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Flight Plan: Naming Methodology

HB framework for naming companies, products and services

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The Naming Methodology

This process is dynamic and this guide should be seen as a tool in the

evolution of the methodology.

As you follow these steps, please take notes and revise this guide

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Preflight

The following items should happen before a “creative brief” is created.• Define the time frame to completion and resources to be used for the project• Determine the names and positions of the client team• Provide names and numbers of all participants to all participants• Establish the key decision makers, including:

• Final decision-maker(s) and how she/he/they will be involved in the process (which inflection points require involvement so we have no ugly surprises at the end?)

• Schedule the interim and final meetings• Determine if the client has absolute deadlines or key unavailable dates

• Schedule HB team brainstorming sessions• Ensure the schedules work with the internal team as well as the external

Goal: Align stakeholders, resources and schedules

Amend an existing calendar based on the scope of the project

Assign each step a specific due date

If there are periods of time with no client

deliverables, build in reasons for client contact

If there are multiple decision makers, leave time for all parties to

communicate

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Lift-Off

• Set “Lift-off” meeting with client

• Example of meeting agenda:• To see an example of a

Lit-off agenda, look at the document [Agenda – ECS 072209.doc]

Goal: Create an understanding between HB and the Client team about expectations,

schedule and goals

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Goal: Establish the Client’s needs at the forefront of the process

Write the Creative Brief

The Creative Brief comes first and gives a comprehensive, but not overly detailed, view of the client’s challenge and goals. At minimum, it should include:•Why the client is engaging in a naming initiative•What entity or offering is being named, and a full description, including:

• Markets served, hierarchically organized; purpose of entity or offering; description of client’s customers and challenges that the entity or offering solves;

•Brand positioning and positioning support points (evidence, etc)•Brand values•Brand personality•How the name must align with the brand•What existing or new brand attributes the name should reflect•What the ideal name will denote or connote.

Upon approval the brief should be distributed to the team – each team member gets a copy -- during a kick-off meeting to provide clarity around the engagement and requirements.

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Goal: Give each team member an easy reference tool by which to evaluate any names

Create theNaming Check-List

The Naming Check-List must be approved by the client and used throughout the process. It does not need to be long, but should include key criteria by which any name will be judged to work or not work.• The requirements should be gathered and/or solidified with the client. Requirements

might include things such as:• Needs a certain type of URL availability (.com, .org, .co, .us… )• Must be related to what the client does• Cannot be a made-up word• Must connote certain emotions• Must not relate to any of the following:….• Must conform to certain legal requirements

• Create a regular-sized check-list as well as a poster-sized document to hang up when brainstorming.

• Distribute the check-list to all HB team-members, in electronic and printed form• Refer to this list constantly and consistently through the process

Getting away from the client naming criteria is similar to straying off course – even a small deviation early-on can end up landing you in the completely wrong place!

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Leg 1: Set the Course with Terminology

The Terminology Brainstorm:This often overlooked step can form the foundation for working on names:1.Generate list of words associated with the client’s requirements

• Do NOT generate names at this point. • Example: if the client is making a process clear and simple

and wants this reflected in the name, you might come up with “lighting” and “clarify” as terms associated with the client’s requirements. You will not use these names, but later they will be among the starting points for brainstorming on names.

• Brainstorm and come up with as many words/terms associated with the client requirements as possible:

• what emotions does the client favor? • What are all the related industry terms?• What terms might be associated with the client’s capabilities?

Products? Services?2.Create a list using as many of these words as possible. These words will be “starting points” for name brainstorming.

• Examples from previous HB engagementsA. Terms “Earth” and “Temperature” helped us come up with the

name “Terraclime Geothermal” for our client.B. Terms “Lighting” and “Reliable” helped us come up with

Lumios (light and ossify), which lead to Ilumios for our client.

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Designate the “names to avoid list” to one HB team member

Present this list at the next internal

meeting

Examples:

Competitor names

Similar names in similar markets

Goal: To identify names that must be avoided

Obstacle Clearance

Research “No-Go” Names

Note 1: It’s possible, but not preferable, to use similar names that might be in completely different markets.

Note 2: This is an important part of the process. Use it.

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En Route – Name Generation!

• The number of brainstorming sessions will be dictated by the breadth of the project

• Schedule sessions close enough together to maintain momentum (every other or third day at least)

• Use a variety of brainstorming techniques, including: • Smaller groups

• Divide main group into groups of two or three to launch off of specific ideas generated by the larger group, develop them, and report back

• Individual brainstorms• Mandate that individual participants schedule time in their calendars to dedicate

to the naming challenge

• Lengths of time• Have longer sessions and some just to “touch base”

• Locations• Encourage participants to meet at different places, ranging from the conference

room to restaurants, to outdoor areas, to locations that have some relationship to the topic at hand (manufacturing plant, retail center, etc…)

• Have fun with it• Encourage team members to withhold judgment

Goal: To create a list of potentially appropriate (i.e. meet the right criteria) and desirable (i.e. have that certain “je ne sais

quoi”) names for the Client

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Goal: Narrow potential name list

Refueling Stops

• As a group, decide on top candidates• Evaluate all candidate names and make two lists, based on:

