What is brand naming and why is it important

In other words, an effective name is a name that is representative of the brand, its values and its message. Simultaneously, it is a differentiator from competitors and a way to communicate effectively with consumers.

It is also immutable over time: the logo, the target or the way of communicating can change, but the brand name remains the same. It is therefore a real intangible asset for the brand, which has its own more or less substantial value depending on the success of the brand.

At this point one might wonder if there is an infallible method for choosing the perfect name, a guarantee of success for the brand that bears it. Unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately – such a method does not exist. In the previous article we have already introduced some key concepts and explained what shape a company name has, today we take those concepts and deepen them further, with some simple rules that can facilitate the naming process. Let's discover them together.

The stages of brand naming

Unless you have a sudden enlightenment and see the perfect name appear clearly, anyone who wants to come up with an effective name should follow a process, exemplified below in these steps:

• Market and competition analysis: in this phase it is important to identify one's strengths, the distinctive characteristics on which to focus, understand where the competitors are positioned and where we want our brand to position itself.
• Brainstorming: in this phase ideas are given free rein. Once the reference context has been identified, it will be easier to take the road to arrive at the right name.
• Skimming: this is the convergent phase that follows the divergent one of gathering ideas and is characterized by the choice of the best idea to carry forward.

In this case it is also essential to take into account the legal aspect: an already existing name obviously cannot be registered. Registration is a form of protection for both the company and the consumer: for the former it protects the identity and ownership of the name, for the latter it is a guarantee of quality. Let's think, for example, of the lawsuits filed against the improper use of the name Parmigiano Reggiano by foreign companies.

But once you get to this point, how do you figure out what the right name is? As we said, there is no universal rule, but some simple tricks can help.

SMILE and SCRATCH

How the brand name should and shouldn't be

One of the world's leading brand name experts, the American Alexandra Watkins , in her book “ Hello, My Name Is Awesome: How to Create Brand Names That Stick ” lists five characteristics that a good name should possess, summarized in the acronym SMILE .

• Suggestive : be evocative of the brand. But be careful: we are not talking about descriptive references, but metaphorical and allusive references to the semantic universe of the brand and its values;
• Meaningful : being meaningful to the target audience, in order to intuitively communicate what the brand does;
• Imagery : also in this case, the name must be evocative , but this time in a visual sense: it must bring to mind an image;
• Legs : literally, it must have "legs", that is, it must be able to go beyond fashion and last over time . As we have seen, in fact, the name of a brand does not change over time. So choosing a "fashionable" name is not a good move;
• Emotional : a good name must excite , recalling positive sensations.

However, there are also some features to avoid , which Watkins lists as SCRATCH.
Here they are below:

• Spelling-challenged : the name shouldn't be difficult to write , in case a potential consumer wants to look for the brand on the net, avoiding confusion between pronunciation and spelling. This is especially true for Anglo-Saxon names, whereby the way a word is pronounced is often not the same as how it is written, but Italian brands must also be careful if they choose an invented word;
• Copycat : forbidden to copy. The ideal name is unique, and does not recall that of other brands .
• Restrictive : a too specific name is limiting and prevents the brand from expanding.
• Annoying : to avoid forced and difficult to understand names .
• Tame : since the ideal name must arouse emotions (see the E of the acronym Smile, Emotional), it cannot be flat and uncommunicative .
• Curse of knowledge : this expression means "the curse of knowledge"; in this case it indicates that it should not be taken for granted that everyone can understand a specific concept or reference, therefore the name must not be "for insiders" .
• Hard to pronounce : going back to the first point (Spelling-challenged) the name must not be difficult to pronounce , to avoid misunderstandings and difficulties. Do you remember when the Dazn streaming platform was launched in Italy? Initially there was confusion about the correct pronunciation, so much so that the brand created a clarifying video starring Diletta Leotta and Bobo Vieri, in which the former taught the latter how to pronounce the name.

Famous examples: Amazon and Spotify

Have you ever wondered why some well-known brands are called that? Let's retrace the birth of the names of two giants in their field: Amazon and Spotify.

Perhaps not everyone knows that what we call Amazon today was initially born with the name Cadabra , deriving from the word "Abracadabra", because in the idea of the founder Jeff Bezos what was then a simple online bookstore had to work quickly and simply, like a magic.

It seems that the change was due to a misunderstanding : the founder's lawyer understood “Cadaver” – “corpse” (hence the importance of the pronunciation!). To avoid making similar mistakes, a name change was necessary.

The choice of the new name was inspired by the Amazon River , the largest river in the world, as Bezos hoped his library would become. But this decision is also due to a more practical reason: a name starting with A will be among the first in a list.

For Spotify the choice of the name was instead completely random: as one of the founders, Daniel Ek recounts , he and his partner Martin Lorentzon were each in their own room, intent on thinking about a possible name for their business (remember the aforementioned phase of brainstorming?). At one point Martin yelled a word that Daniel interpreted as "Spotify"; once verified that the domain was not already registered (never forget the legal aspect, as we have seen), this became the official name of the brand.