The right brand name is a hugely valuable asset, so why settle for an average name? Our strategic approach is based on a proven and methodical 5-step brand naming process, refined over many years, and now augmented by our own AI brand naming agent, Third Lens, developed with our group company Evoleus.
Our unique process creates winning brand names that resonate with customers because it combines human creativity and ingenuity with the power of AI. Once briefed we can quickly and efficiently generate thousands of name concepts which we then filter for alignment with a range of validation criteria, including alignment with business strategy and brand purpose, global linguistics, meanigs and double-meanings, trade mark availability, unregistered rights, plus domain name and social media availability. This means that all the names we propose are pre-screened, viable candidates.
Brand naming strategy
Branding began as a way to signal ownership - a red hot branding iron applied to an animal's haunch - and by the 1880's became so popular that the 'brands' needed protection. Trade mark law was passed and the first brands were registered on both sides of the Atlantic, often featuring the founder's name to convey a mark of consistent quality, including Ford, Cadbury and Heinz.
Today, brands are so valuable they represent the majority of the intangible value on most companies' balance sheets, with a significant proportion of that value represented by the brand name. So, when you have the opportunity to create a new brand, why risk any old name, when you could create a world-class, memorable brand name, protected in all your markets?
Creating a distinctive, meaningful brand name which supports business strategy requires more than the ability to brainstorm interesting words. To fully realise the potential of the process you have to be able to weave together brand purpose, positioning, business strategy and design to encapsulates the brand's value proposition. And you then need to protect it everywhere you operate.
Our 5-step brand naming process ensures the naming process aligns with brand and business strategy. We integrate purpose and positioning with AI research and screening, applying human inspiration and creativity to deliver compelling brand names that come to life as word marks and designs. Our designers can then emphasise the brand name's meaning through creative logo design and motion graphics to bring the brand name to life. And we can do all this in one seamless process.
Our brand naming process
Step 1 - is to understand the marketplace, including the brand's target customers, competitors and its value proposition. We use our Third Lens AI to provide a broader perspective, including researching and analysing competitor's strengths and weaknesses, their names and exploring target customer sentiment. From this we generate naming themes to inspire our name creation.
Step 2 - takes our naming themes and groups them into relevant word clouds, including meaningful root names, abstract and compound names, along with conceptual themes that have emerged from Step 1. We brainstorm these concepts and augment them with AI-generated names in fast-track collaborative sessions, longlisting any names that stand-out as either meaningful or highly differentiating.
With so many more marks being registered across the world, possible trade mark infringements are always a risk, so we consider innovative ways of naming new brands, including using numbers, unseen letters and phonetic equivalents.
Step 3 - starts to shortlist the names from probably thousands of candidates down to 100 which we then screen for a range of assessment criteria, including: meanings and double-meanings, pronunciation, succinctness, distinctiveness, memorability, trade mark availability, high-level domain names and social media. This usually reduces the longlist to 20 names, all cleared as viable candidates.
Step 4 - involves shortlisting 3-5 names for further development and then fuller searches, including unregistered rights and negotiating .com domain name acquisition costs, if the domain is for sale. We will also use our AI to test likely sentiment towards the name from the target audience and identify any potential weaknesses in the names.
Step 5 - is when the final name is signed-off, the trade mark applications submitted (using cleints' in-house or 3rd party attorneys), social media handles registered and the domain names acquired. In many of our projects this then leads into the design of the logo and brand system. We always advise our clients to manage their new brand assets with trade mark watching services that alert any potentially conflicting applications.
Read our opinion articles on Branding by numbers, What's in a name and Green branding.
View our brand naming case studies
Product brand names
The choice of name is also crucial for any new product’s success. The product name may be a solo brand or need to fit within a product naming architecture, either way it must fully support the product proposition, whilst being memorable, distinctive and relevant. By appealing to its target audience, a good product name will enhance awareness and memorability, differentiate from competitors, support the desired product proposition, and build trust.
As global markets become ever-more competitive, distinctive product brands and product ranges with distinguishing names – fully protected as trade marks – become increasingly valuable as business assets, as well as being differentiators for their owners.
IP strategy, trade marks and brand asset management
Our brand strategy services include how to avoid trade mark infringements and protect brand intellectual property, such as new brand names.
We use specialist expert advisers to audit brand IP portfolios to assess whether there are assets that can be better secured to increase value or can be retired or sold once they are no longer relevant, saving cost.
Our experts conduct trade mark searches in any market in the world, and then assist with trade mark registrations. We can organise other services such as trade mark watching - monitoring new filings to ensure that no infringements occur - to ensure that the value of trade marks are fully protected.
Web domains
Innternet domains are also an important business asset. We propose high-levrl domains that are relevant to the brand name, assessing the availability of domains as a filter early in the process, and offering alternatives to .coms that are logical, cost-effective and memorable. Where required, we negotiate and purchase suitable domains.
We also manage domains for our clients, ensuring that they are held securely and renewed automatically.
For more information about our brand naming services in London and across the world contact one of our experts.
Our naming services
- Brand naming
- Business naming
- Product naming
- Product name extensions and product tiering
- Sub branding
- Brand naming architectures
- IP strategy
- Trade mark searches
- Trade mark protection
- Internet domain strategy
- Internet domain acquisition
- Trade mark watching services
- IP asset management
See our brand naming case studies
Read Peter Matthews' Brand Naming Guide blog