the artof brandnaming

©2021 Unglitch.io, LLC

table of contentsbig bang or whimper

intro

the naming process

going deeper

kraft case study

criteria for selecting abranding agency

portfolio

T.S. Eliot wrote that the world will end with a whimper, not a bang. Perhaps. But it began most evocatively with a Big Bang.

The same thing needs to happen with your brand. Did the Big Bang knowitself by that name as it was happening? Doubtful – the name came much later. In our world today, however, everything begins with a name. As you embark on the adventure of naming your companyor product, you have the opportunity to create a Big Bang or a little whimper.

Which will you choose?

Intro: Who is Unglitch.io?Not your mama's digital guru...

This one-woman creative agency ishappy to provide creative services tomany brands world-wide. Operatingout of Wausau, Wisconsin and Houghton,Michigan; I’m tired of boring design,out-dated websites, and terriblemarketing that wastes clients’ money.If you are too, it’s time to unglitchyour business.

JACQUELYN TOLKSDORFFOUNDER

Intro: About the NameWhy Unglitch.io?

After 12 years of creating brands,websites, and marketing for businessesof all sizes I’ve found many pain pointsof startups that need to be “unglitched”from the start.

1 in 12 businesses close each year. Even not during a non-pandemiccrisis. When I started out in my careerI was young and hungry and I would design a logo based on the clients’ wants not needs often. Not anymore!Now I create brands alongside ownersand address existing brands’ glitches.

The Naming ProcessMost companies that settle for amediocre name do so because they failto understand that a name is the singlemost important element of yourbrand strategy.

In most respects, the name IS the brand,and sets the tone for everything yourbrand is about. In short, everything youdo or ever will do begins with your name.

That’s why it’s vital to get the name right.When you have great name, people willremember it, talk about it, and have anemotional connection to your brand.

At Unglitch.io we strongly believe thathaving a powerful brand name will beone of the most important businessdecisions you will ever make. However,we also believe that we are NOT namingyour company or product. We are, instead,naming the positioning of your companyand product, the unique tone, personality,vibe and story you want your brand toexpress to the world.

Our naming process begins withunderstanding everything about yourbrand, where it’s been and where it’sheaded, your competition, and yourentire industry. Throughout the namingprocess, we will work together with you torefine the brand positioning and beatour your competitors.

Competitive Analysis:A key component of any branding exerciseis to thoroughly understand thecompetitive landscape mapping of names,in your industry:

• What are the company or product names in your market space?• Do they cluster into obvious types of names?• Where in this spectrum of competitor names does your name appear?• Is there an opportunity in your market space to become a dominant brand by standing out clearly from the pack?

Unglitch.io’s goal is to create names thatset brands free from their competition. Inmost cases, blending-in should not evenbe an option.

During the competitive analysisphase of a naming phase, we plot thecompany names in your industry withthis namescape chart.Place brands name in your industry in this competitive Namescapegrid and rank by relative value from 0 (worst) to 5 (best).

1

2

3

4

5

Descriptive Inventive Experimental Evocative

*Examples in gray are search engine brand names.

Google

Bing

Alexa

KartooLucene

YaCyYebol

What-U-SeekiSearchSearchPort Expert System

DuckDuckGoInfoTigerLeapFish

MetaGopherMonsterCrawler

Answers.com

AnyWhoAbout.comAsk

DogpileGrub

Yahoo!

Name Value: Ranked from a low of 0 value to a max of 5.The Value ranking is of course subjective, but it is derived fromfactors such as how engaging a name is with its target audience; how many layers of meaning, story, myth, metaphor, imagery thename has; associations, imagery, multiple layers; how memorable thename is; and how differentiated from the competition the name is.

Descriptive Names: Descriptive names are purely descriptive of what acompany does or its function. They might also take the formof an acronym or the names of the company founders.

Invented Names: This category of names includes the purely invented,the morphemic mash-up, and foreign words that are not widely known.

Experiential Names: These are names that map to the experience ofwhat a company does. This category also includes all the genericadjective-based names, such as Advanced, Superior, Vantage, Smart,Super, Ultra, Mega, etc. Experiential names are usually literal, and are thetypes of names often created by cross-referencing a vision statementwith a thesaurus.

Evocative Names: These are names that map metaphorically, ratherthan literally, to the brand positioning. Evocative names rise above thegoods and services being offered, and paint a bigger picture. The best of them tap into a deep reservoir of sharedcultural knowledge, myth, story, imagery, association, legend and art,and usually work on multiple levels. Nearly all the greatest brands thatyou are familiar with have evocative names.

When we develop names for our clients,we make sure that the name alwayssupports the brand positioning.

The discussion of the names we presentduring the course of a project leads to acontinual refinement of the brandpositioning, as we hone in on the perfectfit between name and positioning.

Trademark Prescreening:During a naming, all names we presentto clients are prescreened by us againstthe USPTO trademark database and aGoogle due diligence screen. We do thisin order to feel confident that the namesyour attorney submits for finaltrademark pass muster for registration.

Name Review: At some point near the end of a namingprocess comes the time to actuallychoose your new name. How?

