Working with startups requires special attention—and provides unique satisfaction when the business pans out. In 2010, we celebrated the kind of milestone we hope to see with every startup client when RealD went live as RLD on the NYSE after a successful public offering that raised US $200 million.

We started with RealD when the company was just the founders sitting in two chairs in an otherwise empty room, named it, and provided the story and messaging to help secure the critical mass of exhibitors, producers and directors needed to create an essentially new market.

Telegraphing leadership. Simple and direct, the RealD name addressed a perceptual challenge head-on: It communicated the underlying promise of a novel technology and proclaimed that 3D experiences were now a mainstream proposition. With competitors sure to follow, the RealD name pre-emptively staked the company’s claim as the category’s de facto benchmark.

As the company expands its global footprint, questions surrounding long-term consumer demand for 3D have long ago been laid to rest—and RealD’s market leadership is undisputed.

Despite its ground floor beginnings, RealD’s visionary founders selected their company and brand name using the same rigorous process we use for companies and brands of any size.

Eric La Brecque