Naming Advice from a Startup Expert
Pollywog Interview With Andrew Amann Andrew Amann is CEO of NineTwoThree Venture Studio, a two-time Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company. Andrew and his team have created over 50 products and 14 startups and are the leading mobile dev agency in Boston. What pains...
2022 MUSE Silver Award Winner
We're excited to announce that our work on behalf of the Tephra Institute for Contemporary Art has won a silver award at the 2022 Season 2 MUSE Awards. Ours was one of more than 6,000 total entries received from across the world, and we are honored to be recognized...
Pollywog Wins Marcom Gold Award
We're pleased to announce that Pollywog has earned a Gold Award at the 2022 MarCom Awards for our naming work on behalf of the Oxbox energy storage system. The Marcom Awards is an international creative competition that recognizes outstanding achievement by marketing...
Lessons in Naming from the Washington Commanders
After a 20-month process, the DC-based NFL team has a new name: Washington Commanders. Although the team's previous name, Washington Redskins, had suffered decades-long charges of racism, it was the USPTO's canceling of its trademark registration that forced the...
How a Great Nonprofit Name Can Spark Your Visual Identity
Many nonprofits have world-shaking visions, but when it comes to their name they tend to leave a lot of inspiration on the table. The name of your organization is the foundation of your brand, but it can do so much more for your mission. A great name can tug on...
The Role of Warmth in a Brand Name
A recent study published in the Journal of Marketing suggests that feminine-sounding brand names appeal more to customers than their male counterparts. Aside from actually using a woman's name (i.e., Victoria's Secret, Liz Claiborne, Vera Wang, etc.), what makes a...
Pollywog Wins Top Branding Agencies Award for the Second Time in a Row
For the second year in a row, Pollywog has won the 2021 Clutch leader award for top branding agencies. “We're honored and thrilled to once again be named a top branding company by Clutch. We want to thank our clients for their faith in our agency, and for their...
RIAs and the Same Name Game
A site for registered investment advisors (RIAs) recently featured an article on naming for financial advisors. In it, the author underscored the tendency of some practices to adopt names that are already being used by others. He noted that among the most successful...
Kim’s No No
Kim Kardashian is abandoning the controversial name of her new line of shapewear. The New York Daily News has more on the story here. As the old saying goes, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." A highly visible company will get an earful about a new brand...
Going on the Offense
An edgy name can be highly effective at getting attention and sticking in a customer's mind. But invariably, someone is going to complain about the name. That's the nature of edge—it's controversial. And these days, social media gives everyone a microphone, and...
Pollywog Named Top-Ranked Naming Agency in Minneapolis by Clutch.co
Pollywog creates names that go beyond mere cleverness and creativity. Each of our names tells a compelling story of what's unique and desirable about a company, product or service — and makes it memorable. As veterans of the advertising, design, and marketing world,...
Navigating Your Way to an Available Trademark
When you're thinking about naming your company, what's on your Must-Have list? Common English word. Memorable. Connected to your brand promise, differentiator or offering. Easy to pronounce and spell. Short. Available for trademark. Seems reasonable—until you start...
Smarter Cars, Dumber Names
In Henry Ford's day, brakes were brakes, and a steering wheel was a steering wheel. But not anymore. Now auto makers want their proprietary technology to seem superior to their competitors', so they give it a brand name instead of labeling it generically. The...
When Rebranding Goes Wrong
Ad Age released its list of "11 Worst Name Changes of 2018," many of which were attempts to correct an original name that was poorly conceived. Other companies jumped on the "shorter is better" bandwagon, proving once again that character count is not the most...
Clutch Highlights Pollywog in Annual Report of Global Leaders 2018
Pollywog has been working with brands in their formative stages since 2007, and we've always endeavored to produce nothing but the best work for our clients. To get some feedback on how we’re doing as a company, we created a profile on Clutch, a B2B ratings and...
Startup Growth Linked to Trademark
Of the many sites offering advice for aspiring entrepreneurs—including the venerable SBA—very few mention branding as a startup cost. Almost none advise new business owners to factor the cost of naming into their expenses. Maybe the authors of these pages believe that...
Naming Mary Jane
The cannabis industry has had to clean up its intellectual property act now that it's a legitimate product in some states. No, you can't call a strain of marijuana "Gorilla Glue" or "Girl Scout Cookies" or "Skywalker OG". But that doesn't mean you have to give your...
Pollywog Among Top 10 Naming Agencies
Clutch, a global directory of business-to-business services, has named Pollywog one of the top 10 naming agencies in the U.S. Clutch provides a platform for third-party reviews from clients, all of whom speak directly to Clutch and share their experiences. As a...
Five Essential Brainstorming Tools for Business Name Ideas
Thinking up business name ideas takes time and effort, especially when you need to find a name that's available to trademark and has meaning related to your brand story. But we've discovered some brainstorming tools that make it easier. Here are five of our favorites....
How a Mess of a Name Got Me to Buy the Product
I admit it. It was the name of this product that got my attention and compelled me to open the freezer case to read the package. It wasn't just the promise of an easy, delicious meal, though. It was the utter approachability of the name. This kind of name usually...
Shredded Names from Outdoor Brands
Naming is hard—and if you don't know how to evaluate a name, it can also be extremely subjective. That's how global sports marketers can end up with product names like Arakys, Rarig, Alligare and Repko. (See "Why Your North Face Jacket is Called a 'Ceptor'") We know...
How Do You Know When To Rename Your Business?
So, you've determined that you need to rebrand. (Maybe you saw your situation in 10 Signs That You May Need to Rename Your Business.) Whether it's something you've thought about for a while or a response to a new change in circumstances, rebranding may be on your...
Renaming Helps Open the Door to Success
In 2013, entrepreneur Jamie Siminoff pitched his idea for a smart doorbell to Shark Tank as the "DoorBot." The one shark who showed any interest made a low-ball offer that Siminoff rejected. Today, Amazon announced that it had purchased the company — which had been...
Naming Lessons from “This Is Us”
(SPOILER ALERT) Almost 50 years ago, Rival Manufacturing acquired a new product design: an electric crock, which they unimaginatively named the Crock-Pot. As descriptive names tend to do, "Crock-Pot" became the go-to word for all similar products, even though there...
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