Wait … you named your business Pigface?!
Yup, it’s a fair question. Why did I call my business Pigface??
First of all, it’s named after the plant, not the face of a pig. But, honestly I’m not mad if you think of a pig. Maybe a reliable mate like Pigsy from Monkey Magic, or even a cute lil Babe.
But as much as I love these porcus pals, I named it after the plant, which I love.
Don’t know Pigface? Actually, I’m sure you do. They’re everywhere. But first a story.
Many years ago a bunch of mad friends and I embarked on an adventure. The plan was:
Buy a van
Drive it across the Nullabor from Vic to WA
Have the most the epic journey
Sell the van in WA
Make a profit
Fly home
Now, I know what you’re thinking – that is a flawless plan! Surprisingly, we actually hit 5/6 of the above KPIs (yep, the profit plan wasn’t well thought out, and a leaky head gasket had something to say about it).
On one of those epic days on this road trip, my mate Kee introduced me to this amazing succulent spreading through the dunes, with vivid green and red banana-type leaves, and these beautiful, psychedelic purple and yellow flowers.
And the weirdest part about these weird plants? Inside the flower buds is a fruit, which looks and feels like a kiwifruit, but are … salty? It’s weird and great. Look at Kee getting involved.
So this is where I met the pigface, and over the years I have just grown to love them more.
Some months ago I broke off a branch from a particularly lucious plant at a train station, and set about propagating some for my garden at home. Now, I have tried propagation before from cuttings, with very mixed success. So I was dubious and wanted to ensure I at least got some plants out of this midnight mission. I cut up the vine into about 15 different cuttings and set them all up in a nice potting mix to grow. And you know what? EVERY SINGLE ONE TOOK! I now have Pigface all over my garden, and they’re doing absolutely fabulously.
Beyond the cool name (some would say unfortunate, but I say cool), I learned all sorts of cool things about this plant:
They’re an Aussie native, also known as Karkalla. It was widely used for food and to treat ailments by Australian Aboriginals.
The latin name is Carpobrotus
Other names are sea fig, beach bananas, noonflower, iceplant and cutwort.
The flowers and juicy leaves of the plant are edible.
The fruit are salty and tasty and can be made into jams and chutneys.
The juice from the leaves can be used to help relieve burns, bites and stings, just like aloe.
The plant is fast growing, great for erosion control, groundcover, borders and fire retardants.
So, when it came to picking a moniker for a new business venture, I started cycling through the options. Obviously I could go the personal brand approach, make it just CHARLIE SYME, but honestly, as a branding person, I thought this was both boring and cheating. So I moved past this option pretty quick.
Next, I looked to build the value prop right into the name – save some time in explaining on my side and understanding on theirs. I went deep into this relatively new concept of a Fractional CMO, a freelance Chief Marketing Officer working with a couple of different businesses at a time, giving them access to senior marketing expertise at a scale that works. As a student of the excellent Mini MBA in Marketing, I considered calling it MiniCMO. I actually still love this, but it’s just one thing. I wanted a business name to be flexible and adaptable and could come with me when I chuck this all in and become a landscaper (not really but maybe).
So I kept brainstorming. Then as I sat in my garden looking at these little gorgeous bastards flourishing all over the place, even in the clay soil of Coburg, I thought to myself:
“Jeez these Pigface just love to grow”
And there it was. I loved it. Pigface Marketing.
It’s fun.
It’s bold.
It’s different – and you’ll never forget it.
And it just loves to grow.
Because that’s what marketing is. It’s not just for fun or aesthetics or egos or anything else – it’s about supporting the business with good sustainable growth in recognition, reputation, and respect.