Both Simmons, ” Simmons

Many changes occured in 1972-Klein changed his last name to Simmons (because he liked it better), he and Stanley branched out on their own, and they found a drummer, Peter Criss (born Peter Criscuola), who was willing to dress and act as wildly as they did.

Finally, Paul Frehley, who changed his name to Ace to avoid having two Pauls in the band, joined the group as lead guitarist.

The new union needed a new name. Simmons explains that the word kiss seemed to sum up a lot about the glamour of rock and roll.

It was also perfect for international marketing because it was understood all over the world-it was short and simple, easy to say and remember, it translated into many cultures, and evoked simple emotional responses. And, bottom line, Simmons and Stanley liked the word.

Creating a successful organization of any kind takes a lot more than a good product and a good name. It requires equity, which for cash poor KISS meant sweat equity. To make ends meet, Simmons, who could type 90 words per minute as a result of his college days, took a job with Kelly Girls (later the Kelly Agency) as a temporary typist. As he relates in Kiss and Makeup (Crown, 2001), the pay was good, and because very few men were secretaries, it was a good place to meet women. He also learned to fix office machines, which got him plenty of work, including a six month position at Glamour and Vogue as an assistant to the editor. He also worked as a cashier in a deli until 9 or 10 at night, which confined practice time with the band from then until the wee hours of the morning. Stanley drove a cab. His taxi stand was right outside the door of the building where the band rehearsed, so when he took a break, he would run upstairs, practice, and then go on to continue his shift. Both Simmons and Stanley had passion and were willing to work for their dreams, living the old adage, “Don’t give up your day job.” Simmons portrays an underlying principle especially relevant to start ups of either the musical or entrepreneurial breed. It’s the difference between firms such as Hewlett Packard, the archetype of the garage start ups, and the myriad of dot coms of the 1990s, which began with millions of IPO dollars available to fund a lot of unnecessary and frivolous expenses. The same principle applies when building brands. Sometimes rich marketing campaigns and product launches make for lazy, unfocused strategy execution. Often the results attained from sweat equity are much more effective than those arising from deep pockets because of the attention to every detail and the heightened sensitivity to expenses and utilization of time and human resources.