Eat My Words

Case Study: Cake Financial

Cake Financial - Sweet Success

Original Name: Portfolia

The Backstory:

A few years ago, a brilliant entrepreneur called Eat My Words inquiring about a tagline for his new social network for investors, which he had named Portfolia. YIKES! He admitted that he and his friends had come up with the name over a bottle of wine and purchased the domain for under $500. Not a good reason to choose a name. We convinced him he needed a new name more than a tagline. He promptly hired one of our competitors. Not satisfied with the choices, he came back to us. (We were really nice and didn't say, "We told you so.")

The Company:

This Web 2.0 startup lets people see what other investors were trading in real time, share strategies and get investment ideas based on what top performers were actually doing - not just saying in chat rooms or in the media. It was fun and easy to use.

The Challenge:

• The name had to be approachable and it couldn't sound like a stuffy investment company
• It had to appeal to both men and women
• It had to scale to grow into an actual investment firm where you could make real trades
• Financial Services is one of the most saturated trademark categories

The Solution:

One of the fastest ways to date a Web 2.0 company is to give it a Web 2.0 name (think: Flickr, De.lic.io.us, Xobni). That's what we didn't want to do. We loved the way the site let you sponge off of other investors.

The client went with our recommendation, "Cake Financial," which is visually evocative, fun, unforgettable, and communicates the brand experience of "easy money." Cake was an excellent choice because it was so rich in wordplay.

Here are some of ways that Cake has extended the name throughout the brand:

• The Slice is the name of their weekly video show


• The Cakedex is the top investor's performance index


• The Cake "Take" is their system of rating stocks


• The Cakeateria is the employee snack room


• Citizen Cake was the launch party venue

The Gushing Praise:

"Eat My Words quickly delivered a range of unexpected, original, evocative and memorable name choices. And they did it with such enthusiasm and passion, you would think it was their own company they were naming. Every startup should do themselves a favor and hire Eat My Words. They are quick, cost effective, great listeners, and uniquely talented to differentiate any company."

- Steven Carpenter
CEO, Cake Financial