Product Naming

Great Product Naming - What it isn't

Great product naming is not about settling for one, safe solution that doesn't offend anyone on the committee, but also doesn't excite the target market.

Great product naming is not about selecting a descriptive name that says what the product does, but owns no distinct space in the consumer's mind.

And great product naming is not about brainstorming the one creative idea that trumps all others, but is not available to trademark.

Great Product Naming - What it is

Then, just what is great product naming? At Strategic Name Development we believe that great product naming is all about the process.

Our naming process has been refined over 20 years and has been used for the benefit of clients such as:

Our Naming Process

It's a naming process that begins with a thorough review and understanding of the target market and competitive landscape. No other brand naming company works harder than Strategic Name Development to understand your consumer and the competition.

Next comes a deep dive into your brand strategy to isolate the relevant, enduring and emotive points of difference for creating a memorable brand name. As naming consultants, what we know about building brand strategy for product names, we learned from the companies who perfected it.

Building on the brand strategy, our seasoned linguistic, creative and marketing professionals bring their expertise and passion to the table.

It's an iterative naming process that incorporates your team's feedback and ideas all along the way. This often includes an exercise in qualitative target market and employee feedback that utilizes our proprietary Name DNA Detection® methodology.

Throughout our naming process we also employ a rigorous trademark pre-screening of name candidates using sophisticated trademark screening techniques.

And for product names that cross borders, our Global Linguistic Analysis protects you from the embarrassment of a cultural or linguistic faux pas.

Completing the product naming process, our proprietary Name DNA Validation® marketing research technique uses normative data to help determine which of several product name finalists resonates best with the target market.

3 Great Product Naming Tips

1. It's Not a Beauty Contest - If a product name feels like love at first sight, chances are it also feels pretty familiar and is not differentiating or ownable.

2. Change Your Shoes - Whether it's B2C or B2B, your target market's opinion ultimately determines a product name's success. Don't let your personal preferences get in the way of putting yourself in the target market's shoes to see name candidates through their eyes.

And while you're at it, you may just want to ask for their opinion before it's too late.

3. Don't Trip on the Trademark - A group brainstorming session is a great way to get the creative juices flowing, but don't forget to check the availability of your potential product names... chances are someone else's brainstorming session got there first.

Select Naming Techniques

Naming Strategies	Brand Name	Application
Metonymy		Corporate / product name
Haplology		Naming a business
Synecdoche		Corporate name
Alliteration		Corporate / product name
Theronym		Product name
Mimetics		Naming a business
Eponymy		Naming a business
Description		Retail name
Poetics		Product name
Combination		Product name
Allusion		Product name
Clipping		Naming a business
Morphological Borrowing		Product name
Omission		Product name
Acronym Adaptation		Corporate name
Backronym		Brand repositioning
Onomatopoeia		Product name
Classical Roots		Product name
Arbitrary		Company name