I’m often hired for name development by entrepreneurs who are starting a business. However, many founders take the “do-it-yourself” approach to name development. Sometimes that works for them, but all too often they make a horrible mistake that is easily preventable.

My basis for this conclusion?

Here are a few of the names chosen by startup companies last year (data from CrunchBase.com):

Zairge
Xwerks
Synthorx

I defy you to guess what the business is selling. Go ahead…try…I’ll wait. Can’t do it? I’m not surprised. You won’t get a clue from the name, and unless you already know about these companies you are taking a wild guess.

I’m not picking on these companies for their names because there are many others with similarly confusing names. For the record, Zairge (zairge.com) is a mobile property management system that simplifies and accelerates productivity for the owner, employee and guest. Xwerks (xwerks.com) offers elite nutrition for elite athletes. Synthorx (synthorx.com) is a biotechnology company using synthetic biology to synthesize solutions.

While I have no information about how the names for these companies were developed, I strongly suspect they may have fallen into the “.com conundrum.” Many startup companies I work with insist on having a one word name with one or two syllables that has a .com website available. That virtually guarantees the use of nonsensical clusters of letters that result in a name without relevance. Letting the availability of a .com domain drive your name selection is a huge branding mistake.

Consider these names of these other startup companies from CrunchBase.com:

Beep
Shout
Swish

These three have nice, short, memorable names. They are common words that are easy to pronounce, read and spell. Beep is a startup that sells a device that facilitates synchronized music in every room. Shout builds marketplaces for passionate people. Swish offers mobile payment solutions. In each of these cases, the company has chosen a relevant name that builds a brand around the benefits that their product offers. But because they chose a common word they don’t have the “exact word” .com address.

So which is better: Having a simple, easy-to-pronounce name that has meaning, or having a name that gets you a one word .com address? My 25+ years of branding experience tells me that a name that has meaning is infinitely more important than a name chosen because you can get a single word .com address.

You can ALWAYS get a .com address that makes sense. The websites for Beep, Shout and Swish are: are www.thisisbeep.com, http://useshout.com, and http://swishme.com. The companies have found a clever way to get a meaningful name AND a relevant website.

You can do the same. Add “my” or “the” to the front of your name or add “online” or “world” to the end of it. If you need other ideas give me a shout and I’ll help.

But please don’t pick a name that looks like a random selection from alphabet soup just because you can get a .com domain. You will only create confusion and that is never a good thing.

A recent report by NPR indicated that the tremendous growth in craft breweries (now over 3000 of them) has resulted in them running out of names for their beers. Here is the complete story:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/01/05/369445171/craft-brewers-are-running-out-of-names-and-into-legal-spats

Of course this is utter nonsense. Brewers will always be able to find unique names. They just may not be able to use the names that are top of mind. It won’t be easy. Hint, hire some professional help!

For example, the article says that numerous “hop” names are already trademarked. “Hopscotch” is a popular name with many breweries using this name. Another popular name is some variation of IPA “Bitter End.”

Here is a novel idea…why not develop a strategic naming approach that leverages the brewery and develops a family approach to name development? As an example, look at the Russian River Microbrewer. As of today they have 21 beers on tap. The names include Pliny The Elder, Row 2, Hill 56, Blind Pig I.P.A. and Dribble Belt. In short, it looks like they are pulling names out of a hat. There is no consistent approach to naming. The end result is a trademark attorney’s delight because eventually they will hit a conflict (and may not know it).

But if they took a strategic approach to naming they could do two important things. First of all, they would build a brand. Second, they could put a stake in the ground that protects their names.

Here is one method that would yield ownable names for the Russian River Brewing Company. Use the “Russian” theme in all the names. You could use the brute force method and call your beers “Russian River IPA” or “Russian River Blond Ale.” Or you could shortcut Russian River by using the initials RR in the name. A more discreet way to brand the brewery would be to use Russian names as names for the beers. Here are some female Russian names that could be great beer names:

• Alexandra
• Elena
• Izabella
• Lucya
• Malvina

Are craft brewers running out of names? Nah. Will craft brewers have to work harder to get beer names that will pass trademark scrutiny? You betcha. I look forward to helping a few develop great names (and BTW, I’m open to a barter arrangement!).

