The Birthing of a Name

Creating a Brand Name

The task of developing that “killer” name has become quite complex. For years, business owners and management named their businesses after their spawn, and then the general public added their wisdom in naming contests. I’m sure they all have produced their share of brilliant names as well as some very scary ones. Now this field of art, science, skill, and luck has transitioned into a professional approach with dio’s strategic marketing’s naming process.

So what is a great name worth?

Plain and simple, a lot. Just remember it will be plastered on lots of things including your market’s mind. A great name is just as valuable as a great employee or piece of manufacturing equipment, or even the product that you deliver. 

Ask yourself the following

Who will ultimately decide the name? One person or a committee? Whomever that is should be involved in the brand-building process. Defining the attributes, benefits, values, persona, intrinsic spirit and ultimately the UBD - Unique Benefit Delivered. What kind of brand are you naming? Company, consumer product, business service, or even endangered gorillas in a African refuge? What is the expected life of the brand name? Does the name fit into a larger family of names? Will it be used only in the U.S. or will it go global? Remember that today, “global” can mean the Internet too. Who is your primary audience for the brand names? Do they shop at Walmart® or Target®? Are you creating a new category or joining an existing one? If joining a category, what are your competitors’ names? 

Should a name be descriptive

 or suggestive or abstract? 

I live in the suggestive to abstract categories. However, I also believe each case is unique and sometimes brand names get passed down, and changing them would take an act of Congress.

 

An abstract name can cut through the competition

Think of  Nike®, or Yahoo®. They have visibility and a ton of marketing behind them including media frequency, brand-story telling communication, and brand  performance. They are hugely successful brands, started as small start-up companies, and there is no doubt you know who they are and what they do. Descriptive words can work in some brand naming situations. But think about it carefully and proceed with caution because they can be more easily copied or imitated, leading to confusion in the same marketplace with competitors and creates consumer confusion. Confusion defeats the purpose of a sound brand name,  and causes you to have to spend more against the competitors and generally both brands start a spending spinout.

 

However, if you have a big branding budget, you can salvage or sustain a boring, generic, or literal brand name with some other compelling messaging. Take, for example, Southwest Airlines. They are consistently creative, and “on brand” advertising has transformed a somewhat
unexciting name into a great brand name.  Not to mention they clearly deliver messaging that is all about low cost, on time travel and their founder is one heck of a prankster. So think about the overall experience when you are deciding on a name.

Generic names

Generic names like Home Entertainment Solutions, Hi-Performance Automotive ZZZZZZZZZZZZ...ZZZZZZZ...ZZZZZ. Wow!... where’s my Concerta®? (BTW - a killer name for a great product that lives in the suggestive category.) Listen, they don’t have legs, and will likely drown in the sea of sameness. Avoiding generic names is also critical in consumer-packaged products, especially when private label copycats by mass retailers are showing up. Many times the name can be the strong point of difference.

 

Names that are hard to spell or pronounce

Finally, a name should be something most people can spell and certainly pronounce.

 

More big naming questions

How will the market receive the name? With supporting context, will the market get it? Will it live with your strategic positioning of the brand? Are there negative connotations or associations with the name? Is it available to use? On the earth? On the Web? Whatever route you take (hopefully it will be working with us), rallying your troops and making it an internal company project, enlisting strangers in a naming contest (remember bad idea), or combining several of these methods, you have created an extensive list of possible contenders. Now what? 

Testing names

Sometimes too much analysis just delays decisions and defeats the naming of your brand before the next decade. I recommend that you test a little, go back and see if the name matches up to your companies attributes, benefits, values, persona, intrinsic spirit and ultimately the UBD - and listen to your gut feelings, and proceed with a choice. 

 

Great Brand Names

1) Are emotional

2) Stick in the brain

3) Have personalities

4) Have depth

 

While the brand name is very important, a brand cannot survive on name alone

The brand name, and how the brand is executed, are equally vital for a successful and sustained brand life. A great brand name can serve as the anchor to your cause, a symbol to your story, a point of difference in your marketplace, a memory trigger, or just one big huge important part of your branding arsenal.

Joe Easton

Creative Director