Branding health care exchanges to make the sale

Some of the work going into setting up state health insurance exchanges is figuring out what to name them. Some think the word “exchange” is too government-speak. Maryland went with the simple and straightforward Maryland Health Connection. California used a focus group to narrow down some of its choices—avocado and condor were rejected, eureka and ursa made the cut. However, coming up with a cute name is not as important as what you build around it, says Claudia Caplan, a marketing expert with the RP3 agency, especially if the experience is going to be as enjoyable as a trip to the DMV.