I guess I’m a dream builder who loves a challenge.
Over thirty years, I have helped to name products that were formerly commodities that needed a creative brand that told a story.
A toy can’t be called pieces of foam to build a pirate ship. It needs a name with life, emotion, and personality – like DreamBuilders. You can’t market a wine cork with a generic name like sparkling wine cork. It needs a brand name like Zest!
Brand Names
One of the marketing services I offer is creating unique names that can simply tell the story of your brand.
When I think of brilliantly branded product names, I think of registered trademarked names like PREVACID (medicine to prevent acid). It is a superb example of a brand name that is so simple yet tells a story in a name.
Consumers, who eat too many spicy meatballs use PREVACID to prevent acid build up.
Over the last decade, I had the opportunity to name, create and help market a range of products in categories from software to soft foam and toys to technology.
- PROTEX® – (Foam that protects glass used in architectural or shower door panels)
- DREAMBUILDERS® – (a fort building kit that allows a child to play pirate, princess or a clubhouse)
- ZEST! ® – (A sparkling wine cork)
- MICROCASTING® (a system for delivery hyper-targeted messages to pharmaceutical patients one-by-one)
- WHAT’S GNU® – (A 3 letter word game for children)
- ROUGH CUT® – A brand of portable meat snacks
- PLANTCORC® Technology – A wine cork that is made from a biopolymer derived from sugarcane.
- AQUARIA® – A line of luxury pool floats and water-based leisure products
- BAKING A DIFFERENCE® – (A tagline for a non-profit bakery that donates to charity)
- FANFARE® – The celebratory name of a catering and food marketing firm for a young girl named Fanny. (yep, my daughter)
- PLANET FOAM® – A line of water toys for the pools made from foam. FOAM stood for Fun On A Mission.
Tips on Creating A Brand Name
Some of the secrets to creating a new brand name starts with having clarity about the story you want to tell. You also need to enjoy words, especially their roots. For me, it’s like a workout for the right side of my brand. Frequently, the best ideas use a root word (AQUA is Latin for water) and adding a playful and friendly sound RIA). That is how AQUARIA was born, after about one-hundred other ideas.
Don’t be afraid of mash-ups that capture to elements of the story, often called a portmanteau.
I do my best brainstorming for names while walking. Another tip is to focus on the word initially and not the font, color or visualization.
I have also been fortunate to work with a great graphics design colleague (ironically also named Jeff) who always helps me tell the story through font, line, color and graphic design. Please check out Cowan Graphic Design if you need help with logos, designs or if you want to take apart a 57 Chevy.
AN EASY PROCESS: I can help provide you with more than 50 clever choices in a few weeks. Once you settle on a few final options, I can help you create a logo or file the trademark with the US patent and trademark office, If you need a tagline for an existing brand, I can help you come up with something strategic and clever, like the tagline for a charitable bakery called GIVE – Baking a Difference. You can learn more about examples of my work here.
As always, thanks for sharing this post with anyone who might have an interest in my brand naming work. And if you are thinking of doing this yourself, don’t hesitate to reach out to me if I can give you some additional tips or guidance.
When I was a kid, I loved to sing the name game song by Shirley Ellis. Click this link to listen to her sing The Name Game song for a nice 3-minute break.
I promise it will make you smile.
919 720 0995 or Jeffreylynnslater@gmail.com
