Why We Changed Our Brand Name to CleverTap

Company names are funny things. Like fads and trends, they seem to evolve over time. With the expansion of domains from .com to dot-just-about-anything, names have recently moved in crazier directions. Despite this proliferation, some foundational tenets of naming remain the same.
When I first met one of our founders, Sunil Thomas, he shared the name of the company, “WizRocket”. While part of me actually liked the name, I couldn’t escape the first image it conjured in my mind.

I knew the name would provide a veritable fountain of endless jokes and, in my worse case scenario, might even be an issue should a conservative corporate suitor come along. Honestly, a few days into my tenure, telling my CEO that his company’s name had been lost in translation – we were founded in India – was not high on my list of tasks to which I was looking forward.
Maybe it was the text from a fellow marketing colleague, “very phallic” or possibly when my nine year old started giggling when my wife mentioned the name. Whatever, the reality was setting in; we had to change the name. With a little help from the Urban Dictionary, Sunil and the other founders saw my perspective. And shortly thereafter we began down the arduous path of renaming the company.
I won’t bore you with the details, but changing a name is worse than finding a new one. Imagine investing all those hours finding just the right name, one that doesn’t remind you of your weird cousin or an ex only to discover that junior’s name means “devil-spawned” in Swahili? Nobody wants bad name mojo for their offspring, living or corporate.
Welcome to CleverTap. “Tap” because mobile engagement is much like a friendly tap on the shoulder, looking to gently gain the person’s attention. And “Clever” because we’re building prescriptive, smart intelligence into our platform. CleverTap. Thoughtful, relevant and, most important, available with all the social handles!!!
While no name is ever perfect, we think we’ve come close to hitting the proverbial nail on the head. We hope you like it and look forward to sharing more about the next generation of mobile engagement.