“Remember these words. If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” – Johnnie Cochran

Johnnie Cochran, O. J. Simpson’s attorney for his murder trial, used that famous rhyme to drive home a message point. Would it have had the same impact if he had said “If it doesn’t fit then you must find my client to be not guilty?” I doubt it. Like him or not, Johnnie Cochran was a master communicator and he understood the power of rhymes.

Brand names and slogans that rhyme are much more memorable and enable easy spread of messaging. Dubble Bubble, Mello Yello, Laffy Taffy, Reese’s Pieces, Piggly Wiggly, YouTube, and many more brands use the rhyming technique. I think you would agree that once you hear a rhyming name it is relatively easy to remember it. A rhyming name can lead to fame.

Daniel T. Willingham, Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, has studied numerous ways to improve education through application of cognitive science. In his article “What Will Improve a Student’s Memory?1” he discusses the use of mnemonics such as rhyming as a means of improving a student’s retention of material. Think of mnemonics as “retention shortcuts.” A mnemonic such as rhyming may be particularly powerful because it adds acoustic encoding to your branding, which is already being interpreted in a visual way, thereby enhancing storage in your brain.

Mnemonics such as rhyming have been proven to enhance learning in multiple studies (here is one2). And be honest, who has not used a rhyming mnemonic is the past? Quick question: what year did Columbus discover America? I bet some of you used the “in fourteen hundred and ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue” rhyming mnemonic to answer the question!

There is scientific evidence3 that provides some rationale as to why rhyming generates such positive effects. Matthew McGlone and Jessica Tofighbakhsh used rhyming proverbs such as “Birds of a feather flock together” to assess whether people considered aphorisms that rhyme to be more accurate than those that do not rhyme. The results concluded that “Extant rhyming aphorisms in their original form (e.g., “What sobriety conceals, alcohol reveals”) were judged to be more accurate than modified versions that did not preserve rhyme (“What sobriety conceals, alcohol unmasks”).” They concluded that the results “…suggest that rhyme, like repetition, affords statements an enhancement in processing fluency that can be misattributed to heightened conviction about their truthfulness.” In other words, rhyming generates processing fluency which can cause people to judge messaging as being more accurate.

How can you use this to your advantage? Obviously if you have the opportunity to rhyme you should consider it strongly. But don’t strive for rhymes just for the sake of rhymes. Consider using a rhyme to link a key benefit to your name, thereby generating name memorability and key benefit memorability at the same time.

As an example, consider the name StubHub. StubHub is an online marketplace owned by eBay, which provides services for buyers and sellers of tickets for sports, concerts, theater and other live entertainment events. If you are looking to buy or sell that “hard to find” ticket in a sold-out arena, chances are you can do it on StubHub. The StubHub name is a great demonstration of a powerful use of rhyming in branding, as the name helps communicate that the site is a central hub for people who want to buy or sell tickets.

7 – Eleven is another great example of a rhyming brand name with relevance. When the company launched, the name represented the hours of operation of the stores (now many of them are open 24 hours). The hours were a key marketing message for the brand at the time.

The Crunch ‘n Munch brand name combines the “crunching” benefit with the “munching” eating occasion to create a powerful, memorable name. The next time you have the munchies and want something crunchy, I guarantee you that Crunch ‘n Munch is going to be top of mind!

Lean Cuisine is a brand of frozen entreés which were introduced as low-fat, low-calorie versions of Stouffer’s products. The Lean Cuisine brand helped create the category of healthy frozen entreés and today it is a global powerhouse brand owned by Nestle. I can assure you that the rhyming name that exhibited a dual benefit of “Lean” (= healthier) and “Cuisine” (= great tasting) played a critical role in the success of this business.

Rhyming can enhance memorability, likeability and perceived truthfulness. However, it is not a panacea and should not be applied in every situation. In particular, “forced rhymes” can be silly or even painful, and can lead to negative feelings about your brand. But finding the right application of rhyming can be powerful!

1 http://www.aft.org//sites/default/files/periodicals/willingham_0.pdf
2 http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/Exceptional-Children/11609200.html
3 McLone, M. S., and Tofighbakhsh, J. (2000). Birds of a feather flock conjointly (?): rhymes as reason in aphorisms. Psychological Science, 11:424-28. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11228916

With apologies to The Beatles for borrowing a lyric from their song “All You Need Is Love” from The Magical Mystery Tour album, branding that uses “Love” or its symbols are scientifically proven to give persuasion a boost.

