This is one of the most painful pitfalls. Even if you do everything else right, following a solid naming and evaluation process, if even one decision maker is left out of it and has to sign off on the final product, all your hard work and investment can go out the window.
Before the naming project begins, decide who will have input and approval and make them part of the process from the start.
Without agreed upon criteria, decision makers evaluate names based on their personal biases and group dynamics, which almost always results in a weak name. To select a powerful name, it’s imperative to keep the evaluation process as objective as possible. At the outset, make sure everyone agrees on the criteria and how potential names will be evaluated against those criteria. Ideally you should have some good and bad examples for each criterion, so there are points of reference.
At Pollywog, we use a proprietary process we’ve developed to evaluate names based on 17 unique criteria in 3 categories: Characteristics of the name itself, the name’s appropriateness for the brand and how the name relates to the broader environment.
Have all decision-makers agree in advance on what criteria will be used, and follow a structured process for evaluating potential names.
This is the most common bad advice we see. Even people in related industries who should know better often think if they put a bunch of people in a room with pizza and beer and fill enough easel pads the perfect name will emerge.
But great brand names rarely result from casual input. There are far too many existing brands now, and a compelling, available brand name will require substantial digging.
Expect to devote 16-40 hours (or more, if you're creating a global brand) of structured small-team and individual creative sessions. Identify areas to explore, i.e. name types, metaphors, phrases, mind maps, visual cues, etc.
The kind of name that feels safe and comfortable for most people is one that’s similar to the rest of the names in their category. In the naming and branding category, more than 80% of the companies have “name” or “brand” in their company name.
And there’s an even higher percentage of similar names in many other categories. Choosing a similar name to your competition can lead to your audience confusing your brand with your competitors, and it sends the undesirable message that there’s little difference between your brand and others in your category. It usually takes a very large advertising budget to overcome these problems and distinguish your brand.
Remember that one of the most risky things you can do with a brand name is choose something that seems safe.
This was the conventional wisdom 30 years ago. But then so many people followed this advice that industries are now crowded with names that contain similar descriptive words. Your brand name should stand out from the crowd and communicate something unique about your brand. It should connect to ideas and emotions related to your brand promise. With a unique, provocative name, you'll pique your customer's interest and cause them to want to know more about your product or service. Remember that you can always include the functional description of what you do in a tagline or other copy.
Remember that the name will always be in a context that explains the function of the brand, be it a Web site or a conversation, and the brand name itself has more important work to do.
Like the “safe” name, it costs too much to make a meaningless word mean something. A great name works for you and makes your advertising, PR and marketing dollars go further. A meaningless name puts you at a big disadvantage right from the start. Rather than the name helping people notice, understand and remember you, it requires exposure after exposure to register with people and therefore requires a huge advertising budget to work at all.
Base your name on words people know and use, not Latin roots, word parts or nonsense words.
Selecting a name for your product or service is the most important marketing decision you'll make over the life of your brand. Why would you base it on whatever you can buy from GoDaddy for $8.95? Branding around domain name availability is another path that usually leads to a weak and/or meaningless name. And there’s been a rash of them lately.
Recognize that people find sites now more often through search engines than direct URL. Create a distinctive brand—and optimize your site—and customers will find you.
You will receive far too many subjective opinions from people who will not be evaluating the name based on all the important criteria. Further, the qualities that help a name succeed in the marketplace—distinctiveness, provocativeness, etc.—make easy targets for focus group members, who often think it’s their job to find something wrong with what they’re being shown.
Remember that the most popular name is rarely the most strategic. Choose your brand name based on the criteria you identified before the process began
If you're not working with experienced professionals and a battle-tested process, you could be in for quite an ordeal. From trademark issues to blind-siding unpredictable personal biases, naming projects are rife with land mines. Allow plenty of time—and then double it.
Allow 8-12 weeks for positioning, strategy, ideation and evaluation and upwards of 6 months for trademark registration.
Remember that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has the final say on whether a brand name can be protected—and thereby belong to you alone. It’s best to submit as many as 20 name options for trademark searches.
Never present a name as an option if it hasn't passed at least a preliminary trademark search.
©2007 Pollywog Inc. All rights reserved. To reprint or reuse this article, please contact us.