Sometimes it is obvious which name isthe best, and once you become aware ofthat all other names tend to fall away.

Still, it’s important to understand the manyfactors so you can make informeddecisions when comparing one name toanother.

Voice:How does a name sound? Does it roll offthe tongue? Is it easy or fun to say?Can it be easily spoken by speakers?A name will be spoken manytimes — in conversation, when answeringthe phone, in television commercials,and most importantly, by wordof-mouth.

Visual:Names are not only heard, they are seen.In logos, on websites, and in marketingcollateral. Names can appear tiny in fineprint, and gigantic on a billboard. For thisreason, stay away from long drawn outnames.

Depth: When a name has many layers ofmeaning, myth, story, and history, it has

great depth. Different people will react to and understand deep names in differentways, and deep names tend to revealthe many facets of their character overtime. Deep names are still just as goodthe thousandth time you encounter themas they are the first time.

Temperature:Is a name human, or cold and clinical?Does it bring a smile to your face, a blanklook? This is a quality of names that isbased both on linguistics and onemotional reaction. This is why names likeJulie Smith Design doesn’t help your brandin any way.

Personality:The unique tone, personality and attitudeof a name. Some names are loud and

energetic - some are quiet and retiring.It could be almost anything, but the keyis that the personality of a name reflectthe personality of your company. It is thesoul of your brand, the thing that mostmakes your brand yours, not anothercompany’s.

Differentiation:It only makes sense that, if you intend todifferentiate your brand from yourcompetition, that you begin with a namethat stands apart from the crowd.

X-factor:This is the wildcard, and is all about the unexpected and far from obvious. Notevery brand has it, but for those that do it can be very powerful. Vitality, energy,

buzz, provocation, originality, distinctiveness, memorability — theseare all concepts related to the X-factor.It’s what’s often behind the “Why didn’t Ithink of that?” feeling.

Decide:This can quickly become politically andemotionally-charged. Therefore, it isessential that you keep the number ofpeople involved in a naming process toa minimum, that they have real authority,and that they all understand yourcompany to a tee.

What do new businesses commonly misswhen crafting a business name?:

The biggest mistake businesses typicallymake is to think that the name somehowhas to either describe what the companydoes. Be flexible in exploring what makesa great brand name.

You’re the Founder, But not the Creative:

In this savage economic climate, moreand more businesses are realizing howimportant it is to get their branding right.The best naming comes from those who understand how to name a brand.

Going Deeper

Let them do it.

Case StudyWhat to do when you have alreadycrafted an operated a bad brandname?

Kraft Foods is separating itshigher-growth global snacking businessunit from its North American grocerydivision, so it needs a name for the newcompany. The process Kraft used to getthat new name is a great example ofwhat not to do in a naming process.

The new corporate brand name,Mondelez International, is fraught withproblems.

Why?

Nobody will remember this name. Sohow did a global giant like Kraft get intothe position of adopting a weak,unmemorable and unpronounceablename for its new spinoff?

They did it the old fashioned way — by(very large) committee: “Kraft said thatthe moniker came from submissions bymore than 1,000 employees around theworld, who suggested over 1,700 names.”

For a company that makes foodproducts from recipes, you’d think theymight have noticed that democratizingthe naming process like this is a recipe fordisaster.

Once Kraft had a process in place toguarantee that the name squeezed outthe end of their soft-serve brandingmachine would be vanilla, all thatremained was the justification, and here it comes...

The winner: Mondelez, cobbled togetherfrom submissions from a NorthAmerican employee and a European one. It’s a combination of “monde,”the Latin word for “world,” and “delez,” amade-up word meant to suggest“delicious.” Hence, “delicious world.”

The problem is, real people, realcustomers would never encounter aname like Mondelez and feel the warmglow of entering a “delicious world.”

Even more, people encountering willassume the name is the last name of a new CEO making it even colder sounding.

Oh well. Kraft’s loss creates an openingand opportunity for other companiesthat are less fearful of standing out fromthe crowd with a bold, memorable,powerful name.

Criteria For SelectingA Branding AgencyIf you’ve gotten this far, Unglitch.io ofcourse, would love to work with you.

But in case you’re shopping aroundhere are tips for selecting the rightbranding agency for you.

Does the agency have a well-developedprocess for creating names? Is ittransparent and easy to understand, or do you suspect they are outsourcing the naming.

Does the agency have a clearphilosophy of naming?

Can you get company principals on thephone to discuss your project, and arethey helpful, or are you routed tosales-rep-like middle men?

Is the agency a thought leader, or afollower? Are they talking about thesame things in the same way as allother naming companies, or do theyoffer a fresh perspective?

Do they engage in conversations withyou or is it mostly just one-waymarketing chatter that’s all about themand how awesome they are?

Do you get the sense that working withthis agency will be an enjoyableexperience?

Do they have strong opinions that theyare not afraid to share?Is their process interactive, encouragingyour involvement and input?Are they good listeners?

Is the agency’s own name any good?Does it tell a story? Does it rise above thegoods and services being offered?

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