Southwest Airlines has understood the power of love for quite a while (e.g., their stock exchange ticker symbol is LUV), and they recently launched a new advertising campaign that utilizes love in verbal and visual form to drive the “Southwest = Love” point home. Suburu is another company that leverages the power of Love in their marketing, including the tagline of “Love. It’s What Makes a Suburu, a Suburu.” What do they know that other brands don’t?

The scientific evidence about the persuasive power of Love abounds. French behavioral psychologists Jacques Fischer-Lokou, Lubomir Lamy, and Nicolas Guéguen conducted a study of pedestrians walking alone on a shopping street¹. During the survey the pedestrians were asked to remember either a meaningful episode of love or a meaningful piece of music in their lives. After they had completed the survey and had walked on for a few minutes, the pedestrians were approached by a person holding a map and asking for directions. Those individuals who had previously been cued to think about the concept of love were significantly more helpful in the amount of time they were willing to spend in the effort of helping another person.

In another study, Guéguen and Lamay demonstrated that merely including the concept of love on charitable appeals led to a significant increase in donations². Adding the words “DONATING = HELPING” to charity collection boxes increased donations by 14% compared to boxes that just contained the usual information about the appeal. However, adding the words “DONATING = LOVING” increased donations by 90%.

Sometimes all you need is a visual symbol of love to make a difference. Southwest Airlines knows this as the “heart” symbol is omnipresent in their marketing materials. Guéguen conducted a study³ where food servers placed the bill, which had been folded in half and placed under a plate, on the table. The server put two candies on top of the plate and left the area. The researchers observed the tipping behavior of the diners. There were three different types of plates used in this study: round, square, and cardioid (heart-shaped). The diners whose bills arrived under a heart-shaped plate left tips that were 17% higher than those whose checks came under a round plate, and 15% higher than those whose checks came under a square plate.

The conclusion from these studies is when people are exposed to words or signs that are synonymous with love it serves as a cue for the person to respond with behaviors that are associated with love. “Love begets love” is more than just an idiom. It is scientifically proven to be a universal truth that can be leveraged in branding and marketing.

1 Fischer-Lokou, J., Lamy, L., & Guéguen, N. (2009). Induced cognitions of love and helpfulness to lost persons. Social Behavior and Personality 37, 1213 – 1220.

2 Guéguen, N. & Lamy, L. (2011). The effect of the word “love” on compliance to a request for humanitarian aid: An evaluation in a field setting. Social Influence 6(4), 249-58, doi:10.1080/15534510.2011.627771.

3 Guéguen, N. (2013). Helping with all your heart: The effect of cardioid dishes on tipping behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 43(8), 1745-9, doi:10.1111/jasp.12109.

Recently I discovered a wonderful infographic on the different meanings of colors in various cultures. It got me thinking that people who are branding a product, service or company might be unintentionally offending some of their potential customers. In the use of colors for example, Westerners/Americans would consider grey to be a good logo color to show respect, but in Japan the color for respect would be white and in China it would be yellow. Grey in Japan would be more aligned with words like modesty or reliability.

Sometimes the potential for offending your target customer is obvious. For example, Assitalia is one of the biggest insurance companies in Italy. I am sure the company developed its name without thinking about international considerations and in Italy the name is fine. But if they ever wanted to expand to an English speaking country…well, let’s just say there might be a problem.

But sometimes the potential for offending your customer is less obvious. Most of the large companies I work with agree to conduct foreign language checks to ensure that the names have no problematic connotations in the major foreign languages. In one instance that prevented us from making a major mistake. It turns out one of the names we developed had an obscure slang reference in the Spanish language to a body part that…well, let’s just say it was not a good choice of name.

Some of my smaller clients do not want to do foreign language checks because they are not planning to sell internationally. That is a mistake! Even if you have no plans to sell your product internationally, you need to beware of potential unintended consequences of your actions.

For example, people of Hispanic or Latino origin in the US represent over 17% of the population. What if you unintentionally chose a name that had a bad (but not obvious) connotation in the Spanish language? Would you like to offend over 17% of your potential market?

It is relatively easy to investigate potential unintended language consequences. There are linguistic companies or freelancers who will do this work for a reasonable fee. You can also try to do it yourself if you know different native language speakers. Just ask them questions like:

• How is this word pronounced by a native speaker of your language?

