A few weeks ago, I was looking over our website data on Google Search Console. Among the search queries driving traffic to the Insign site, I found an unexpected list of variations: "Inside agency," "Insight agency," "Insigne agency," "Insignt"... and even, from clients who have worked with us for years, "Insigne" with a very deliberate "e" at the end. Not to mention the briefs where advertisers naturally introduce us as "the Insight agency."

I have to confess something. It made me smile. And it reminded me of something deeply personal.

My name is Krystel. Not Christelle. Not Kristel. Not Crystel. Krystel—with a K, a y, and an "el" at the end that catches everyone off guard. For as long as I can remember, I've received emails addressing me as "Hello Christine," badges printed with "Christelle," and contracts spelling it "Cristel." People often mix me up with my colleague Karine, because she too also has a "K" in her name that she didn't choose. Don't even get me started on Starbucks. And even people who have known me for a decade still write to me as "Christel.”

For a long time, I tried to correct people. Then I realized: those who call me by their own version of my name are often the ones who remember me the best. They captured the essentials. Not the spelling. The person. The one with the slightly unconventional name.

What Google Analytics doesn't tell you

Those close-enough searches in Search Console represent a form of brand awareness that no market research can truly measure. When someone types "Insight agency" into Google, it's not because they don't know how to spell. It's because they are looking for something that made an impact on them. They have a memory of us. They are coming back.

And that is exactly what a successful brand does. The brands everyone spells perfectly on the first try are often the ones people remember the least. Brand recall isn't about precision. It's about the impression you leave behind.

Insigne: Standing Out

There is one thing I probably should have shared sooner.

Insign comes from the Latin word insignis. It means remarkable. Distinguished. Marked out above the rest. A badge or "insigne" is what you wear to be recognized, to show where you belong, to show your value. It’s the symbol that stands out from all other symbols.

We could have explained this from the start. But we preferred to let people experience it first.

And if our name has resisted spelling bee standards for fifteen years, maybe it's because it carries a meaning deeper than its six letters. A name that doesn't put up a little fight in your memory never truly takes root there.

The Real Question

Do people remember a brand for its name, or for what it stands for?

Our clients call us Insigne, Inside, Insight. But they call. They come back. They recommend us, sometimes saying, "You should reach out to the Insignt agency, they are really good."

As for me, people have been calling me Christelle forever. But they keep calling me back.

We aren't changing our name. Insignis: standing out. We're just going to keep earning it.

Krystel Maquet, Business Development Director, Insign — strategy, marketing, and communications consulting agency

Were you looking for "Insight agency," "Inside agency," or "Insigne"? You're in the right place.