I want that bird!- The origins of the ChurpChurp logo!

I love doing business. It’s in my blood, and anybody who knows me well knows this.

I fancy myself a serial entrepreneur, and honestly would not feel content limiting myself to just one business. I need to be continually innovating, constantly evolving. I relish new challenges, and love creating new things.

Therefore, it was a while back that I noticed the trend of twitter taking off.

It started first on the Nuffnang Australian roadshow at the start of the year. The Aussies I had met then, were all on twitter, and very passionate about it. I did not understand why, as if anybody remembers, twitter, was actually in Singapore and Malaysia, but it enjoyed a short phase of interest before quickly dying out.

I kept my eye on this trend, but did not think much of it, expecting it would die out soon, and not hit Asia again.

I was wrong about that!  A wave of interest swept through the USA, the trendsetter in all things social media.

This time instead of being limited to the first movers, it was pop culture or the pop icons I feel, who reinvigorated twitter. People like Ashton Kutcher who popularly challenged CNN to a twitter contest  (and won!). Today he has 3 million followers!

Ellen degeneres who set an ambitious aim of reaching 1 million followers in a day and uses her twitter regularly on her show after being introduced to it by Puff Daddy.

And hugh jackman who decided which charity to donate 100K to, by asking his followers via twitter!

 A note on this. The web 1.0 age was defined by a limited number of people being able to publish information on the internet, and the masses accessing it. The web 2.0 age is defined by user generated content, which encompasses technology that allows the masses to participate online. The web 3.0 age, some have cited as involving artificial intelligence. I think the web 3.0 age will instead be defined by the interaction of online actions with offline participation. In mass.

To cut the long story short, the wave soon started sweeping the world over.

I don’t think twitter has reached anywhere near critical mass yet in Asia, I think it’s far from the peak that blogging itself reached. But its rate of growth is undeniable.

With some chatter in the industry coming about, I spoke to Tim about this, and we decided to keep it in view for a while. It was not long before we decided to act on our instincts. And so, a twitter advertising network, and Asia’s first (once again!), was born! ChurpChurp.com!

To get back to the title subject (sorry I always deviate), just like writing a composition, every business plan has a start, the middle, and the end. It is essential that the start is perfect, as it is your first impression.

In business  terms, the start is your company NAME and LOGO.

As usual, this task fell to both me and timothy, and we set about thinking about it.

As an internet company, this is no mean feat, as virtually ALL domains which make any sense have been bought up by cyber squatters. I mean just think of two coherent words, match them together, its gone! I promise you!

In any case, I’ve never like straight laced names. Like I would never go for “shoppingmall.com” or something like that, even if it was available (OK lah, never say never, but probably not if I had to pay good money for it).  To me, it’s alot harder to build a brand name with coherent and familiar words like that. People’s first associations will fall onto the things they related that word to, instead of the product you are trying to build.

We were honestly dry out of ideas for a long time. Until, I was in the office, and heard this chirping sound. It was raine’s phone, and her alert that new tweets were available. It was then that it hit me! Chirp Chirp! Not available! Of course! I tried ChurpChurp.com and it was! I tried to reconcile my product with  the name, and once again, it fit like a snug glove on a cold winters night.

The U creates a little bit of fun  and extends the pronunciation of the word. At the same time, I think people will be able to see the direct linkage to twitter. I spoke to Tim about the name, and having convinced the better half, it was done!

Next, we tasked Vernice to come out with some logo designs. We did not give her much direction, and I wanted in fact to get some direction myself, by having some options.

These were the first options! You’ll never see this anywhere else!

Tell me what you think? And I’ll give you some insight into how the partnership finds consensus!

So first round, honestly, I thought was horrid. I really did not like any of then. For some strange reason though, tim liked the penguin looking bird on number 3. I was like, lets try again!

On to the second round. vast improvements had been made. Tim liked bird number 1 (Dunno why! I think it looks like its got a belly loh this one!), and he liked the font on number 5. I thought, number 5 was the nicest font too, and the bird was kinda cute, but it had no linkage to the activity of twittering itself!

Therefore with some additional guidance, we sent vernice back to work!

On to batch number 3!

Vernice, after 2 rejections, cautiously asked, “How about these three? If we still don’t have a winner, i will come out with more.”

But the search was over! I wanted that birddddd!!!!! I was in! This is the cutest bird out there! I proclaimed to myself!

I tried to contain my excitement (if you are over enthusiastic with something, sometimes it has the opposite effect of making people feel underwhelmed), and referred to timothy. He immediately chose the same bird as me! (We both need to choose same bird, otherwise no pakeh leh!)

And WOOHOOO!!!!! We were in business! With a few minor changes of course!

 Vernice ! Muacks! Great job! You are da bomb, for finding the bird of my life! (For that your face gets a red halo!

You know what the best part of this logo is? Vernice hand drew it herself. An original work of art! Picasso would be proud!