Your company or brand name is often the cornerstone of your marketing.
In a word or two, it tells your story. It evokes a feeling. Along with a tagline connected to the name, it may be the most powerful way you explain in under a few seconds who you are and what you do differently.
Everyone wants a sensational brand name.
I had the privilege this past year of leading a non-profit team through a naming exercise workshop. The organization had a well-thought-out business plan and needed to find a name for a physical location they would open next year.
So, the Executive Director asked me to guide the brainstorming workshop with another marketing professional.
We assembled several marketing professionals who are board members to participate. Each person had to read the business plan and come prepared with words + metaphors. I insisted that everyone come prepared to share their thoughts because solo brainstorming first, allows the introverts and the extroverts a level playing field when we gather together.
Steps for Creating a Sensational Brand Name
What words come to mind as you read the plan? Bring six.
What metaphors for the concept are evoked after reading the plan? Bring 3.
I love to encourage team members to bring tactical stimuli like herbs, plants, and toys that stimulate the brain to go outside of your category.
When we assembled, I wrote the words and metaphors on a whiteboard as everyone shared their ideas. (words in black, metaphors in red).
The conversation flowed and bounced around from the array of sparks and ideas without being too structured. We gave this naming exercise room to breathe and built upon each other’s comments, thoughts, and ideas.
We kept returning to a few salient words and metaphors that helped us crystallize our thinking. The goal of the two-hour work session was to share, respond, and think out loud. The best brand name often rises and keeps coming up on everyone’s favorite list.
We achieved that goal.
Next steps
My next steps are organizing the conversation, thoughts, and ideas into names and taglines that build on what we discussed. I love to play with words, so for me, it is oddly relaxing and doesn’t feel like work.
Naming brands and concepts are one of my superpowers. I created about 20 visions for the next step, and we will reduce that to our top three ideas. Then, we will share it with 2,000 people representative of the target audience online to help us pick the most precise idea.
In the last few years, I got to name these cool brands: TRADEPARENCY for a transparent trade deal software for the wine industry, HERCULEAN for a solid but lightweight structural foam, and ZEST for an innovative wine closure used for sparkling wine like Prosecco and Champagne. I invented RESQ for a dog bed business where we donated a bed to a dog rescue for every one purchased. Our tagline was Paw It Forward – I love a bad pun that tells a story too.
Below are a handful of examples of sensational brand names I helped create.
I tend to be process-oriented and methodical when I do this work. But I also like to have enough time and space to let the ideas marinate. You need to allow ideas to breathe by shining a light on them. It is in a fertile environment where inspiration grows but time and silence help too.
The unstructured conversations are like fertilizing and water to a garden, providing the nutrients needed to produce green shoots.
Don’t be afraid to give ideas room to breathe and a little space to be creative.
Want to discuss a project, pick a time to talk with me here. Creating a sensational brand name is one of my superpowers. Here is a one-minute video about my naming work.
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
Photo by Hillary Ungson on Unsplash
