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Naming best practices
What are the VAYTON best practices in naming?
Brand names should be …
Short Simple Memorable Unique Richly Connotative
Keep It Short and Simple … and Memorable.
Short and simple do not preclude sexiness or richness. Who has followed this guideline for naming better than the movie industry? There are writers employed to convert long screenplay titles to one to three-word movie titles. The award-winning German film “The Lives of Others” has an intriguing name but it is not as memorable and dramatic as say “The Others.” (The German working title in 2006 was “Das Leben der Anderen - Die Sonate vom guten Menschen.”) Human beings rely mostly on short term memory. Repetition and consistency are like anchors for the consumer on a storm tossed sea of the marketplace. But repetition and consistency are weakened when what is to be repeated and what is to be kept consistent is too long and convoluted.
Unique.
Singularity is a valuable asset in the branding/naming business. The basic meaning of branding or trademark is to make not just a mark but a distinguishing mark. When General Motors and General Electric had no real competitors, such generic company names were not a problem. Now with competitors, locally and globally, plain or generic names weaken the branding power. What if Yahoo! had chosen GeneralInternetDirectory as the brand name and URL?
Richly Connotative…and Emotionally Engaging.
The logo, the tagline, the trademark should be richly connotative and emotionally engaging…instantaneously. Again, the movie industry marketers are masters at effective naming. The movie title “There Will Be Blood” engages the prospective moviegoer on a raw, survivalist level. It’s a premonition and it’s a threat. Just the word “blood” carries layer upon layer of cultural, connotative meanings. Gerald Zaltman and Lindsay Zaltman (Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal about the Minds of Consumers) in an interview published in the Harvard Business School online newsletter (May 5, 2008) explained it this way: “Deep metaphors are basic frames or orientations we have toward the world around us. They are ‘deep’ because they are largely unconscious and universal.”