• Whether they are stand-alone finalists• Whether they have certain qualities that are worth keeping, but

could not stand alone

• Refer to the Client’s list of requirements• Ensure that each potential finalist meets the Client criteria• Start drafting bulleted lists of supporting evidence for

stand-alone finalist names, including:• How they conform to the Client criteria

• Also look at how the name sounds and looks (tempo, inflection, characters)

• Anything else the team notices that “works” about these names

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Goal: Establish the availability of prospective names

Eliminate Potential Landing Sites

Preliminary check for conflicts •Search for other companies with similar names

•Search for conflicting trademarks • http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=400

9:1c5tbv.1.1

•Search for conflicting URLs and potential available URLs• www.networksolutions.com

•Search major languages for potential conflicts or undesirable meanings, using Google Translate or other methods. Try to find different spellings for the sounds as well, as you search.

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Repeat the last three phases;

1.En Route2.Refueling3.Eliminate potential landing sites

Return to the Route

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Narrow Down your Candidates

Goal: Narrow the list of candidate names to the most appropriate, based on the Client’s requirements

• Work as a group to determine meanings, associations and variations to present

• Ask a non team member to react to the names.

• Brainstorm about all potential associations, connotative and denotative

• A name has different meanings to different people

• Do your best to present all iterations of a name

Do not compromise on matching established criteria

Reminder: Revisit the fact that a name rarely stands alone. It is supported by people, communication, and imagery

• Group names into the following categories:

• Descriptive

• Experiential

• Invented

• Evocative

• If possible, include connotative and denotative meanings

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Category Explanations

• Descriptive Names• derived from the entity/offering or related directly to or

describe the offering.  (i.e. General Motors, British Petroleum,  The Body Shop, etc.)

• Invented Names• created based on rhythm, sound, or Greek or Latin root

words.  (i.e. Accenture, Nike, Oreo, Acura)

• Experiential Names• connect the name to the entity/offering, the benefit or the

experience.  (i.e. The Dollar Store, Facebook, Salesforce, Ford Explorer)

• Evocative Brand Names• project the ‘essence’ of the brand without actually describing

it.  (i.e. Apple, Tide, Crest, Google, Oracle.

• Denotative and Connotative meanings• Denotative means related to the definition, as in what the

dictionary would say.• Connotative means what the words or parts of words bring up

in our cultural context.

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Presentation Matters!!

Produce a visually stimulating presentation that outlines the process

and highlights the final name candidates

Two example slides follow

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GEOSPHERIC

Possible Variations:

Geospheric SolutionsGeospheric TechnologiesGeospheric Systems

Possible Connotations:

• This name offers a technical reference, yet can be understood by laypeople.

• ‘Sphere’ summons a sense of the earth as well as the cyclical nature of energy.

• Geospheric alludes to the timeless nature of geothermal technology.

• Sphere• Global

• Earth • Geothermal• Scientific

TrademarksThere are currently no taken trademarks.

Available URLs:www.geospheric.com

Example 1: File location: \\HBSERVER1\Shared\Inactive Clients\ECS\Terraclime Geothermal\Geothermal Group Naming\Old Presentation Drafts\ECS Naming final_FOR MEETING.pptx

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ilumios

Meaning/Tone: An illuminating view of filings and reporting, to shed light on complexity.

Available URL: ilumios.com

InventedExample 2: File location: Need to put on the server

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• In-person meeting to go through list of name candidates • Must include key decision-makers• Allow up to 2 hours

• Steps:1. Presentation

1. Reiterate expectations and criteria

2. Evaluation of candidates3. Narrowing list4. Selection of winner or short finalist list to go to wider internal audience5. Post-sell!! (THIS STEP IS CRITICAL)

1. Do not sell… help them sell themselves.2. Go negative – don’t hope that objections won’t come up. Bring up any

objections you can think of and fish for more.3. Ask how they will manage the internal process after this meeting. Provide

counsel and/or tools to do so.

6. Will this new name mean additional HB work? (i.e. dig into what they will do with the new name, how they will deploy it.)

Goal: Lead the client team towards a name selection

Safe Landing: Client Runway

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Goal: Reaffirm HB’s role and to maintain contact

Follow-up with Client

• Meeting/Call report to outline what was discussed and decided.

• Again – don’t shy away from objections. List them, list potential answers to them, and ask if they continue to be comfortable moving forward.• Similarly, don’t shy away from being the expert

• Note the benefits of the new name as perceived by HB and formal/informal polling audience.

• Separate email and follow-up call: potential projects resulting from implementation of the new name.

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Goal: Learn from the process and apply new knowledge to future naming projects

Closing the Flight Plan

• Gather the HB team and discuss the positives and negatives of the project• Vary the structure of the post-mortem from previous

discussions• Don’t always revert to “5 good things/5 bad things”

• Assign a person to review this methodology and propose changes based on the most recent experience

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Notes

• Keep a running excel database of all mentioned terms and names• A laptop during brainstorming sessions can be useful• Assign one person to be the collector and organizer of this

database

• Large poster-sized tablets of paper can be used for brainstorming and save time copying from white-boards. Used paper can be saved for subsequent sessions and posted around the room to stimulate ideas (or limit them)