Brand Naming Part 2: How (not) to name your brand.
This is part two of our series on Naming, if you missed the first part you can find it here. In part one we defined what makes a name extraordinary, and now we’d like to dive into the process of naming your brand—specifically, which mistakes to avoid when naming your brand.
If you have kids, you know that finding the right name can be difficult. How did you pick your child’s name? Perhaps you thought of people in your family that you wanted to name them after. Maybe a character from a book, or a film. Whatever method you chose to find the name though, you probably didn’t ask ChatGPT to tell you the 10 most successful names for a child and then pick one of them out of a hat.
So, why would you do that for your company?
Like with your child, you probably have great hopes for your brand and want to give it a name that it can grow into—not limit it.
Over the years we’ve refined a process that yields the best results for creating brand names that are (as we mentioned in part one of our naming series): memorable, ownable, and magical. We find it to be a successful formula, but it’s not one that we created overnight.
We painstakingly learned the art of naming by making a lot of mistakes over the years—and we’re not afraid to admit it. It’s because of making these mistakes, and learning from them, that we were able to create a process that delivers extraordinary names. We’ll do a deep dive into our process in the finale of our naming series, but for now we’d like to share some of what we’ve learned about naming. Or rather, what we’ve learned not to do when creating a brand name.
The following are the three most common mistakes when naming a brand, and how we at CRU make sure to avoid them:
- Creating your own brand name.
- Creating a long list of brand names.
- Not doing a legal check on your brand name.
Brand Naming Mistake 1: Naming your own Brand.
Usually, clients who want to name or rename themselves will try to come up with a brand name internally before approaching us. Most often, they get frustrated by their own efforts because once they come up with a list of names to choose from, they can never collectively decide on which one to go with.
This indecision is often due to the fact that you need someone from the outside to help you create a name for your company that encapsulates the entire company and its goals.
What we mean is that many companies who try to name or rename themselves often ask a select group of senior employees to think of some names. Those senior employees each have a personal stake in the company and perception of the company that influence what names they come up with. Sales will come up with names that describe the product they’re selling. Marketing might go for cooler, aspirational names. While CEOs and founders will want to find something that will appeal to potential investors. They are all out of alignment with one another, and the list of names feels like a total mixed bag.
The number one reason that clients come to us to create a brand name for them is that they feel like they’re choosing a name at random and need our help. What we can help you gain is perspective. Because while the intention of involving your whole company in the naming process is great, it’s not helpful to ask them to suggest names. Rather, we gain insights by asking your team questions about the company, its culture, the services, and see what information is helpful and what’s not.
We take the time to meet with people from all over your organization: from the sales team to the developers, from the CEO to the marketing intern—and even speak with your clients. By doing so, we are able to have a 360 degree view of your organization and create names that are focused, and capture the essence of what you’re all setting out to do. This makes selecting the names more straightforward, while still involving your entire team in a meaningful way.
Brand Naming Mistake 2: Creating a long list of brand names
Years ago, before we started CRU and were still working for ad agencies, the process for creating a brand name usually began by getting a team of copywriters and interns together and stuffing them into a room with pizza and beer and telling them not to come out until they had a long list of names. Then a creative director would show off a bunch of the names to the client until one of them stuck. If the client didn’t like it, the copywriters and interns would have to shuffle back into the pizza and beer ideation room until the next round of names came out.
We’ve found that this process is less than ideal. Mostly because we’re bigger fans of wine than beer, and we are definitely no fans of the long list. By creating a long list of brand names and putting them in front of your client you are asking them to do your job for you. And the sad truth is that many agencies are still using that same process to this day.
Thankfully, CRU is a brand consultancy, not an ad agency. That’s not just a marketing gimmick, that’s a promise. When clients hire us, they won’t be asked to select their favorite name from a menu of dozens. Our job is to consult, meaning we will curate a short list of names for them to choose from. Sure, during our process we may come up with many names, but our clients will only ever see a small selection of the finest ones that we truly believe will be suited to their strategy, existing culture, and ambitions. The short list of names all feel distinct and different from one another, making the choice clear. We also provide strategic and creative justification for these names that help them understand why we arrived at them in the first place. Quality always wins over quantity in our books.
Brand Naming Mistake 3: Not doing a legal check on your brand name
The final, most crucial mistake that can be made when creating a brand name is not doing your due diligence. Finding a brand name that everyone agrees is the perfect fit is a magical feeling. On the CRU side, it feels like a great reward for the hard work we put in behind the scenes. For clients it is like a huge sigh of relief: naming is an emotional and difficult process to trust someone else with. When they finally hear a name they feel comfortable to use, it can feel like they can finally start the process of growing into that name.
And while that sensation is one of the greatest things we as a brand consultancy can give to a client, there is nothing worse than to turn and around and say: «Sorry but, you actually can’t use that name.» Or worse, building an entire brand around a name only to realize at the last minute that you can’t use it because of a trademark. We know what it feels like to have to go back to a client with our hats in our hands, having to explain that the name we all love can’t actually be used.
Because it not only means returning to the drawing board and putting a sour taste in everyone’s mouth, it means putting business plans in jeopardy. We’ve learned this the hard way, and we vowed to never make that the case again. Before we curate the names that we put in front of our clients, we send a list of viable names to our legal partners at BRP Renaud in Stuttgart. For years now, they have been a crucial part of our naming process. They search through all the copyright, brand, and company registries in the markets relevant to our client and let us know which names are feasible for use.
Since we’ve been working with them for so long, they also are our creative allies, offering suggestions, alternatives, and workarounds for us so that we can still offer our clients the best fitting name possible.
The best way to find a brand name?
By now you should have a good idea of the pitfalls that come with naming your brand, and how we at CRU circumnavigate them. In part 3 of our series on brand naming we will go in-depth into our brand naming process, giving you a step by step view of how we create extraordinary brand names.
