How to name a brand: 5 options. Choose the best

One of the first decisions that the owner of any business has to make is what will our brand be called? In this case, we have to take into account a lot of factors. Will it be a catchy “double word” in the spirit of Facebook and JetBlue? Should I come up with an absolute neologism, a la Skype and Pepsi? Or do you need to formulate directly and to the point, say, Free Conference Call or It Works? Here is a selection of examples: here the brands of the most common types and an explanation of which option will be most appropriate for your business.

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1. Invented

No need to explain what “invented brands” are. These are neologisms, for example, Twitter or Geico , which you will not find in the dictionary.
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Pros: The main advantage of invented brands is that, from a linguistic point of view, this is a “clean sheet”. After all, these are artificial words, and it depends on you to a large extent what kind of associations the audience will have with your brand (preferably positive).

Using a neologism as a brand name is also convenient in terms of the selection of domain names. When buying a domain for famous words, sometimes you have to pay a six-figure or seven-digit amount, but it is unlikely that you will be required a transcendent amount for a domain with mention of neologism.

Cons: The above-mentioned “blank slate” effect is a double-edged sword. Considering that you yourself have come up with the name of your brand, customers will not catch its meaning as easily as you do.

Thus, the invented names require active promotion so that people will know what the essence of this brand is, associate it with certain virtues and firmly remember the brand.

Is this option suitable for my business? Michael Reider, CEO of Brandroot , the domain name market for .com, recommends inventing a brand if you are ready to invest a lot of time and energy in its promotion.

“In dealing with invented brands, we have to organize massive branding in order for the audience to recognize the new brand and associate it with certain advantages,” explains Reider. But if this task can be solved, then you can get an eternal unforgettable brand (examples: Pepsi, Xerox, or Audi ).

“The name-neologism allows you to form a new culture around a service or product,” adds Reider.

2. Obvious

In contrast to neologistic brands, obvious brands, for example, Free Credit Report , consist of common words and quite literally describe the essence of your business.

Pros: It is difficult to deny that obvious names are easily interpreted: customers immediately understand what is being offered in the Free Credit Report.

Disadvantages: Lack of a “clean slate” effect inherent in neologisms. Obvious names consist of words that we have heard hundreds of times. Therefore, it is difficult for an obvious brand to form its own identity, since it is conditioned by associations that have long been rooted in our consciousness.

Is this option suitable for my business? Act carefully. Many famous failing projects of the dot-com era — for example, pets.com and toys.com — are just obvious names. And a domain name with a popular common word can be expensive. In addition, the obvious names acquire a "spamming" shade - after all, in our time, the trash cans are growing faster and faster day by day.

3. Compound words

Composite names, such as MasterCard or FitBit, combine the properties of neologisms and obvious names. On the one hand, they consist of the most common words (like obvious names), but the pair itself serves as an innovative presentation of the words, thanks to which the brand acquires a unique identity.

Pros: Typically, the meaning of the brand is partly clear at first glance: it is immediately clear that MasterCard is some kind of card, and FitBit, for example, should be associated with fitness. However, since the words “master” and “map” were rarely used in combination with each other before the appearance of MasterCard, the “clean slate” effect inherent in the coined names benefits them.

Cons: compound words are poorly amenable to further word formation. For example, if MasterCard decided to trade wallets, then it would have an unequal marketing battle (and the name MasterWallet is simply not that catchy).

Does this brand suit me? From a Raider point of view, it all comes down to how confident you are in your business plan. “If you have absolutely no doubt that your business will not start developing along unexpected paths, then compound words are a great option,” says Raider.

But if you decide to change the focus of your company or diversify the range, you will be constrained by the original brand, which can be an insurmountable obstacle to expansion.

4. Spelling experiments / Word game

This category includes brands whose names contain intentionally distorted words (for example, Froot Loops and Dribbble ), as well as names with prefixes, suffixes and other modifications of common words, for example, Flickr or Todoist.

Pros: Modified combinations of words with spelling errors or changes are instantly recognized, and this tactic does not spoil the brand identity. For example, combining the phrase "to-do" with the suffix "ist", we immediately understand why we need a Todoist resource. It is convenient to keep a list of cases; and here we are creating a completely unique brand.

Cons: You can simply misinterpret the word! Yes, Dribbble was losing significant traffic at the expense of visitors who “incorrectly” remembered this word with two “b” - and all these visitors got to the non-existent address dribble.com.

Is this a good fit for my business? If your brand correlates very well with a specific spelling option (for example, Flickr is easily associated with film and camera), then a good brand can give a spelling experiment or word game. “Just keep in mind that you may lose some of the traffic, because someone incorrectly reproduces your spelling,” Raider warns.

5. Arbitrary

Arbitrary names for Apple brands are made from ordinary words used in an atypical context. We are a little insidious, if we call them absolutely arbitrary - it is no coincidence that the company is called Apple (“Apple”), and not, say, “Prune” or “Broccoli”. Often, “arbitrary” hints at certain qualities that should be associated with the brand (for example, Jaguar cars are a symbol of power).

Pros: Arbitrary brand names are easily remembered and can instantly saturate your brand with certain properties that you hoped to emphasize (for example, apples are useful and like many).

Cons: It will take a serious brand promotion to kill the original association (i.e., for Apple computers to stop reminding of fruits). Say more: it is incredibly difficult to find such a domain name, which would not be worth the fabulous money.

Is this strategy suitable for my business? According to Raider, arbitrary brand names are unattractive precisely because it is almost impossible to find such a domain for a reasonable price.

Suppose you have a marketing company called "Orange" ("Orange"). Even if you manage to get the domain name orangemarketing.com (which was still free at the time of publishing the original article), you still confuse many customers who mistakenly try to find you at orange.com (this is an Internet provider operating in Europe and Africa ).

So, the selection of a domain name is not just a matter of taste. This is a serious business decision that can seriously affect the success of the entire enterprise, both positively and negatively. Choose carefully - a good brand name can ever put you on a par with Twitter, MasterCard or Flickr.


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