BRAND BUZZ
10 RULES FOR DEVELOPING A KILLER BRAND NAME N
WRITTEN BY
DAVID SCHUEMANN
aming and branding can be a powerful combination when developed correctly. Together they form the vision and the essence of your brand, communicate the benefit of your product, and ultimately support an emotional connection with your target consumer.
Developing and choosing a name is a delicate balance of art and science. Names that follow these 10 key rules will have the greatest chance of success:
1
FIT TO CONCEPT
2
CREATIVE OPPORTUNITY
Which name candidate best fits your brand’s positioning? Does it conjure positive visual associations that reinforce the brand’s essence or unique selling opportunity? Will the product name appeal to your target customers and their lifestyle?
Does the name allow for unique creative opportunities? Does it conjure positive visual associations that reinforce the brand’s essence?
3
EASY TO PRONOUNCE
Research reveals what should be common sense: If your target market can't pronounce the brand name, they won’t ask for it. Is your name easily pronounceable? Picture your brand on a menu with no other visual cues except the name. If your name isn’t easy to pronounce, consumers are likely to order a competitor’s brand instead.
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4
MEMORABILITY
5
UNIQUE
Brand name research shows memorability is the true litmus test of exceptional names. Can the consumer recall your product name after seeing it just once? The ability of consumers to recall a new brand they enjoyed at a restaurant, bar or at a friend’s party is one of the most difficult challenges to overcome. Your brand name should tell a story, create an emotional connection with the consumer and connect with a place or visual that is reinforced with the brand’s logo and package design.
Make sure your name is unique — if your name has unique ties to your brand, its positioning or the market space, even better. Your name should be very different from your competitors to avoid consumers accidentally confusing it with a competitor’s product. Simply changing an existing brand name’s spelling or making it plural is not enough to make a name protectable under the law. Names are reviewed phonetically as well, so a brand name that is spelled differently but pronounced the same will prove problematic.
6
SPELLING
7
ASSOCIATIONS
Avoid being too tricky with the spelling of your name. Consider how easily your brand can be searched for online if consumers only hear your brand name on the radio or by word of mouth. What will search engines pull if your name is searched online? If your brand is going to be sold internationally, consider what the name means in other cultures that may come in contact with your brand. E.g. the famed case of Chrysler’s car named “Nova” that was marketed in Mexico. When translated into Spanish “no va” means “no go.”
What positive and negative associations exist with your new product name? What barriers have to be overcome with negative latent associations? Make sure your name has a positive meaning and is suggestive— don’t make your customers guess. How does sound symbolism or phonosemantics (the relationship between sound and meaning) affect the evaluation of a name’s latent association? Is the relationship between the sound and meaning the same in all languages of your target consumers?
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