N’Take (formerly Pop Packaging)
Name: Steven Searle, director
Company: N’Take EcoDurable Products, Edmonton
What They Do: Wholesaler of environmentally friendly reusable carry bags
What They Would Do Over Again: Carefully consider the name
What We Did
Our focus when we started Pop Packaging Inc. (now N’Take) was reusable grocery bags. We had seen the polyfabric style of bags (which is our primary focus right now) widely used in Europe and Japan. I thought those areas tend to be years ahead of North America in terms of environmental initiatives. We started to slowly generate some interest with smaller companies and then from larger companies, and it started to cascade from there. Even though we’re known in the U.S., we’re going to become a whole lot more well-known because of our marketing efforts there.
The Fallout
We looked at some of the liabilities that the name Pop Packaging entailed, and the biggest one is that not only does it not describe what we do, but it can also be a bit confusing. A lot of people associate the word “pop” with point of purchase. The other thing is “packaging” – we probably get several calls a week from people looking for plastic packaging or cardboard boxes or something that’s completely not what we do. We decided that what we’re going to do is have a name that’s non-descriptive and gives us leeway as to what type of products we’re going to carry in the future.
In Hindsight
We would have given a bit more careful thought about the name. At the time, it was a name that was available, it was catchy, it “popped.” At the time we started, we really didn’t think it was going to turn into the runaway success that it has turned into. Of course if we knew then what we know now, we would have done quite a few things differently. The name probably would have been closer to what it is now.
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