• Is this word similar in sound or appearance to other words in your language? If so, what do those words mean?

 • Are there any inappropriate associations with this word? Is this word similar to any slang terms of the language?

Finally, if you want to check to see if a common word is being used as slang for something else in the English language you can always check the Urban Dictionary. However, be aware that, even though the Urban Dictionary is regulated by volunteer editors (similar to Wikipedia), some of the content of the Urban Dictionary is sexual in nature (for adults only!).

There is a new drug for overactive bladder with the brand name Myrbetriq. I don’t know about you, but my first thought upon hearing the brand name was “HUH?” What is a Myrbetriq? How do I pronounce it? Surprisingly, the FAQ section on their website does not have a “how to pronounce Myrbetriq” button but the physician website does, and it is pronounced “meer-BEH-trick.”

I’ve named Rx drugs before and I can tell you that the landscape is not a simple one due to numerous FDA regulations about implying benefits in the name, as well as potential trademark issues. However, I have never resorted to choosing random letters out of a hat…which is the only explanation I can come up with for why Astellas Pharma US, Inc. chose this name. Clearly the person who chose this name was not aware of the science behind complex and/or difficult-to-pronounce names.

Science is solidly in the camp of simple brand names. A study (1) at the University of Michigan looked at fluency, familiarity and risk perception in names. Specifically, in one study, the researchers asked participants to rate the potential harm of food additives with easy-to-pronounce or difficult-to-pronounce names. Consumers consistently rated names that were difficult to pronounce as being more risky than those additives with names that were easy to pronounce. In another study, the researchers asked people to assess amusement park rides with easy-to-pronounce or difficult-to-pronounce names as to whether the ride would be adventurous and exciting or too risky and likely to make them sick. Consistent with the food additive study, difficult-to-pronounce names led to more people thinking the ride was too risky and likely to make them sick. The researchers concluded that “people perceive disfluently processed stimuli as riskier than fluently processed stimuli.” In other words, if it is difficult to pronounce then it must be risky.

Given this conclusion, the makers of Myrbetriq should have branded their drug with a friendlier, easy-to-pronounce name since some consumers may be reluctant to try a drug with such a difficult-to-pronounce name!

1 http://sitemaker.umich.edu/norbert.schwarz/files/09_ps_song___schwarz_fluency___risk.pdf

Almost everyone loves a good magician. The magician’s sleight of hand technique in making a coin or playing card disappear delights us, as we usually take pleasure in being fooled in this manner. Once fooled, our brain rapidly kicks into gear and tries to figure out how he or she did the trick. Sometimes you figure it out, and then you get even greater pleasure. But even when you can’t figure it out, you are amazed!

Magic tricks only work if two things occur. First, the magician must divert your attention away from where the actual trick is happening, and second, your brain must fill in any missing information by combining what you already know with whatever you perceive at that very moment.

The science behind this “filling in process” by the brain is fascinating (read the Discover magazine article referenced at the end of this post). The sub-headline of the article says it all… “The eye and brain work in a partnership to interpret conflicting signals from the outside world. Ultimately, we see whatever our brains think we should.”

Truth be told, the magician is not creating the illusion–your brain is creating the illusion that something has happened (when in reality the magician has done something else). Using this technique from magic can lead to powerful branding.

This “filling in” process has been shown in numerous studies to be important to generating lasting recall and favorable persuasion. If the person’s brain is engaged and filling in the gaps, then the person will remember the experience and be favorable towards it.

Let’s say you want to name a new product (or it could be a service or a company or something else). A strong name for this product would give the consumer enough information about the product so that the consumer’s brain is engaged and starts to fill in the missing information, just as it would if you were viewing a magic trick. This was validated in a study in The Journal of Consumer Research in 2005 where the investigators looked at differences in names for crayons. The findings indicate that consumers preferred “slightly ambiguous” names such as “Blue Haze” or “Alpine Snow” to plain descriptive names such as “Blue” or “White” because the engagement of the brain with a slightly ambiguous name causes the brain tries to complete the “puzzle,” which leads to stronger recall and persuasion.

A great brand name will provide some sense of perspective to the target customer and the product itself, but it won’t provide the whole story. A great name leaves enough to the imagination so your brain gets engaged in the product/name combination and makes you curious about a product and willing to investigate it further. Just as a magician would tantalize your brain with enough “facts” and cause your brain to “fill in” the rest of the story, a great brand name is magical.

http://discovermagazine.com/1993/jun/thevisionthingma227

Tom Cruise is 5’ 7” tall, but you would never know it based on the way Hollywood portrays him in the movies. Just look at his relative height in these scenes from some of his movies.

