In this episode, I give a 'crash course' on brand naming. How important is the brand name for a brand? How do we decide whether we need a new name? And how do actually craft a new brand name? Let's find out!
We talk about
The must-haves for a brand name:
Easy to pronounce (multiple languages?)
Easy to remember (2 syllables, or simple)
Distinctive from competitors
Creates the right 'feeling'
Can be owned (legally)
Nice to haves
Personal history links
Key themes to explore, for example, 'mountaineering', ...
.com can be a specific need by a business owner (explore it further)
No-go's
Cultural sensitivities
Category cliche's (Flickr, Tumblr,...)
Reasons to change a brand name:
Hard to remember
Hard to pronounce or write (try googling it)
Not ownable
To generic
To literal (category)
Big shift in the company and want to signal
Brand naming tools:
Trademark research: https://www.tmdn.org/tmview/#/tmview
Global trademark database: https://www3.wipo.int/branddb/en/
In different languages: https://www.indifferentlanguages.com/
Use thesaurus for synonyms and other word relations: https://www.thesaurus.com/
Interesting people on brand naming: Eli Altman's book 'Don't call it that' is a great starting point.
If you liked this episode, I would really appreciate a rating on Itunes. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the weekly episodes at your doorstep. If you want the deeper, juicier insights you can also subscribe to the newsletter here . This episode is sponsored by Holabrief, The go-to platform for creative briefs. If you want to subscribe, you can use the code LTB and get a 20% discount.
Brand naming crash course