Naming
One of the most challenging tasks in either our personal or business lives is to come up with a name. For example, there was a time several years ago it seemed that almost every young man I met was named Jason. Must have been a lot of parents that liked the name, and as many parents that liked the name, there must have been as many reasons for having chosen it.
Then there are names you see on road trips like the those for vacation homes along the north shore that you see driving up Hwy 61 to Grand Marais, for instance Ruby’s Rendezvous (totally made up that one.)
The names in the commercial world require a more disciplined approach than naming a child or home on the north shore. Let’s look at two two examples, Thousand Helmets offering bicycle and skateboard helmets, and The Herbivorous Butcher, a Northeast Minneapolis vegan butcher; and, then follow up with some guidelines on naming products and companies based on my experience at Kazoo Branding.
Thousand Helmets has some very cool looking helmets that are designed to look different from virtually every other helmet on the market. They have a vintage moto lid type vibe, and heritage colorways of the 50’s and 60’s with vegan leather straps for comfort. Along with these features, the wearer can keep their helmet safe with a secret padlock.
What was behind the name Thousand Helmets? According to their website, they named their company ‘Thousand’ as a promise – a commitment and a goal of helping to save 1000 lives by making helmets people actually want to wear. This is their brand story, and it is a good one because it is extendable and offers an emotional connection to its customers.
A very different but equally interesting example is The Herbivorous Butcher. The company is co-founded by a sister-brother partnership. According to their website, they carefully craft 100% vegan, cruelty-free meat and cheese alternatives that capture the best flavors, textures, and nutrients most people are used to without their negative impacts on health, animals, and the environment. They are confident that after one sampling you’ll be hooked!
This is an interesting case because they had to fight off a legal challenge from food giant Nestle, not about their company name, but about their use of the term “vegan butcher.” According to an article from the 2/18/2021 Star Tribune eEdition, the Walches had applied for a trademark of “vegan butcher” several years ago but had been denied on grounds that it was “merely descriptive. Just a few weeks after their denial, Nestlé tried to lay claim to the term, and subsequently the siblings hired a lawyer. They ultimately won the trademark battle but only to the degree that it would remain in public domain so that it would be available to anyone in their industry. They spent a great deal of money to this end to achieve a very altruistic goal, which is admirable.
One moral of this story is that descriptive names are very difficult to protect. They are often times in the public domain and chances are if you thought of it, someone else probably has as well.
To help build an emotional connection to your brand with a name that you can also legally protect, here a few naming guidelines.
Naming Basics & Process
A few words about the keys to successful naming . . .
- Unique re: competition
- Protect legally
Impossible to Protect Difficult Easier To Protect
Descriptive Names >>>> Suggestive Names >>>>>>> >> Coined Names
Water Bed Gallery Ford Explorer Prevea
Bread Street Kodak
Microsoft
- Represent brand personality and position
- Work with current branding and nomenclature system (Brand Strategy)
- Timeless
- Attractive
- Globally acceptable
- Easy to use and to apply
- Technically applicable – – print, broadcast, website, social media, signage, in store, interior design, product packaging, etc.
- Additional criteria (Ex: community, history, personal preferences)
- Emotional
- Tag lines
