Bitcoin Branding

[joshg]

I would like to turn the discussion towards what we can do to help improve and mainstream the image of bitcoins.  What is the first thing that people think of when the hear "bitcoins?"  We have to "brand" bitcoins in order to have a hope to reach the critical mass needed for widespread acceptance of bitcoins as a payment method.  

My suggestion would be to start calling it either "grassroots money" or simply, "internet money."  I'm not suggesting we actually should change the name from bitcoin to something else, but rather to change the way we talk about it, and more importantly perhaps, write about it on our websites.  If we continue to talk about it as a "crypto-currency", we severely limit our chances of achieving critical mass.  

"Grassroots money" is great and will appeal to most people.  If we can get people referring to bitcoins as "internet money," we have won the game.

Do you see what I am saying?  What else can we do to move in this direction?

Peace,

Josh G.

[Alex Beckenham]

The term 'grassroots' makes me think of tree-hugging hippies.

However I agree the term 'crypto-currency' is likely to turn off the average listener.

[lacedwithkerosene]

That is a a great first post. smooth move.

The term 'grassroots' is associated with community-based political or social movements more than hippies. You heard the term all the time during the run up to the last election. Every candidate was running a "grassroots" campaign before the primaries. The health care town hall debates and protests were described as 'grassroots.' The term makes sense.  The Tea Party, is called grassroots, but good luck finding a hippie among them ...

[FreeMoney]

The term 'grassroots' makes me think of tree-hugging hippies.

However I agree the term 'crypto-currency' is likely to turn off the average listener.

I think p2p has a pretty good image.

If people are calling it "internet money" without snickering then we're doing good. But all those central database linked to the dollar failboat currencies have given it a negative connotation I think.

GrassMerkleRoots money.

[niklas_a]

I would vote for decentralized currency. I think this is the most central thing to BitCoin. Then you can go on and talk about how it can function without a central bank and that no central entity can control the currency.

Basically, everything else such as increased anonymity and how it is secured using mathematics then follows from that.   

[gigabytecoin]

The term 'grassroots' makes me think of tree-hugging hippies.

However I agree the term 'crypto-currency' is likely to turn off the average listener.

Grassroots money doesn't sound like something I want either. I imagine a few people in their garages tinkering around...

Of course this is how microsoft/apple/etc were started but still.

[Stephen Gornick]

Some additional info here:
  http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:Marketing

[charliesheen]

im working on it

http://thebitcoin.us

[superjaws]

im working on it

http://thebitcoin.us

beautiful site!

[charliesheen]

im working on it

http://thebitcoin.us

beautiful site!

ThankYou!

[Alex Beckenham]

im working on it

http://thebitcoin.us

Not sure if that's an issue for anyone else. What character are you using for the 'c'?

[charliesheen]

im working on it

http://thebitcoin.us

Not sure if that's an issue for anyone else. What character are you using for the 'c'?

It should be this ->₡
What browser are you in?
I only tested it in chrome and the most recent firefox

[Alex Beckenham]

It should be this ->₡
What browser are you in?
I only tested it in chrome and the most recent firefox

Chrome 11.0.696.68, Windows XP.

Edit: By the way, I can see that character perfectly fine here in the forum, and can select+copy+paste it. But I still get a square box on your page.

[shackra]

please, if you want to make some branding for Bitcoin, try o use a name can be used independent of the talked mother language. what is supposed to mean "grassroot"?

[Mike Hearn]

I've included some conclusions from this thread in the PR page:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Public_relations

[SgtSpike]

Grassroots reminds me of hippies as well.  It doesn't really matter what the term is supposed to mean, only the imagery that said term conjugates in someone's mind.

Internet money is... kind of cheesy.  I think a less generic name would be appropriate.

I like decentralized currency.  It is self-explanatory, memorable, a bit cold, but the idea of it helps warm the imagery a bit.

How about universal currency?  Global currency?  I think global anything could have a negative connotation in people's minds.  Just my feeling though.  Universal sounds better.

If you think about it, many of the internet mega-sites have non-traditional names that don't mean anything otherwise (or at the very least, are completely unrelated to the items/services they are selling).  eBay?  Amazon?  Google?  Geocities?  Pandora? 

