our competitors. The competitive landscape was clogged with ‘men in grey suits’ with fairly meaningless names (in our opinion). When we looked at the brands that embodied what we wanted to be, many of them had simple, everyday names. So we focussed our hunt for a name to something simple.

What about Milk? We liked it. But a quick search, and we realised there was already a digital agency in England called Milk, and they had bought up the domains. But This is Milk was available.

Making a Declaration

It was a declaration, not just Milk, but This is Milk - it made a statement. A statement of who and what we were. It was simple, yet effective – like us! When we thought more about it, milk embodied many of the qualities of change – the very premise of our business, and our ethics and values.

Change, like milk, is an essential thing - it’s ubiquitous and everyday. Yet it's also transformative and adaptable. Milk can change your coffee; become a tart or pudding. It is also nourishing and versatile. Milk feeds your baby, and if cow’s milk isn’t for you, there’s soy, oat or almond.

We also liked some of the cultural connotations around milk, such as pouring fresh ideas; or Milk – it’s natural and does a body good.
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The Visual Language

Our name, our vision, our mission and our ethics, once defined lend themselves nicely to a particular visual language. We sought out a graphic designer and created a design brief around all of these elements.
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The words we asked them to embody were:

Now we have our logo, our colour scheme and a developing written brand. We are also working hard to define our culture to make sure This is Milk is as brilliant a place to work as we envisioned it being. 

So what’s in our name?  A lot of thought and ultimately our company values leading to a brand that we can be proud of and will continue to develop as we go. 
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It wasn’t just about a name, but in the end, the name works for us. ​​

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​Interested to find out more about us?

What We Do

(Blog first published 16/12/2015)