2. What’s in a Name
Word/s to address or refer to a person, animal,
place, thing, or business.
3. Importance
• First thing people see, hear, and remember.
• People judge your company from the name.
• It makes emotional connection to your customers.
• It drives traffic and discoverability (e.g. Google
search, App Store).
• A good name can get you through the door.
4. Hard and Difficult
• It’s a mix of art, science and
perseverance.
• It must be short, and yet
represent your vision and
values.
• It must be available (domain,
SEC/DTI).
7. First Step
1. Know your vision.
– Look for the root word.
1. Know your
position/competition.
– Look for the differentiator.
1. Know your target market.
– Look for common words.
8. Next Step
• Enumerate and brainstorm with your team.
• Set a deadline to finalize.
• Hedge on strong search words using Adwords
9. Research
• Research name usage on social media using
– http://namechk.com/
• Check if available in SEC, DTI, IPO (Trademark)
– If not available, use it as a brand instead of
company name.
– Avoid conflict in names.
10. • They were trying to come
up with names that fit with
the theme of a mobile
phone buzzing an update
in your pocket.
• Name was picked out of a
hat.
Directed Fate
16. Etymology and Synonyms
• http://www.etymonline.com/
• http://www.powerthesaurus.org/
• http://www.visualthesaurus.com/
17. Foreign Language
• German language word meaning "over", "above" or
"across”
• Latin : http://www.latindictionary.net
• Nearly 60% of English words are defined from Latin
20. Portmanteau
• Combination of taking parts (but not all) of two (or
more) words or their sounds (morphemes) and their
meanings into a single new word.
• For Example:
– Spoon + Fork = Spork
– British + Fitness = Britness
• http://www.werdmerge.com/
• http://www.namerobot.com/
• http://www.portmanteaur.com/
24. Domain Names
“Names are underrated, but domains names are
(increasingly) overrated.“ - Chris Dixon
•Square, Dropbox, Box.net all started with temp
domains.
•Check for available domain names using
– If not available, use prefix (e.g. go-, in-, get-) or
suffix (e.g. –now,-online)
25. Domain Names
• Square was squareup.com
• DropBox was getdropbox.com
• Facebook was thefacebook.com
• Instagram was instagr.am
• Twitter was twttr.com
• Foursquare was playfoursquare.com
• Basecamp is basecamphq.com
• Pocket is getpocket.com
• Bitly was/is bit.ly
31. Tagline 101
• Do I need a tagline?
No.
• A tagline is a small amount of text which serves to
clarify a thought for, or designed with a form of,
dramatic effect.
32. Tagline 101
• When do I need a tagline?
– When name and logo is not enough.
– When reposition in the industry.
• Qualities of a great tagline
– Short, catchy and memorable.
– Express brand values, personality and position
– Evoke emotional response
34. Test
• Ask your friends, family, working group what they
associate to the name.
• Send out survey to your mailing list.
• Crowdsource Opinion
– http://www.zipinion.com/
– 5 Seconds Test (http://usabilityhub.com/)
36. Other Tips
• Convey your Vision, Competition, Target Market to
designer or brand team.
• Do not use public domain clipart, images.
• Make sure it is available and not trademarked.
• Consider printing on shirt, letterhead, and other
materials.
38. Thank you
Allan C. Tan, SCEA, PMP
CEO/President
Email: allan@ideyatech.com
http://www.ideyatech.com/
allanctan
@allanctan ph.linkedin.com/in/allanctan/
Hinweis der Redaktion
Name helps recall.
Bruno Brusinski
Pek Yew Chai
Don Mariano de Baron III
Goliath Elephant
Diyosa Gandanghari
The name is first thing that people hear when you tell them about the company. At best, it signals maturity and relevance; at worst, a lack of vision, attention to detail and creativity. Before you can even finish your pitch, people are already making judgments of your company, and bad names can be a real distraction to important conversations.
The name is important for discoverability, whether in Google searches (10% to 50%+ of site traffic, depending on the category), the App Store (especially painful in iOS6) and other text-based discovery channels. If it’s too hard to spell, or too similar to something that already exists, chances are that people won’t find you, and you’ll lose a good chunk of your potential business.
The name is also a conduit to an emotional connection with your users. Good names — like good logos — evoke strong passion for your brand, while bad names elicit distaste and indifference. Using the former can be a competitive advantage for your company, especially when feature sets are roughly the same.