I think a unique name (i.e. bitcoin) in and of itself will be enough once the majority of people have at least heard the term "bitcoin" thrown around once.  The only question is whether bitcoin can/will have a negative association in the average person's mind just from the term.  What would someone who has never heard of bitcoin think of when they first hear the word bitcoin?

[Shortline]

Grassroots reminds me of hippies as well.  It doesn't really matter what the term is supposed to mean, only the imagery that said term conjugates in someone's mind.

Internet money is... kind of cheesy.  I think a less generic name would be appropriate.

I like decentralized currency.  It is self-explanatory, memorable, a bit cold, but the idea of it helps warm the imagery a bit.

How about universal currency?  Global currency?  I think global anything could have a negative connotation in people's minds.  Just my feeling though.  Universal sounds better.

If you think about it, many of the internet mega-sites have non-traditional names that don't mean anything otherwise (or at the very least, are completely unrelated to the items/services they are selling).  eBay?  Amazon?  Google?  Geocities?  Pandora? 

I think a unique name (i.e. bitcoin) in and of itself will be enough once the majority of people have at least heard the term "bitcoin" thrown around once.  The only question is whether bitcoin can/will have a negative association in the average person's mind just from the term.  What would someone who has never heard of bitcoin think of when they first hear the word bitcoin?

When I first heard of bitcoin I immediately thought of bittorrent. Good thoughts flooded my mind. Next I thought, well, what the hell is bitcoin? Read the faq, thought "oh, it's like an opensource internet money" and there we are.

Fact is, a byline isn't going to truly affect what people think about bitcoin. It can pique interest, but it can't replace fifteen minutes of reading a few things and making up their own minds about it. To me the most important thing is to reflect in the "branding" the nature of the project, which is in practice almost apolitical because it is almost universal.

please, if you want to make some branding for Bitcoin, try o use a name can be used independent of the talked mother language. what is supposed to mean "grassroot"?

Quoted for truth. The common consensus of how we refer to bitcoin should be as inclusive and non-Americentric as possible. There's plenty of room to have an "American bitcoin," and that's a huge share of bitcoin use right now and always will be, but eventually if it takes off the way we hope it will, it is agreeable if it's based in concepts that can translate well.

Wikipedians somewhere along the line decided that they would have every article translated into every language. That eventually became one of the guiding principles for editors. I realize that these are fundamentally different things but that just seems like a worthwhile, if diffuse, goal to have - to be globally, linguistically and culturally inclusive as much as is functionally possible. Nothing can stop anyone from firing up BitCoin the software, but plenty of piddlin' little things can deter them.

[Shortline]

Oh and by the way, I've heard bitcoin referred to as "chanbucks" here and there. That's a good thing - since nobody can change what bitcoin essentially is except by unprecedented majority consent, if different parts of the internet call it different things through organic means that's an unqualified success.

[joshg]

This is a great conversation.  "Decentralized currency" in my mind requires a bit too much knowledge and understanding for the majority of the populous to embrace.  Most people don't even know that money IS centralized in the first place or what that means, and is therefore without meaning to them.  "Decentralized currency" tells us what it is not.  And we really ought to call it "money," not "currency."  Money is WAY more mainstream.  

"P2P money" is okay, but there are so many people who have no idea what peer-to-peer is.
"Crowd Cash" - to me that sounds nice, but people will not have an immediate idea what it is.

Really I think that the term "internet money" is the simplest and most accessible term to the greatest number of people.  As a community, I think that's what we want bitcoins to be... we want it to be the defacto method for payment transactions on the internet.  We should start calling it what we want it to be.

The tagline(s) for bitcoins need to be as absolutely simple as possible to be understandable by 5th graders.  And it needs to be as positive as possible.  This really is a serious subject that can make or break bitcoins.  If we refer to bitcoins as a "crypto-currency" we might lose 50% or more of our growth potential.  

Peace,

Josh G.

[Sawzall]

Decentralized currency is a good term. Doesn't sound shady.
Internet money sounds shady. It reminds me of eGold, which is damn shady.
If they don't know what "decentralized" means, they're never going to use Bitcoin. Ever.