Just like people, brand names have their strong points and their… let’s just call them their opportunity areas.
No Name Is Perfect
Check out this #tellthetruths video to learn why we tell clients what each name candidate we share has wrong with it, even though we would never show them a name we don’t love!
This video originally appeared in LinkedIn
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How To Completely Screw Up a Brand Name
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey guys, it’s Rebeca with BrandTrue and no one is perfect. And guess what? No name is perfect, either. My good friends at Nalla Design in the UK recently posted, quoting me. I was very flattered, reminding me about how I talk about this. It’s really, really important because when we’re working with clients and sharing names with them, we will tell them everything that is good about the name, but we will also tell them what are the detractors in that name. What are the issues that it has? And if we’re showing them the name, we love it. We don’t show them a name that we don’t think is great. However, just like people, every name has its flaws and we try to be aware of them going in and we’re making a decision between alternatives with our eyes wide open.
And I have some examples that I love. In the US, we talk about, I talk all the time about this brand name, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! It’s so long, it’s so ugly. The name is disgusting. Guess what? Super effective brand name, works great, but you know, you would be looking at some of those things.
Nike, one of the most iconic brands that there is. I always love to joke around that if we had been in the meeting when that name was being sold in, somebody, I guarantee you said, “What the bleep is a Nike.” You know? It’s not entirely clear, it’s, you know, the goddess of victory, but nobody knows that. And in fact, in parts of the world, it is pronounced Nike. Nike is just, you know, not obviously the pronunciation when you look at it.
So names always have issues. There’s always something that it can’t say, but we just look for what are the things that it IS accomplishing? What are its good points? What are the things that it IS communicating? And we try to make the best, most reasoned choice moving forward. That’s it. I’m not perfect, but that’s what I think. Thanks. Bye!
