Choosing the right name has always been immensely important in a business set up. Heck, being given the wrong name at birth can even set you back so making sure your business name is spot on is vital for your business success. So you’ve chosen a great business name and got yourself a fabulous website with the perfect branding to help your viewers understand your message and what you have to offer them. In 2012 your branding and naming shouldn’t…
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 >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…
Read more >It is a rare pleasure that all of the Nomen branches get together at the same time but we were lucky enough to do just that recently at the group seminar. While there, we asked representatives of each branch what one tip they would give people to help with their naming process. This could be a specific attitude towards the naming or a behaviour to maintain to make your process smoother. Below are some of those thoughts: * Be Bold:…
Read more >When you hear a product name and immediately recognise the underlying brand, you know you’re witnessing a highly effective naming strategy. That’s how it is with a sports car beginning with the letter ‘E’: it’s a Lotus. It has been so for decades and it was central to Nomen’s brief to create a name for the first new Lotus model since the Elise in 1995. But the strategy’s longevity is a double-edged sword and presents two significant naming challenges. Firstly,…
Read more >Is a floor littered with discarded clothes, a student’s bedroom or is it a clothing storage system known as a floordrobe? Is the manipulation of photographic or video images to convey a false representation of events, an admirable skill or is it fauxtography? Is this just an excuse to list some examples from the Macquarie Online Dictionary Word of the Year competition or is it highlighting an untapped source of naming ideas? Slang words rarely feature in naming because of…
Read more >New products and services are continually being created on the basis of a combination of customer knowledge, technical innovation and a desire to gain increased market share. The naming process comes later and seeks to capture the essence of the product or service as determined by this market analysis. The name tells the potential customer that this is the product or service for them and their specific needs. But, in Singapore, the process has been uniquely reversed. The managing director…
Read more >Naming projects tend to be singular affairs. They come to the fore when the need to find a name for an umbrella brand or a new product/service comes across the relevant executives’ desks. But it is crucial not to view them in isolation because, in the absence of an overall strategy, confusion can reign. Consider Microsoft where, in the past, names have originated at the individual product group level rather than centrally. All its online services now fall under the…
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