Brand naming

The brand naming process is often the most important and most neglected part of creating a brand. But when we rush it, the long-term consequences can be huge — from a lack of recognisability at best, to serious legal problems if we are especially careless.

Why the name matters so much

A brand's name is its "address" in the audience's mind. A bad name can be confused or forgotten, just like an unclear or badly written address: people get it wrong and keep having to check what it was. A good name is like an office on the most popular street in the centre, where everyone finds you easily.

What makes a name good

Unique, short, recognisable — that is what makes a brand name good, and a strong metaphor or emotion behind it earns bonus points. To those three we add a fourth, practical requirement: the name has to be available — as a trademark and as a domain. It also has to be easy to pronounce in the languages you will sell in, and carry no unwanted meaning in any of them.

How we work on a name

We start from the strategy: from it we pull the key words and write associations around them. Generating is play, not work — we pile up as many ideas as we can across several territories, without judging and without censoring. The time for analysis and focus comes after that.

Then comes the hard part: analysing competitor names and checking the trademark registers — before you fall in love with the wrong name. Only the strongest candidates go in front of the client, because the more choice a person has, the less satisfied they are with their decision.

What it looks like when it works

For Gréa Soapery — handmade soaps in an oversaturated natural cosmetics market — the name had to carry the senses into another dimension even before the packaging did.

Related terms: Naming territories, Slogan (tagline), Positioning.