The new Pepsi logo was designed by the Arnell Group in 2008. The listed prices include a complete branding package unless otherwise noted.
The new Accenture logo was designed by Landor Associates in 2000.
When Andersen Consulting broke contractual ties with the accounting group Andersen in 2000, the consulting firm was forced to change its signature name. In an effort to find a new moniker, an internal competition was held; an employee in Oslo submitted Accenture, meant to be a derivative of "accent on the future." When the name was adopted on Jan. 1, 2001, it was blasted as a generic corporate nonsense word only a management consultant could have come up with (which, essentially, was true). The change cost Andersen/Accenture an estimated $100 million to execute and was regarded as one of the worst rebrandings in corporate history. The new title turned out to be a blessing in disguise, however, when the Enron scandal erupted in October of that same year — permanently tainting the name of its accountants, Arthur Andersen.
James Murphy, Andersen Consulting's global managing director of marketing and communications, says his firm test-marketed the name Accenture ("accent on the future") to about 600 companies to get their input without revealing that the word was a potential replacement for the Andersen Consulting name.
BMW , BMX
“TED doesn’t convey “Best and Brightest””
“TED” skews too masculine; its a man’s name. The name needs to be gender neutral to appeal to both sexes”
This legendary US original was literally named for selected ingredients: coca leaves and kola nuts. Kola was later altered to ‘cola’ for the alliterative effect.
Yes, people still say this to me on occasion. But fear not! Latin is not dead! Ask any language scholar and they will effectively say the same thing when you look at things in the right context. Latin did not die, it simply evolved. When a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, it doesn’t mean that the caterpillar died. But the argument here is not just to prove that Latin isn’t dead, it’s to make the case that knowing Latin can prove useful in mastering several other languages.
This statistic helps to illustrate Latin’s pervasiveness in other languages, even non-Romance languages:
Nearly 60% of all
English words
are derived
from Latin.
Limit between 2-4 syllables
Simple logos are often easily recognized, incredibly memorable and the most effective in conveying the requirements of the client.
Microsoft has no distinctive tagline.
But Apple has “Think Different”.
Appearance – Simply how the name looks as a visual signifier, in a logo, an ad, on a
billboard, etc. The name will always be seen in context, but it will be seen, so looks are
important.
Distinctive – How differentiated is a given name from its competition. Being distinctive
is only one element that goes into making a name memorable, but it is a required
element, since if a name is not distinct from a sea of similar names it will not be
memorable. It’s important, when judging distinctiveness, to always consider the name in
the context of the product it will serve, and among the competition it will spar with for the
consumer’s attention.
Depth – Layer upon layer of meaning and association. Names with great depth never
reveal all they have to offer all at once, but keep surprising you with new ideas
Energy – How vital and full of life is the name? Does it have buzz? Can it carry an ad
campaign on its shoulders? Is it a force to be reckoned with? These are all aspects of a
name’s energy level.
Humanity – A measure of a name’s warmth, its "humanness," as opposed to names
that are cold, clinical, unemotional. Another – though not foolproof – way to think about
this category is to imagine each of the names as a nickname for one of your children.
Positioning – How relevant the name is to the positioning of the product or company
being named, the service offered, or to the industry served. Further, how many relevant
messages does the name map to?
Sound – Again, while always existing in a context of some sort or another, the name
WILL be heard, in radio or television commercials, being presented at a trade show, or
simply being discussed in a cocktail party conversation. Sound is twofold – not only how
a name sounds, but how easily it is spoken by those who matter most: the potential
customer. Word of mouth is a big part of the marketing of a company, product or service
with a great name, but if people aren’t comfortable saying the name, the word won’t get
out.
"33" – The force of brand magic, and the word-of-mouth buzz that a name is likely to
generate. Refers to the mysterious "33" printed on the back of Rolling Rock beer bottles
from decades that everybody talks about because nobody is really sure what it means.
"33" is that certain something that makes people lean forward and want to learn more
about a brand, and to want to share the brand with others. The "33" angle is different for
each name.
Trademark – As in the ugly, meat hook reality of trademark availability. Scoring is easy
here, as there are only three options, and nothing is subjective: 10 = likely available for
trademark; 5 = may be available for trademark; and 0 = not likely available for
trademark. All of the names on this list have been prescreened by a trademarked
attorney and have been deemed "likely" for trademark registration.