One of my favorite assignments is to name stuff.

At The Marketing Sage, I get to name companies, brands, new products, technologies, events, promotions, and taglines.

Some people play video games, tennis, or do Sudoku or solve a Rubik’s cube; I like the name game.

A non-profit client gave me the assignment to help them rename some of the essential activities, locations, and people involved in their crown jewel program. As an extension of some early ideas I worked on, they wanted to rebrand more transactional words and phrases to make them fit the brand.

The process we followed is straightforward 

• I wrote a brief with input from the team.
• We had clear criteria and constraints and an outline of the process.
• We made sure everyone understood the RACI chart – and who decides.
• We reviewed it once again to make sure it made sense before we created ideas.
• A group of us brainstormed names based on the criteria developed and the constraints agreed upon in the briefing document. We did the brainstorming alone too allow us to go on tangents that can be productive.
• We chewed up those ideas and will come up with a handful we love, to share with a bigger audience of stakeholders. Our work is still in progress, so we haven’t completed this part of the task yet. But we are making progress.
• When we have decided on the best names, we will communicate the change to a larger audience.

So Many Ideas

The part that is so much fun is allowing your brain, within some well-defined constraints and criteria, to wander. Ideas come when I’m walking or watching Netflix or cooking dinner. Suddenly, I’ll hear a word or phrase, and it fits with part of the puzzle. A lyric might send me in a new direction. Looking through a thesaurus helps too to spark ideas.

If you sat me in a room and said, “ready, brainstorm”, I’d fail.

I create best when I’m not trying. My process is non-linear and more like a game of pinball, bouncing around to find a fresh word, phrase or thought. For some reason, it is exhilarating.

Lessons for Daily Business from Naming Stuff

Since I do a lot of this work, I see some lessons for problem-solving that I’d like to share.

• You may be more creative solving problems outside of the office. Perhaps the worst place to meet is a conference room when you are struggling with a challenge. Instead, try working individually on the solution and then bring those ideas somewhere that doesn’t feel limiting. You may get some fresh insights based on being at an unusual environment like a Museum, Zoo or park.
• Include someone from outside (the company) or the core team. Outsiders don’t know the rules and aren’t as constrained by what you know. Give them the license to challenge everyone and to push back, professionally. You may find a new path, a new approach or a way to look at the challenge without the same seatbelts strapping everyone in place.
• Define the heck out of the problem you are trying to solve. In a naming exercise, no one starts working until we are crystal clear what problem we are trying to solve. If you beginning talking and problem-solving, before you have a consensus on the problem, you may end up with a great solution, just not the one to the problem at hand.

In the last twelve months, I have helped name a tequila, several new industrial products, software technology and a few new food and wine products. I’m like a kid in a candy shop when I can play with words, phrases, and ideas.

Got a new product you want to launch. Let’s play the name game.

Here are some of the trademarked names I have developed in the last few years that I am allowed to share. Got a naming project you’d like to discuss? You can set up a time to chat with me about your foodpreneur marketing challenges using my calendar. Or, Email  jeffslater@themarketingsage.com  Call me. 919 720 0995.  The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Try my new chat feature on my site if you have a quick question.

Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash