In late 2018, I was hauling bags of groceries through the biting cold into my second-floor apartment. It was a time-between-times for me, when everything felt like it was going wrong.
And I desperate to imagine a way out of it all.
The last few months had seen me spiral into a dark hole of depression; medical bills, mounting debt, moving to a new state… It was all taking its toll. And I was growing angsty in my job – putting out fires for someone else’s company.
I wanted my own company, to flex my wings and start doing the things that I believed in. I wanted to tell stories, craft exciting brands, help small businesses rediscover their ability to imagine a better future.
I knew that if I was feeling pressured, tons of other people feel just as alone and pressured too.
So back to the groceries.
I was hauling them in, and dumped them on the counter. Potatoes and raw chicken thighs, and a ton of vegetables (paleo-ish diet over here…) I had queued up my top Spotify movie soundtracks.
As I set them down, this song came on. I’d heard it many times already. But suddenly it stood out.
These lyrics from ‘Still Dream’, Rise of the Guardians, rammed home:
Not so long ago
Your world was bright
So take a breath, and count to ten
And maybe you can dream again
Still dream
And all the wonder that you knew
Will all come flying back to you
If you remember all the hope you left behind
Open up your heart and change your mind
Oh what you’ll find, if you still dream
For weeks I’d been going in circles, looking for a name for my brand. I’d tried everything with the word ‘saga’ to ‘legend,’ and a bunch of other dramatic stuff. But I kept coming back to ‘dream’, since I loved the name ‘Dreamworks’.
And maybe you can dream again…
That was perfect. I was so excited I was shaking.
I wanted to build a brand that stood for something more than just a service. I wanted a suite of services, perhaps a team… in fact, none of that mattered as much as the brand promise.
I wanted people to regain that spark of excitement and imagination again about their brand.
If they’d lost it, we’ll get it back. And if they have it, we’ll make it brighter.
How about you? What was the inspiration for your brand name? Anything funny or special inspire you?
Header artwork copyright Dreamworks
