5. “ An orange is an orange…is an orange. Unless, or course, that orange happens to be a Sunkist , a name eighty percent of consumers know and trust.” – Russell L. Hankin, CEO, Sunkist Growers
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7. #6 Don’t ask your spouse or close friends for their opinion!
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11. TYPES OF NAMES Surnames: Names that are representatives of formal family names, last names, or historical labels. (Gillette, Siemens, Dell, Smuckers, Ford, Martha Stewart, Schwab) Functional Names: Functional names are purely descriptive of what a company, product or organization does. (AOL, Pizza Hut, General Motors, Flooring America) Invented Names: There are two kinds of invented, i.e. made-up, names: those that are built upon Greek and Latin roots, and those poetic constructions that are based on the rhythm and the experience of saying them. (Haagen-Dazs, Valeo, Snapple, Xerox, Oreo, Wii, Accenture, Kodak) Experiential Names: Experiential names offer a direct connection to something real, to a part of direct human experience or metaphor. (Navigator, Gateway, United, Target, Explorer, Quicken) Evocative Names: These names are designed to evoke the positioning of a company or product rather than the goods and services or the experience of those goods and services. (Apple, Yahoo, Shell, Virgin, Lotus, Viking, Fortress, Harbinger, Daggerfin)
12. MY PROCESS 2. Naming Workshop 1. Project Kickoff 3. Competitive Audit 4. Positioning Platform & Criteria Dev. 5. Ideation & Generation 6. Filtering & Distillation 7. Trademark Screening & Linguistics Check 10. Brand Extensions Company/Product/ Service/Brand Audience Research Audience Research 8. Name Scoring 9. Final list *Trademark/IP counsel
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14. 2. NAMING WORKSHOP A discovery workshop is held to uncover insights about the company or product, its competition and overall strengths and weaknesses. This session seeks to understand how the client views its brand and more important, how they want their audiences to experience/view their brand. The workshop is comprised of a series of interactive exercises designed to capture brand personality, key associations and imagery insights in support of the naming effort. The workshop lasts approximately 3-4 hours and usually is held at an off-site location. Option: Naming research to test alignment with executive perceptions
15. 3. COMPETITIVE AUDIT After the workshop, a thorough competitive analysis, in which we quantify the tone and strength of competitive company or product names is executed. A formal competitive naming chart is completed to help the naming team understand where we need to go with the positioning, branding and naming of the company or product at hand. Naming chart example - handout
16. 4. POSITIONING + CRITERIA The next step is to refine and/or define the brand’s positioning. The more specific and nuanced your positioning is, the more effective the name will be. All great product and company names work in concert with the positioning of the businesses they speak for. This positioning process is predicated on understanding everything about your brand, where it’s been and where it is headed. This naming process is based on forward-looking positioning strategies – yours, your competition and your entire sector’s. The outcome is a positioning platform that is used to inform the ideation process. Once the platform is agreed upon, a formal naming criteria document is created to guide and filter the names born from the ideation process.
17. PLATFORM 5: Tagline (An out-facing expression of X’s trueline) 4: Trueline (An internal expression of X’s most compelling differentiator) 3: Vision (A bold picture of the future to focus everyone’s efforts on the mission) 2: Mission (An over-arching strategy for achieving X’s purpose) 1: Purpose (The fundamental reason X is in business )
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19. MOOD BOARD Create a mood board to express the personality, tone and character. This will help the naming team better understand the intended brand experience and trajectory
20. CRITERIA Without benchmark criteria, naming efforts are lost to “gut feelings” and personal judgment. Crafting a formal criteria document that is approved and embraced by the naming team is arguably the most important part of a name development exercise. The criteria document is used as a guide for name generation, testing, and client review and selection. Criteria document example – handout
21. 5. IDEATION + GENERATION The next step is Ideation and Generation. With the positioning platform elements as key references, we generate an extensive list of initial names, anywhere from 100 to 400. These names are then subjected to rigorous analysis and screening through a set of branding filters, which include marketing, semantics, phonetics and legal. The master list is usually trimmed down to about 20 names. 6. FILTERING + DISTILLATION
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23. 8. NAME SCORING A review of name scoring based on development criteria. Scoring example - handout
24. 8. FINAL LIST Showcase of the top 6 names for client review and consideration. This list is submitted to legal for a full, trademark availability check.
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26. 10. BRAND EXTENSION A unique and key part of this naming process is the exploration of creative storytelling materials to aid in the final decision process. Once a client has selected 2-3 powerful names from the recommendation list and has received the green light from legal, we begin the process of exploring visual identity. These aides may take form as marks/icons, logo types, taglines, ad treatments, graphic layouts, environments and/or other relevant touch points. The top names are now ready for audience testing to gain insights on overall experience, appeals, strengths and possible negative associations. This final step helps guide the naming team in choosing the right, final name.
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Editor's Notes
Because naming is inherently subjective, there can be moments where clients just aren’t overly enthusiastic over the final list before brand extensions.
