The power of brand filters

Tips for Better Company and Product Naming

Each week frustrated business owners call me, exhausted fromtheir latest company naming marathon. Theyve spent dozens, (if not hundreds)of hours in valuable staff time churning out endless lists of ideas, suggestions,brainstorms, etc.

The results?

A hodgepodge of names with no rhyme or reason to them,little or no group consensus, a lack of matching domain names, potentialtrademark issues, and a looming deadline or one sort or another. The group hasgrown increasingly wary of the whole ordeal and everyone just wants to moveon.

Sound familiar?

At the root of this problem lies a lack of establishedbrand filters. By brand filters I mean the screening criteria that nearlyeveryone in the company inherently knows but that remains unarticulated. Thinkof it as the mental tumbler that any new idea or project must go through beforesomeone at the company says Yes, thats a fit for us! An example might provehelpful.

Imagine you were on the board of directors for Rolex and oneof your top sales people came to you with a proposal to sell millions ofinexpensive Rolex watches this holiday season at Wal-Mart -- what would yousay? What if another salesperson came to you with the idea of co-branding aRolex interior in a new line of Lexus automobiles? Which proposal would makemore sense? Why?

On one hand you could argue that Rolex is a watch companyand that selling millions more watches is the way to go, even if it meansselling them cheaply. A more astute observer would see that Rolex really isnta watch company, its a prestige company. The watch is just the method or meansof selling the prestige. If properly understood, this subtle shift hastremendous ramifications. Instead of looking to extend your brand along productlines, you would look to extend it along attribute lines.

So in this case, the first brand filter for Rolex would beprestige. Any new idea, product, service, venture, brand extension, etc. wouldneed to incorporate an element of upscale sophistication before it would beeven considered. If Rolex were then to conduct a naming assignment, one of thetop criteria would be the need to convey elegance, prestige and luxury vs.needing to convey the idea of a watch.

As obvious as this may seem, most naming assignments dontutilize branding filters to evaluate names. Without them, the names tend togravitate towards literal descriptions and the judging of the potential newnames defaults to random associations -- biased personal judgments that havenothing to do with the company or its future direction. Without proper brandfilters, the criteria can become quite arbitrary, such as Its got to be oneword. Or Its got to be high in the alphabet. Or Its got to have a hardconsonant sound. These are all technical, linguistically constructed issuesthat should come secondary to the primary purpose of having a name thatreflects who you are, based on your most compelling attributes.

One of the top branding filters for our naming firm was conveyinga sense of brilliance, insight and clarity. With that in mind, we developed thename Tungsten, a metal Thomas Edison used to illuminate light bulbs. From alinguistics standpoint, the name was a bit problematic. Its not the easiest tospell. The exact matching domain name was not available either. But theoverriding consideration was given to the fact that the name captured theessence of creating brilliance. In other words, it told a story.

In establishing your brand filters, what chief characteristicsdo you wish to convey in your name? Is it strength? Ease? Reliability?Status? Which ones are most important? Write a list and prioritize them.Typically the overarching attributes will be on top and the more pragmaticcriteria will be lower (i.e. length of the name, exact matching domain, etc.)Heres a typical example for an internet start up company.

Sample Branding/Naming Filters

1. Conveys a sense of innovation and ingenuity

2. Has an interruptive quality that makes the consumer want to know more.

3. Segues easily to a background story/elevator speech about the company

4. Is easy to say and spell.

5. Has a closely matching .com domain name

Once you have your set of brand filters, its much easier to ask your core group of decision makers to compare the naming candidates against the list of criteria rather than against their personal biases. The question simply becomes, How do these potential names compare against our branding filters? vs. What do you think about these names? Stay flexible with the process. If a name fits the filters but everyone hates it, then perhaps your filters need adjusting or re-prioritization. Perhaps having an easy to say name is more important than first thought. But by having these filters, it creates context in which to better evaluate your naming decisions.

By creating brand filters in advance of a product or company naming assignment, you can alleviate a lot of missteps and come to consensus naturally and intuitively. The naming process becomes a true process and your naming sessions become more productive. Instead of names that describe the products you sell, youll create names that convey the essence of who you are, what you do and why you do it. And that makes for great branding.

About the Author:

Phillip Davis is the President of Tungsten Branding, a full service naming firm based in Brevard, North Carolina, USA.