STRATEGIC BRAND NAMING
The name is probably the most important element in the branding process. Get it right and the branding process goes smoothly and effectively. Get it wrong and the company can spend years correcting its shortcomings. Verbal identity includes naming, taglines, slogans, mission, vision, company text, web copy, PR text and corporate nomenclature. Whether you are launching a new brand or revising a brand which isn’t producing results, bring your own branding challenge to us and we will help you create an effective name for your product, service, or business. We generate alternative names to suit you, evaluate them against a set of agreed criteria (implicit and explicit), online and offline, and offer suggestions for continuing the branding process.
Read the STRONG – weak BRAND NAMES CHECK LIST below
Strategic Brand Naming Services:
• Design of company names
• Design of business names
• Design of product names
• Design of domain (url) names
• Development of taglines and slogans
• Brand naming process
• Name development
• Corporate nomenclature
• Creation of international brand names
• Development of verbal identity
• Copywriting for websites and conversion optimisation
• Brand name valuation
Desiging domain names / urls
A strategic domain name (url) is the first step to secure maximum web visibility and online traffic. If you want to dominate a specific product or service category (in vertical search or locally) it can be critical to include those specific keywords in the domain name. If, for some reason, keywords can’t be contained within the domain name, other SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) techniques can be used to overcome this shortcoming.
A brand name has a unique impact on your brain according to the latest research (Gontijo, 2002, Journal reference: Brain and Language vol 82, p 327). Brand names engage the “emotional”, right-side of the brain more than other words, the research suggests (e-motion leads to action). They are also much more easily recognised and have more impact on the subconscious mind (subliminal priming) when they are in capital letters. “It supports our instinctive belief that brands are a special class of word – they are like a poem all in one word in their ability to evoke and express ideas.”Robert Jones, head of consulting at the brand strategists Wolff Olins in London.
Is your brand name / domain name (url) strong or weak? CHECK LIST
1. Is your brand name differentiated?
2. Is your brand name short?
3. Is your brand name strategic: unique, authentic, descriptive, generic, metaphoric, symbolic, iconic, other?
4. Is your brand name easy to spell?
5. Is it easy to remember?
6. Is your brand name easy and friendly to pronounce. Does it sound good?
7. Is it useful for “brandplay”? ie has it got creative “legs” – so it can lend itself to a great tagline / slogan, graphics, storytelling, advertising, PR, and other communications.
8. Is the url / domain name appropriate for the location / country?
9. Is your domain name written as one word or with dashes in it? Is your brand / domain name written as CamelCase? UpperCamelCase (UCC) and lowerCamelCase (lCC)
10. Has it got a good vibe? Does it resonate well with your brand product or service?
11. Does it move you? Is it affective? Does it feel right?
12. Is your brand name legally defensible?
13. Is it socially appropriate in other languages? If you want to expand globally mistakes can harm your brand reputation and cause embarrassment.
14. Is it going to last? Can your brand grow with it? Has your brand name got longevity? Or is it just trendy, for the moment, faddy?
15. Is it transferable? Has it got any pure commercial value?
16. Is it positioned for: a) discovery b) statement c) innovation?
17. Has your brand name got a strong morphic / information field (aura)? For example, “Hoover”.