Caxiam History 101.

Ready?

Once Ethan and I started to outline the long-term vision of our collaboration and the benefits of a merger in early 2004, establishing a new company was the next big challenge on our list.

Now I’d love to reveal some elaborate brainstorm that lasted months, and I hate to disappoint my inquisitive readers, but the CAXIAM name was truly an overnight phenomenon. It came to me as I was burning the midnight oil for a client in the home office of our shared town home. I energetically hopped to the whiteboard (yes, adrenaline can exist at 2 am) and the ideas began to outpour.

Ethan had cashed in earlier in the night, so it was just me, my initial ideas & a burst of excitement that kept me up for another couple hours. I knew he would awake first in the morning, so I needed to “sell” these ideas to my new partner through a narrative e-mail (which we’re both notorious for) & this whiteboard session below.

Name Game

Pronounced “KAX-EE-UM”, this unique word was actually derived from the names of our freelance companies established back in 2001. A2M Interactive (Mine) & Code Axis (Ethan’s). It simply made sense to form an uncommon identity by extracting letters (see below) from 2 companies that will now share services under one umbrella. Even the foundation of our company name speaks into the spirit of our collaborative approach.

Thankfully, our companies had many letters to choose from (22 to be exact) and the name game generated a handful of ideas. It was a balancing act of pronunciation, uniqueness, availability & opportunity potential.

• Google Search (“caxiam” & “caxiam group” generated zero results) – Check.
• Sunbiz.org name check (unique business name) – Check.
• Domain Name (caxiamgroup.com, caxiam.com was available) – Check.

After spending the next few days discussing more thoroughly with Ethan, it was then decided to append GROUP to Caxiam. It rolled easily off the tongue, unlike some other options (Corp, Org, etc.)

Color Selection

Deciding on the primary color of the Caxiam brand was an effortless process, but not because Ethan is color blind (I like to toy with him periodically – it’s solid entertainment).

Both the A2M Interactive and Code Axis color palette played in the cool area of the color wheel. So, we each contributed 50% of our hue and met right in the middle – literally (see below).

Interesting enough, 6 years later a similar turqoise was Pantone’s “Color of the Year for 2010″.

“Turquoise is a color that most people respond to positively.”

“It is universally flattering, has appeal for men and women…”

“Turquoise adds a splash of excitement to neutrals and browns…”

www.pantone.com/pages/MYP_mypantone/mypInfo.aspx?ca=75&pg=20706

Tag line

On my initial whiteboard brainstorm, I played around with the phrase “Assembling Success”. I was keen on the word “Assembling” because it best represented the vision of the company.

• Company execution dedicated to process & phases
• Connecting talent together to provide the best possible solution
• Professional employees with specific instructions & unified goals

“Success” expressed our earnest desire to succeed in three particular areas. Our clients, our employees & our ever growing industry.

• Problem solving for our clients, bringing the most ROI
• Bringing happiness to our talented team through culture, challenging projects & diverse clientele
• Having a forward thinking to benefit from industry trends & shifts in technology

The next morning, Ethan’s initial response to my ideas (below) were enthusiastic, but the tag line was missing something. He quickly suggested “Assembling Success on the Web” and it stuck immediately. After 4 years, we then shortened it to “Assembling Web Success”.

The downside to having a unique company name is people don’t necessarily know WHAT you do specifically (i.e. Web Design Group). The bulk of the solutions we wanted to design and develop for our clients were web based. Building Websites, Web Applications, Ecommerce & helping clients Market Online was going to be our focus. Assembling WEB Success gave our tag line context and helped our branding emphasize we have professional services in an industry that was:

• Unlimited in its potential
• Dynamic & forward thinking
• Constantly evolving, challenging

Caxiam Group, Assembling Web Success

So there you have it! Thanks for enlightening yourself with our history, we appreciate the read. If you enjoyed this blog post, be sure to check out our Company History