What's in a name? Quite a lot, it seems.
In preparation for our tenth anniversary season, the staff and board of the Bowling Green Chamber Orchestra had a feeling that the name was not helping us make friends and influence people. Instead of just assuming that was the case, we formed three focus groups (subscribers, single ticket buyers, and those who had never attended a concert) to test the name. What we learned was what we feared.
It seems that all three focus groups believed that the word "chamber" was negative and did not reflect the work we were doing. Ideas like gas chamber, chamber pot, and others, came to the minds of our participants. We decided that our name should not be an obstacle to getting new audiences. So, we changed our name to Orchestra Kentucky of Bowling Green. At the very least, we know that the words that make up the new name are not objectionable. We hope that we have, indeed, removed a hurdle.
What about the name of your organization or business? Is its name keeping people from checking you out? Can you afford for that to happen?
