There are many factors to consider when posed with “coming up with a name”. Before generating name candidates, ask your self and your team the following questions:
“What are the strategic implications involved?”
“Does the name need to fit into an existing brand name hierarchy?”
“How will this name reflect upon the company, its reputation, its very culture?
These questions concern brand.
As a product, service or company begins to take shape, it should be looked at as a brand. Or at least it should be considered in the perspective of existing brands within the corporate portfolio. Perhaps it is in itself an extension or an enhancement of an existing brand.
Is the name meant to work for both the company and the product/service it produces? Will the product you are naming spawn additional products? Will the service be tailored to various market segments? Will there be various levels of product sophistication that will require differentiation even within the product name? Will this brand line always be application-specific? Will this be a repositioning of an old product in an established category, a “new and improved” product in a growing category, or a new product in a newly created category? Are you naming a “first-in-category” product or service? Will there be many styles or models launched under the product name? Do you anticipate brand extending the basic product, either at introduction or later? Is the product or service a “child” of an existing product? Is it a “family” of products?
The point is, consider the strategic implications of the offering before naming it.
Remember this: successful naming is a strategic activity first. The creative process follows.
Now you may contract with an outside naming consultant to provide hundreds of name candidates. But to spawn names that truly do justice to your project, be sure you have created a naming brief to guide them. The brief is just as important for an internal naming taskforce. It should be based on the strategic underpinnings of the product, provide a description of the functions you wish to have the name fulfill, describe the brand concept, and address the obvious - including market segments served, competitive profiles and activities, and corporate cultural inclinations and taboos.
And a naming brief should answer the questions posed in this post.
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