When deciding on a name that best fits their start-up companies, business owners typically consider what messages the moniker will convey to target audiences.

Some owners pick traditional names that signify the products and services that their businesses or industries provide. Others name their companies based on a desire to differentiate themselves from competitors, even if it means alienating potential customers.

When people hear the name Saturday Mfg., for example, a plant or warehouse may come to mind. But the founders of that downtown advertising firm say the unconventional handle reflects their agency’s creative focus and industrial style.

“In the process of working together, we developed some opinions and some philosophies that we wanted to try out,” said Scott Lewellen, who in March 2009 co-founded Saturday Mfg. with Gina Adam and Brian Sauer. “We wanted to indicate that we were putting some fun back into marketing.”

The partners, all of whom formerly worked for Strategic America – Lewellen resigned in 2006, followed by Adam and Sauer in 2009 – said they traded a traditional corporate culture for an office environment in which fun and creativity are given top priority.

When clients visit Saturday Mfg.’s shop at 1717 Ingersoll Ave., which is furnished almost entirely with gently used and refurbished furniture, the partners literally sit down with them at a kitchen table that Adam purchased years ago at a local antique mall.

The leased space, which has four fully functional garage doors, is located on the north side of the former Stivers Lincoln Mercury auto dealership building that was redeveloped last year by architect Mike Simonson.

That’s where Adam and Lewellen, the firm’s writers, and Sauer, a designer, work to promote clients’ products, services and events.

They call themselves foremen. Their shop is referred to as the factory.

Recently, Saturday Mfg. added campaigns for Olde Main Brewing Co.’s Sodbuster Stout beer, Des Moines’ Seventh Annual Oktoberfest and Valley West Mall to its portfolio of finished products.

Principal Financial Group Inc., Mentor Iowa and the Des Moines Music Coalition are also counted among the agency’s clients.

“It’s a fun-idea factory,” Lewellen said. “That comes from both the name and what we decided to do with the space. Your name and your branding should be reflected in everything you do, including your office.”

By tapping an external network of freelance public-relations professionals and media buyers, the partners said they are able to offer those types of services. But Sauer, noting that traditional advertising firms are typically named after their founders and focused more on offering integrated marketing solutions, said he and his co-workers had another vision for Saturday Mfg.

“We didn’t want it to be a very giant, formal, oak-trim-everywhere kind of thing,” Sauer said. “So many times we saw in our experiences where the creative has always been the most visible part of what any agency does. But too often it has taken a back seat to everything else that an agency does. And we felt to deliver the best products we needed to be able to put that first and foremost.”

So how does “manufacturing” represent the firm’s overarching goals?

“Manufacturing also speaks to how we like to craft things,” Sauer said. “We want to make sure everything has been polished and everything has been sanded down, there are no rough edges to it.”

Sauer said Saturday Mfg.’s name acts as “the price of admission,” meaning that if potential clients are turned off by its eccentric nature, then the firm may not be the best fit for them anyway.

“It is obviously different,” Adam said. “People find it refreshing. It always spurs them to ask more questions. Frankly, once people find out about the name, it does weed people out. If they are not willing to take a risk, they may not be open to other suggestions.”