Serial Comment

Libretto works with ambitious mission-driven organizations to develop messaging platforms that drive their institutional and fundraising communications. Once a platform has been finalized, we often find ourselves wondering about its subsequent implementation. How often does the client use the platform? In what contexts? What’s the longer-term impact of the platform on the client’s communication function, and on the organization as a whole?

Once you’ve generated a list of potential names or themes for a product, fundraising campaign, or organization, the review process begins. How you structure that process can have almost as much influence on the ultimate success of the project as the list of candidates itself.

Naming is one of the most enjoyable—and in certain respects, mysterious—parts of Libretto’s practice. Our naming work reflects an approach that is equal parts systematic and serendipitous.

A name for a product, organization, or initiative is like the prow of a ship. As the first thing your audience sees, it sets the stage for how they’ll perceive the rest of your communications. The right name can help ensure your audience is receptive to other elements of your organizational and philanthropic communications.

Over the past decade, Libretto has participated in fundraising-related engagements that have helped raise more than $2 billion for our clients. Much of that work has involved campaign themes. But in the journey to finding the right theme, sometimes our initial lists fall short. So then what?