What's in a name - creating a corporate or product identity - Marketing

Nation's Business, Sept, 1994 by Robert Maynard

It may be true that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but would it sell as well? After all, no one ever named a child after the flossflower. So it goes with your new product. However good it is, the name attached to it has to do its job, too.

Great names create an image for the product that speaks to its target market. Often, they evoke strong visual images.

"Sunkist is one of the best names ever developed because it creates a warm, fresh image that works perfectly with the product," says Bryan W. Mattimore, whose firm, The Mattimore Group, in Stamford, Conn., specializes in naming products and companies. "Another effective name is LeanCuisine. It's memorable and says it all: It describes the product in an upscale way suitable to its intended market (cuisine, not cookin') and also ties in the benefit (lean). It even rhymes--they were lucky with that." It works on several levels.

Embarking on a name search means looking long and hard at your company's strategy. What is your vision for the product? What do you want it to mean to customers?

Sometimes the new name itself will help define that identity, which is what happened to John Sundet, president of SnowRunner, Inc., in St. Paul, Minn. The three-year-old company makes recreational snow skates, which are like ski boots with short runners.

Last fall, Sundet began thinking about a new identity for the product. Working with a naming and positioning company called Nametag, Inc., in Minneapolis, he began a months-long process that included focus groups and creative sessions. The result was a new name: Sled Dogs

"This was an opportunity to create a new image for us," Sundet says. "The name tied in a north woods image and was comfortable because dogs are universally loved. And it allowed us to use dog vernacular to convey the freedom and excitement of the sport." A shaggy dog graphic is used with the company's new marketing line, "Unleash Yourself"

Dogs, slang for feet, and sled, a fun way to get around in the snow, work together in a variety of ways. The name opened up wonderful possibilities for building the product's new image with the promotional tag lines, "Join The Pack," "Purebred Fun," and "You're Not An Indoor Animal." The brochure promises youthful buyers, "Sled Dogs Obey Your Every Command."

"For us," Sundet says, "the creative process of naming the product led to the concrete identity we were searching for. Our strategy is to develop that sport similar to the way roller blading was developed. We wanted a name that could become descriptive of the sport but that had the ability to build a personality."

The objective in searching for the right name is to try to see familiar concepts and words in an unconventional way, Bryan Mattimore says.

One of his favorite methods for tapping creative ideas is the magazine cut-and-paste exercise. Using old magazines, have each member of your naming team create a montage of the cut-out photos and words that they think show aspects or qualities of the product being named. Or, have them find things that your target market likes, and use those concepts as a jumping-off point for your new product name.

Another naming technique that Mattimore uses is a simple grid. Down the side, list all of the things that appeal to your target market. Across the top, list the special qualities that make your product different. Look for connections between the two lists, and focus on those concepts and the words that describe them.

There are also several software programs available to help you with word combinations and associations, such as IdeaFisher (IdeaFisher Systems Inc.).

Once you have a list of possible names, do a preliminary trademark search at a public library. Listings like the Book of American Trademarks aren't exhaustive, but they will give you more ideas as well as a sense of which names seem to work and which don't. Have a trademark attorney do a final trademark check.

When you have settled on a name, mock it up, Mattimore suggests. Put the word in your brochure or some other visual treatment and test your own and others' reaction to it. Then, test how the name sounds. Say it as if you were answering the phone.

To gauge others' reactions, test it informally, outside your own social circle. Ask people what kind of product or company they think it is. This could uncover any negative connotation that hasn't occurred to you.

The name you choose, along with being inoffensive, easy to pronounce, and legally available, must also be memorable. Try this memorability test of Mattimore's: Put your name list away for a day, then try to remember the names. If your favorite isn't among them, you should probably keep looking.

For a company name, choose one that you can aspire to and not outgrow. Be wary of a name like Brown's Fruit Co. if you plan to expand into other types of products.

"It's a good strategy to look for potentially visually rich names," says Mattimore, who sometimes searches maps for words that create word pictures. A good example, he says, is Land's End, the catalog company.