"Things that are important have a name"
~David Newberry
Naming a new product
Names matter in the business world - they create brand recognition. Names must show creativeness at work with all seriousness and responsibility attached. Why? Because it's a 'forever' name.
How to Name Your Products
Naming a child is very tough but naming a new product or a brand is sometimes much tougher. Brand names have added weight in addition to just being plain written words or letters; they convey so many messages, that call up: emotions, associations, feelings, imaginations, illusions, tastes, colors, expectations, and much more. More important, a brand name should communicate with the elements and values of your business core.
Thinking about the name of a product is a creative process, crafting a name that will embody the solution for which the product was created. It's a process that involves your knowledge of the customers, its target demographics, the experience the end customer undergoes when it hears the name for the first time, global world reactions, does it appeal or offend someone, some gender … so many factors to incorporate into one complex process - thinking creatively!
Start by deciding what you want your name to communicate. It should contain, first of all, the elements you want to emphasize in your name.
It’s easy when your products are physical, but many of today’s companies offer products and services that are less tangible.
First and foremost, a name is for life, not just for Christmas, so, once brand or company names are available, we also need to conduct professional and thorough market research to examine the brand name's chances of success.
What’s in A Name? Quite a bit, actually!
The key question is what message do we want the name to convey in its specific field or niche?
Once we have answered this question, , we can think of names that will be unique, easy to remember, short, simple, sound good, evoke positive feelings or emotions and express the idea behind the product. Naming experts say that it should be clear, and easy to understand its relation to the purpose of your product.
Factors to take into account: the target market, sector, localization, whether the products will go global, trends, registration, and name viability, among others. You must overcome these factors, then end with one or two words that consider and combine them all.
There are 4 key factors in naming: Effective, Simple, Clear & Memorable. When naming products, it is better to use an emotive rather than a rational marketing message that arouses intense feeling in your target audience.
Naming requires great creativity and innovation. You need to know and investigate categories and types of names for your brand. The goal is to leave no stone unturned. There are 3 categories in naming products or brands: descriptive, suggestive, and empty vessel.
Descriptive
Descriptive names describe something real about the product; they are functional and unambiguous, and do not arouse misunderstanding. For example the brand name TRIDENT.
The name is clear and we immediately understand that it is related to the dental sector market.
Suggestive
Suggestive names are considered the most popular by naming firms and customers, as they express uniqueness and require more creativity. They denote the product using analogy, association or a metaphor from another world that integrates with the purpose of the product and the target audience such as Twitter in the form of a bird that tweets and sends its messages to the world.
Empty Vessel
Empty vessel names can be completely invented and made-up words that come from another language or unrelated words that have no connection to the product, like Kodak, Apple or Starbucks. For example: The name Acura, created by the NameLab team, comes from the word "Acu," meaning "precise" in many languages. As Senior Strategist & Linguist at Catchword, Laurel Sutton says: “Creating ‘empty vessel’ names intended to convey meaning.”
Steps in naming products:
How to come up with a killer name that will stick in the minds of your target market?
Registrations Of Names
The final step is not to get your heart set on anything until you’ve checked it out legally. Even if you don’t need or want to register or trademark your items, you’ll need to make sure you’re not infringing on any rights with your new names.
If you’re located in the United States, the Patent and Trademark Office has an online search designed to help you find current and past registrations of names and trademarks.
The Art of Brand Naming
There are right and unique names that can boost up your business, and there are those who can turn off /doom everything at once - and there is no way back. It's a one-way ticket.
Here are some stats and facts about brand and product naming:
Interaction with products According to Deloitte 76% of US consumers interact with brands or products before arriving at the store. The decisive factor for the interaction of your customers with a new product in the market is its name, a name which blends in smoothly and pleasantly with the product itself, its design and its color designation. All these must be taken into account when inventing a new name for the product that was born.
Visual & emotional connections When you throw some names in the air and you need to choose between some options, you have to visualize the name on the product and see how it feels, what feelings it arouses and to where it takes you. According to the University of Minnesota MISRC: Visual presentations are 43% more persuasive than non-visual presentations. We can also learn from Gensler Brand Engagement Study that 94% of respondents said they would be highly likely to recommend a brand with which they were emotionally engaged.
Good Communication between: name + product + customers The name should speak the same language as the product, its design and its message, and thus you can maximize the chances of success in choosing its name. As 65% of marketing executives say, photos, videos, illustrations, and infographics, are the key to communicating your brand's story. – CMO Council
Therefore, you do not choose a name overnight, but it is rather a work of art, a long haul and an arduous process.
To meet expectations, first ask your customer some questions about the product/service: What? Why? How? Then brainstorm with your team, and try to answer questions on some optional words/names…
Final step is AB Test. Ask for feedback on your name – especially whether they “like it” or not. There is nothing like the Wisdom of the Crowd!
What we and other "Namers" tackle when they give a name:
"Namers" are people who love words and are sensitive to them; they toy with them like painters who love colors and the canvas on which to paint their piece.
In the past, before naming evolved into a profession in its own right, corporations approached creative thinkers, such as writers and poets for their naming needs. For example, in 1955, the Ford Motor Company's marketing director approached the well-known poet Marianne Moore to name a new car.
Don'ts when choosing a name:
Don't choose a name that raises negative connotations or associations
No generic, pale & soulless names
DON’T Infringe copyrights and trademarks
No long, complicated and difficult to pronounce names
No name that evokes some sort of bad emotion
No gender-negative insinuations
Business Name Generators
There are some ways: DIY - do it yourself Or use online tools.
You can use a business name generator to help you come up with a catchy brand name with an available domain.
Here are some Business Name Generators:
Oberlo – It's free and easy to use.
Cool Name Ideas – It is a great company name generator that provides a step-by-step guideline on how to use it.
Wordlab - Brand Name Generator
Brand Root - Free Company Name Generator
One Click Name - Free Company Name Generator
There is no doubt that giving a brand name is a very serious task that carries lots of responsibility as the name is "married to" the brand or product "until death do us part". The name will certainly impact on the way people respond and interact with it, that is why you need a professional 'namer' that has creative thinking.