No, I’m not talking about Croatian men. I’m talking about names. Here in Croatia, we have the same problem as everyone else in the world – it looks like all the good Croatian words have already been used as names, mostly because people still like to use descriptive names and play safe. Also, our law allows us to register names only in Croatian or “dead” languages: Latin and ancient Greek. As people today no longer use Latin or…
Read more >Another hot topic these days, but sometimes the talks on personal branding are very superficial. Set guidelines to success. Easy to follow, but are you really being yourself if you follow the rules? Personal branding The aim of personal branding is to create an image around your name and/or your career. You use the ‘brand’ to communicate your skills, personality and values. You want to attract the people in your network. Just as real brands, you promote yourself in order…
Read more >We are surrounded by so many brand names and logos each day, but to what extent do the slogans’ messages grab our attention? What are they saying? How are they saying it? Why are they saying it that way? Are we submissive when it comes to our favorite brands because they are telling us to buy or because they are selling a lifestyle? What do people want? I would like to compare our relationship with brands to the Milgram experiment…
Read more >The following entry was written by Kevin Taylor: Is it always the best idea to give your product or service a name that tells everyone it is the best thing available and that nothing else will ever get close? I recently had a conversation with a client about the strategy he wanted to apply to his company’s new product names over the coming year. Some of these were to be new brands, some would be sub-brands and some would be…
Read more >I read an article about a month ago entitled ‘Why The Best Brands Eventually Leave Their Names Behind’[1]. Joe Duffy talks about how branding is so much more than a name, which is a statement that I cannot argue. However, I would like to answer his question: ‘How important is it that a name actually explains your product’s unique selling proposition, defines your company, or pegs you into a specific category?’ Very. He speaks about the struggle that comes with…
Read more >It is going to be a rather self-indulgent post today I’m afraid! Today is my last day at Nomen UK and I’ve been told that I can write about anything I like. Oh the power! I did consider filming a 5 minute video where I gave a juggling demonstration and explained to you why in fact Sylvester Stallone is a modern day Leonardo Da Vinci but I thought I’d keep it relevant. Look out for that video on my personal…
Read more >Today’s post is a translation of an interview from Nomen Italy’s Managing Director Gianluca Billo. In it he discusses the perception of different languages when used in certain industries. Gianluca can be contacted through the Nomen Italy website: www.nomen.it How important is the choice of a language in brand naming? The choice of a language definitely is fundamental to create a new name. But it is not always as our clients see it. Most companies ask for a short name…
Read more >A brand is like a book I like to compare brands with books (you can also compare brands with films if you want). You see, your brand name is just like the title of a book: it is important because it will often be the first contact customers will have with your brand. During this first contact phase it is important to get customers interested; and if you give them a title/brand name that is interesting enough they will be…
Read more >Should you deliberately choose a bad name for your new company or product? A week or so ago a couple of friends sent me articles they had seen suggesting that it was actually a very good strategy for getting yourself noticed. The argument went that people will discuss a bad name much more than a good one and therefore get your company in the spotlight. I actually talked about this kind of thing a few weeks back: the enthusiasm with…
Read more >I had a conversation at a recent pitch meeting that I think is worth expanding on and sharing. I was asked by a potential client what I felt were some of the most common things that can go wrong during a naming process, the effect that they can have and how to best guard against them. What was interesting was that he wanted to know what mistakes were made by the client themselves so that he could try to stop…
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