Fifty bucks to the first person who can tell me what "kijiji" means without looking it up on Google.
I know, I know. Kijiji sounds like a pet name for my va-jay-jay, but it's not. Don't worry, the first time I ever heard the name I was all "K-who-who?" too.
Yesterday I met with some people at Kijiji and some of my fellow mommybloggers to discuss their brand and website. I don't think one of us knew about kijiji before our invite to the focus group. We had a lively discussion about brand and names and why we love/hate/use/promote/talk about certain websites.
For those of you still wondering why a company would brand themselves after a va-jay-jay, a quick lesson...
Kijiji means village in Swahili. Kijijiis like craigslist. Only, I'm hoping that with our valuable feedback, it will be so much more. Hence the name. Yeah, I didn't know what it meant either until their cute General Manager of Kijiji told me so. I might add that I think I could be old enough to be his mother if I was a pregnant teen (I'm not that old, people!). He could be just one of those guys that looks really young or he's further proof that there is no concept of "paying your dues" in Silicon Valley. Or went to the Stanford school of "How to Become a Billionaire Before the Age of 25."
Anyways, back to the site. The marketing folks were great while we bashed the brand, the home page, and told them exactly what we think they should be doing. After all, we are a bunch of moms. We aren't used to people asking for our opinion but we sure can dish out a set of demands faster than a kid can ask for another cookie. Those eyes in the back of our head help too. Marketing people be aware... mommybloggers are opinionated BUT won't sugarcoat it. We can be brutal. Just think of like removing a band-aid. If you rip it off, it hurts just for a second and then feels oh so much better.
The concept of a place where I can find everything local, in my community is so ridiculously appealing. Not only is it free to post any ad (craigslist does charge for job postings), it has the potential to be so much more than a place to sell my used dryer or the water table in the backyard. It can be place where communities can form. Post about an event in your neighborhood. Advertise your favorite restaurant that's struggling in this economy. Rescue an animal. Find a job. All in one place.
I'm sure there's some of you thinking this will never work. After all, we already have anti-establishment (never-mind it's one of the richest companies in California) craigslist, right? True. We do. But there isn't anything wrong with a little competition. Who knows... with Kijiji reaching out to moms and members of the community to make their product a better product, they may very well become your new established anti-establishment.
They just need to work on the name.
PS. You didn't think I was actually gonna pay you fifty bucks, right?
Full disclosure: Kijiji actually paid me $50 to attend the focus group and talk about it. Okay, they didn't pay me to write this post. I threw that in fo' free. 'Cause I'm generous like dat.
