The Thinking Behind the ALENNE Brand: An Ally for People Who Keep Going

Read the Miaomada blog for a while, and the word ‘ALENNE’ turns up here and there. Even if you’re using a protein dispenser, you’ve probably never heard it before and that makes sense; what’s printed on Miaomada products is ‘Protein Dispenser’ and ‘ALENNE’ appears nowhere on them. The only place it’s in use right now is this blog, and we’ve started using it a little before it’s officially out.

I’m Keiichiro Honda, founder and CEO of Miaomada Co., Ltd., a small company in Itabashi, Tokyo. Today, I want to be straight about why we’re building this brand while it’s still unreleased, and what we put into the name ALENNE.

Why Use a Name That Isn’t Out Yet?

Switching a name later creates confusion. Not many people read this blog yet, so the name can take root quietly. Better to work it in now, while the traffic is light.

It’s going to take time to give the name ALENNE meaning and substance. This blog is where that starts.

Our First Brand Was ‘Protein Dispenser’

Miaomada’s first brand was ‘Protein Dispenser’. That’s close to a product name, and I’ll admit it. Inside the company, people said it didn’t quite work as a brand. I had a slight reservation about it myself.

We went with it anyway, for a simple reason. Household protein dispensers barely existed in Japan at the time. Products you could call ‘protein powder dispensers’ were sold overseas, but almost nobody in Japan knew that.

And I thought that before anything else, people had to know the category was there: a dedicated tool for measuring and storing protein. That meant getting the words ‘protein dispenser’ into circulation first. We looked past the awkwardness and focused on getting the name known. That was the first decision we made.

More on how we opened up that category in Who Is Miaomada? The Story Behind the Name, and Why a Small Workshop in Tokyo Is Going Global.

Why We’re Building ALENNE Now

‘Protein Dispenser’ has caught on, bit by bit, and I’m grateful for that. That momentum is what makes the next step possible, and we’re building ALENNE for two reasons.

The first is where we want to take the product line. We started with protein, but we want to expand into other tools or accessories for people who train. With that in mind, ‘Protein Dispenser’ won’t cover everything we want to do.

The second is what matters most to us: helping people keep going.

Protein, and any health habit, counts for nothing if it doesn’t last. Keeping something up isn’t a matter of willpower, the way I see it. It’s more that skipping it starts to feel wrong. You reach for it without thinking, the way you reach for a toothbrush. That’s the state we want to help people get to. And we wanted a name that says we’ll be there alongside them while they do.

More about why keeping it up matters so much to us in Why You Stop Drinking Protein, and How to Stay With It.

The Meaning Behind ALENNE

ALENNE is a name we built from the English ‘ally’ and ‘endurance’.

We joined the two because we wanted the name itself to carry one idea: be an ally to anyone trying to keep going, for as long as it takes.

We also thought about how the name should sound. Not a coach shouting ‘push harder’, but something quiet enough to fit into your daily routine. Steady rather than loud.

Where ALENNE Is Headed

What we make may change from here. Other tools for people who train could be added under the ALENNE name, alongside the protein dispenser. The core doesn’t change: be an ally to anyone who keeps going.

ALENNE is the name for that core. We’re building the brand so that whatever we put out next makes somebody’s daily habit a little easier to keep.

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The ALENNE Protein Dispenser

The ALENNE Protein Dispenser is Miaomada’s flagship product: pour straight from the bag or tub into the hopper, slide the lever to measure a set dose, and keep it on the counter as part of your daily routine.

The patented dosing mechanism measures one serving with a single pull of the lever. If it turns out to be the thing that keeps your daily protein going, that’s exactly what we built it for.