'The project originally known as the ASU Scottsdale Center for New Technology and Innovation is still officially named the slightly shorter ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center.

But you can call it SkySong.

Developers of Arizona State University's new research center at McDowell and Scottsdale roads have settled on SkySong as a brand name that they hope will take off in an international market.

"We knew we needed a name that would be memorable, catchy, excellent for marketing," said Sharon Harper, CEO of the Plaza Cos., which is co-developing the site. "It invokes vision. It invokes imagination."

For some, it invokes a grimace.

"I don't like it," said Scottsdale City Councilwoman Betty Drake. “…It seems a little contrived."

SkySong also is the name of the tent-like, shade structures that will soar up to 125 feet over the campus.

Steve Evans, trustee of the ASU Foundation, said that the foundation, Higgins Development Partners and the Plaza Cos. went through an "exhaustive" research effort to develop a name that might stick.

The developers hired an outside company to survey the brand name SkySong and found the word was a hit.

"We learned from designers that you don't want a long name," Harper said. "People will forget and it would be hard to find on the Internet. How will somebody in India remember it?"

The developers pointed to the names Yahoo and Google and reminded everyone how strange they seemed when they first appeared.'

'Jos Anshell, chief executive officer of the major Phoenix advertising firm, Moses Anshell, admitted that his initial reaction against "SkySong" went the other direction once the name started to grow on him.

"At first, it made me think of Delta Airlines’ shuttle service, ‘Song,’ so it reminded me of a failing airline," said Anshell, who said his firm isn’t currently doing any work for ASU, though it had in the past. Then he did some free word association.

"But then I looked at it, said, ‘OK, it’s about incubating, free thinking, free thinkers, open, free,’ " he said. "The more I thought about it, the more I liked it."

Shorter, catchier names work, he said, even if they don’t conjure up much association with anything.

…Above all, Anshell said, SkySong fits ASU President Michael Crow’s desire to create a new kind of university by forcing people to think about things differently.

"Educational communication is steeped in the past," he said. "Whenever you encourage thinking outside the box, you get people scratching their heads."'