20111004 Marketing Call

These are the minutes of the October 4, 2011, marketing call.

Participants: Rene, Mahesh, Gora.

Topics:

• New name for "RFH"
  • RFH is a potential new HL7 product; RFH as a name cant be used because it's already in use by the WHO. Those that came up with RFH started brainstorming about a potential new name, see [1].
  • MnM asked Marketing for a review and a recommendation.
• Martin, who wasn't able to attend, provided his opinion via e-mail before the call:
  • First up, I see a big issue with the working name! I’m being pedantic, but this what is being developed is not “Resources for Healthcare”. Resources are owned by entities within the healthcare space. What we are creating is a “system for the management of resources in healthcare” or more accurately a “methodology for the creation of a system for the management of resources in healthcare”
  • Of the names developed in the wiki [2] the most appealing to me is the “FHIR” theme ("Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources”), although I’d prefer FIHR.
  • I like it because it conveys energy and excitement yet does have some rationalizable meaning. But it does have some issue as noted, eg is it really fast, or do we mean rapid and simple?
  • I don’t like FIHR7. As people comment, does FIHR8 come next?!
  • I like none of abstract names. They convey nothing to me and are not particularly memorable. I do think abstract names could make a lot of sense, but if we go down this path then we should develop a family of names for each of the HL7 products so that they can be seen to hang together as a suite (Orion’s approach of “Rhapsody” “Concerto” etc is a good example of this). However to follow this approach requires some heavyweight marketing planning and we do not have the resources or the time for this.
  • So taking in all the above, I think some further work is required to hit the mark and achieve the following: Catchy name, Can create branding, Conveys what the product does
• Consensus by those on the call that FIHR, FHIR, FHIRE, FIHRE are the best options on the list.
  • Discussion on the trailing E, could stand for 'Enterprise'. Doesn't add that much.
  • "Fast-HIR" - confusion with Fast-Hire, car-rental association ?
• MOTION The Marketing Council recommends to MnM to use the "FHIR" acronym as the name for the 'RFH' product (2-0-0).