Sometimes, a client will come to us with a concept for a business or product and no name yet. How we love these opportunities to establish creative direction from the get-go by developing a name with built-in marketing advantages, that extra something we like to call brand-ability.
In order to get the creative wheels turning, we’ll meet with you for an input session to learn all we can about your new business or product. We ask a lot of questions like: Who is your target audience? What defines your product or services in the marketplace? What is your vision? Who is your competition? What are your long term and short-term goals? What do you want people to grasp when first seeing or hearing your name?
Our ultimate goal is to develop a name that communicates key messaging or some type of benefit or essence of what you do to help set your brand apart. A name is the first experience you’ll make with a potential customer… for them to react positively by thinking , “Oh I get it” or “I’m intrigued. I want to know more.”
Names that we like with built-in brand personality: Google Amazon Subway Post-It Jell-O and two of our names, Sparks and Riders Law Group ( see our brand development portfolio.) These names help define the brand either by evoking the promise of a positive or memorable experience or by being descriptive in a creative way.
Brands we like despite their less-than-desirable names: Publix, Srixon (See Portfolio: Campaigns) Aflac Geico. These brands have either chosen to A) Ignore their names in their marketing efforts, a common choice especially when it’s a family name or founder’s name. B) Over-compensate for their names by building campaigns that focused on making the name itself memorable and not necessarily the key selling points.
One could argue brands aren’t built on names alone. We don’t disagree at all. All we are saying is why not make the most of your marketing opportunity by starting things off with a strategically developed name with inherent brand-ability?
