Recently, a friend proclaimed that Harissa, being a chilli paste, is no name for a child. When he discovered the child’s name is actually Parissa he gave it the seal of approval. One letter, but a world of difference for him. Which led me to think about the minefield that is naming products and companies. Just one letter wrong and you stand a chance of alienating scores of potential customers.
Juliet proclaimed to Romeo, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.” In an ideal world that would indeed be the case. But there’s no getting around that Ghana’s popular Pee Cola would need a name change to go global.
One in 230 million
Today, there are more than 19.5 million active trademarks and 230 million URLs. So hurdle number one is often simply finding a name that isn’t already taken elsewhere. In today’s digital, globalised world there are plenty of other things to consider too. To have legs, a brand name today needs to be:
– Usable across multiple media.
– Easy to remember and spell for online searches.
– Distinctive to stand out in search results.
– Suitable for global markets.
Distinctly relevant
Another trap to avoid is a name that will date quickly. Cloud computing has quickly become less of a novelty, for example, so companies with ‘cloud’ in their name may soon start to sound like the modern equivalent of Carphone Warehouse. Following the leader is also ill-advised. It may mean your name sounds relevant to your target market, but you lose out on the opportunity to position your brand as aspirational, pioneering, quirky or anything else that helps you stand out from the crowd. You’ll always be seen as a me-too.
That said, there is the danger of being too clever and missing the mark completely. As Lexicon Branding founder David Placek says, “You should look at a name as a tool. It doesn’t have to be clever, it just has to communicate something.”
Storytellers
And there lies the challenge. As well as ticking all the boxes in terms of practicality, in today’s cluttered market a brand with a name that tells a story is a brand with a head start. The best stories are those that capture your attention, are interesting and tell you something new. Placek, whose company named Febreze, BlackBerry and Apple’s PowerBook among numerous other brands, says, “It’s about taking something that’s relevant and spinning it in an unexpected way. Unpredictable words get more attention from consumers in the marketplace. They begin to tell a story and tell it faster.”
Would Nintendo have sold quite so many Game Boys had it remained as Marufuku Co Ltd? Would Google’s founders have been quite so successful if they’d stuck with their original search engine name of BackRub?
Maybe. The potentially contentious Virgin brand name hasn’t hampered Richard Branson’s progress. And this is the thing with brand names. They’re a starting point. Nothing will have as much longevity for your brand as its name. So it’s important you view developing the name as a strategic exercise, not just a creative one. But it is just a starting point.
We’ve only just begun
What builds the personality and substance of a brand is what you do after you’ve named it. The brand promises you make and, most importantly, keep. The way you pursue your brand’s vision and execute its personality and values consistently in everything you do. Just like newborns, the wrong name can scar a brand for life. But with the right attitude and behaviour it’s not entirely insurmountable.