I love working with a brand named after its founder because they make my life much easy. The majority of brands still communicate merely what they’ve got (their products, their services, or their features.) Only a small number of brands communicate their “promise”, which is definitely a better marketing strategy. A promise is the universally-accepted …
Why do brand names fail? Part 3
This is the third and the last installment of our "Why do brand names fail?" series. The first part focused on the process-related mistakes. The second one looked at tactical errors. Our last installment has a combination of both. Let's roll. Names are very context-dependent. Therefore, you should carefully chose your style. A four-syllable Latin …
How to choose your brand’s name?
Coined words or descriptive ones? Family names or acronyms? What to do? How to decide? Today, I will give you some tips on identifying the type of name you should choose for your brand. Brand names come in all shapes and types. Some of them are descriptive; some of them are made up. Each type …
When do acronyms work?
One of the most painful things for a brand strategist is working with an acronym brand name. They are meaningless, boring and not memorable. Yet, many of my clients want to be like IBM or GE. Any time a client of mine has billions of dollars and a 50-year commitment; I say “Let’s go for it.” …
When do acronym brand names work?
Many companies use acronyms or initials in their names, but how well are they doing it? Learn the three tactics to make acronym brand names work.
Criteria of a good brand name – 3
This is the last installment of the naming trilogy. Previously we discussed naming criteria such as meaning and strategic fit. Today, we will focus on legal availability. Unless you own and trademark your brand name, it is not yours. I advice my clients not to get caught too much on domain availability. There are creative ways to get …
Criteria of a good brand name -2
Previously we talked about memorability. Today, we will take a look at the second criteria if a good brand name: strategic fit. A strategically fit name should support the positioning of the brand. Whatever the brand promise is, the name should support and reinforce it. There are many ways of generating a strategically supportive name. Here are three of the …
Criteria of a good brand name -1
My clients often ask me: "What makes a good brand name?" I judge the desirability of a brand name by three dimensions: memorability, strategic fit and legal protect-ability. Let's start by exploring the first criteria: memorability. Our brains constantly computes information. According to the information theory, the human body sends 11 million bits per second to …
What makes a great brand name? – Part 1: Memorability
"What makes a great brand name?" We can use the desirability of a brand name by three dimensions: memorability, strategic fit and legal protect-ability. Let's start by exploring the first criteria: memorability. Our brain is a marvel of evolution, an organism that continually computes information. According to the information theory, the human body sends 11 million …
Continue reading "What makes a great brand name? – Part 1: Memorability"
The art of naming
Having involved in many verbal identity projects, I must admit, naming is a deceptively difficult task. Most people (even some branding professionals) might think that naming a product or a company should be as easy as naming a pet or a child. Unfortunately, that is far from the truth. Why? Finding a strategically good name …