At Zinzin, we love to name drop. Especially, when it’s a name we created for our fabulous client, Antimatter, doing sassy new things in the world of software as a service (SaaS).

That’s right; we said it: sassy.

Let’s take a look at two seemingly unconnected dots: the B2B SaaS infrastructure company, Antimatter, and why the word “sassy” is more than our attempt at being cute with SaaS. Zinzin believes both characteristics — serious and sassy — can successfully co-exist in a name when it maps true to its brand positioning.

Aside: We freely admit that we love to play with language. It’s part of Zinzin’s naming process. And it’s often how Zinzin brains make the most unlikely creative connections for our clients.

And now, back to Antimatter

As stated on their website, “Antimatter is an infrastructure service for B2B SaaS that fundamentally solves data security and privacy requirements.”

Global customer data and privacy is on the line. How to store that data, how it’s accessed and by whom is more complex than ever. Therefore, Antimatter takes a fundamentally different approach. In an oversimplified nutshell, it’s a comprehensive solution that seamlessly slides into a company’s existing cloud.

Antimatter CEO and co-founder, Andrew Krioukov, says it best:

Antimatter is fundamentally rethinking today’s product infrastructures to provide complete data control while keeping the agility and economics of the cloud. We foresee a near-future where customers always retain control over their data, and SaaS companies won’t need or have access to plaintext customer data.

For a deeper dive into Zinzin’s naming work on this cool project, check out our Antimatter case study.

Antimatter: three brand positioning concepts

The In-Between Place

Antimatter provides customers control-at-a-distance in a liminal space outside of time and place. Metaphorically, it’s like a subatomic realm or quantum entanglement. Another metaphor is a benevolent parasite, or the beneficial bacteria of the gut microbiome: it invisibly slides underneath a SaaS vendor’s existing product without modifications. You can’t see it, but you know it’s there, working its magic. Thereby, this “magic” is about a state of being, and flows seamlessly into the next concept.

Omniscience / Stealth

Antimatter should feel more like ninjas rather than an army or giant fortress. It is aware and vigilant. People rest well knowing it’s always taking care of them in the background. It is like Q from James Bond; Alfred Pennyworth, Batman’s butler; or the real hero behind the hero in Star Wars, Yoda. All are calm, wise people behind the scenes of the hero, but without them the hero would tank. A key attribute of this stealth Ninja guardian is absolute, unwavering confidence, which leads naturally to the next concept.

Confidence

Antimatter empowers people, because it instills confidence instead of fear. This is a very different approach to security than the status quo. Antimatter is something people can absolutely rely on. It sells confidence to SaaS companies, then SaaS customers will feel that too. Once this confidence about total security has permeated all of tech, issues of “privacy” and “security” will fade into the background and become part of the collective unconscious.

Do both serious & sassy map to Antimatter’s brand positions?

serious (adjective)

1. (of a subject, state, or activity) demanding careful consideration or application.
2. acting or speaking sincerely and in earnest, rather than in a joking or halfhearted manner.
3. significant or worrying because of possible danger or risk; not slight or negligible.
4. substantial in terms of size, number, or quality.

sassy (adjective)

1. lively, bold, and full of spirit; cheeky.

Source: Oxford English Dictionary

More on sassy

Here’s a great article on NPR’s Code Switch called, “How ‘Sassy’ Came To Mean Something Both Sweet And Sour.” Tonya Ballard Brown writes about the origin and evolution of the word “sassy,” especially in historical relation to race and gender identity.

But can a company, product, or service be sassy or have sassy characteristics? That, Zinzin friends, is a question for the brand positioning.

Is Antimatter sassy?

In the case of Antimatter, we think it’s definitely a company and service that’s lively and full of spirit. The brains behind Antimatter know that they’ve made the impossible possible. Moreover, they identified a complex challenge and found a way to solve it. Aside from plain ol’ genius, it takes a lively spirit to push that dream onward.

Is the name Antimatter also cheeky? And does that cheekiness map to the brand positioning? Yes and yes! To be cheeky is to be bold. To be bold is to be confident and courageous. Antimatter set out to shift a paradigm to pave a new way for people to retain control over their own data. Therefore, that maps to confidence in the brand positioning.

The takeaway

Zinzin thinks Antimatter is a great example of a tech company with some serious SaaS. The company, bold, lively, and confident, chose an evocative new name that stands out from the crowd. It’s future-forward. It’s even fun. While the work they do is groundbreaking (serious) for data security worldwide, Antimatter understands the value of being lively and bold (sassy). Cheers to you, Antimatter.

So, tech companies, the next time you think about naming or renaming your company, product or service, always remember: all work and no sass make for a very dull brand.