Hollywood uses technical tricks like having the leading man stand on “apple boxes” or wear lift shoes, or have the supporting cast slouch or always be seen in a sitting position. Why does Hollywood do this? It’s because we all love a tall, dark and handsome leading man. There is a real “height bias” that demonstrates the principle of the “halo effect.” If the leading man is tall you will attribute other things to his character such as power, leadership, and positive emotions (i.e., the halo effect of height).

There are many scientific studies that prove this point. In a 2004 study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, scientists Timothy Judge and Daniel Cable followed 8,500 British and American citizens through their lives and found that height was strongly correlated with business success. In fact, every inch of height above six feet earns a person, on average, an extra $789 per year.

Beauty is another factor that produces a halo effect. Various studies have proven that beautiful students get better grades than not so beautiful ones, and that good-looking criminals get lighter sentences than ugly criminals do for the same crimes.

The name you choose for your product, service, or company also carries a halo effect onto your business. Because the name is most often the first thing people will hear about you, impressions start to form the second they hear the name.

A great example of this halo effect is Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar was formed in 1925 out of the merger between Holt Tractor Company and Best Tractor Company (these companies were named after their founders Benjamin Holt and C. L. Best). According to company history, company photographer Charles Clements was reported to have observed that its tractor crawled like a caterpillar, and Holt seized on the metaphor. “Caterpillar it is. That’s the name for it!” So today if you have a choice between Caterpillar and Kubota construction equipment, which would you choose? Probably more often than not, you’d take the one with the halo effect of the caterpillar because being able to crawl over obstacles on a construction site is a primary benefit of the product.

Think about starting a new computer business in the competitive environment of companies with cold, technical names such as IBM, DEC and Cincom. What would you call your company? Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak decided on Apple Computers. In Steve Jobs’ biography, Jobs said he suggested Apple Computers because he thought the name sounded “fun, spirited, and not intimidating” (halo effect at work). Reportedly, Jobs and Wozniak considered alternate brand names such as Executex and Matrix Electronics, but settled on Apple. With the name Apple, they benefitted from the halo effect for their simple, accessible and affordable computer.

So the next time you have a naming challenge, don’t lean towards generic or descriptive names. Instead, go for a higher level name that carries a positive halo effect and enables you to stand out from your competitors. You should have an easier time getting a trademark (compared to generic or descriptive names), and you will also benefit from the halo effect in your marketing efforts.

Since Spring Training is now in full swing (no pun intended), I thought I would use a baseball analogy to introduce a marketing concept. In a baseball game it is common for a player to go to the “on-deck circle” when awaiting his/her turn at bat. While in the circle, the player usually puts a weight on the bat and swings the weighted bat around a few times.

Psychologists would call this a demonstration of the principle of perceptual contrast. It is hard to observe an object in a vacuum because everything is considered in comparison to everything else. The weighted bat feels heavy, which then makes the unweighted bat feel lighter, thus making players believe they have a “faster bat” or a quicker swing.

The Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky said “Everything is relative in this world, where change alone endures.” In my profession of brand development, the relative nature of product names is solid rationale for in-depth consideration of the competitive set.

An experiment by psychologists Zakary Tormala and Richard Petty applied the principle of perceptual contrast by measuring persuasion based on the amount of information people think they have about something in relation to the amount of information they learn about something else. The researchers asked people to read a persuasive message for two fictitious department stores, Brown’s and Smith’s. The message for Brown’s was always the second one read and never changed during the experiment; it described three departments of Brown’s. The message for Smith’s, which was always read first, varied from discussing one department through discussing six departments of Smith’s. Not surprisingly, the respondents felt more knowledgeable about Brown’s after learning relatively little about Smith’s, and vice versa, which demonstrates the principle of perceptual contrast.

By using perceptual contrast, you can change how others think about the brand name you develop. For example, in a previous Duets Blog post on Differentiation, I  discussed the client I had who wanted a descriptive name for a product that would exist in a category of descriptive brand names. To exaggerate, the client wanted a “Fast Pain Relief” name in a category with brands like “Ultra Fast Pain Relief,” “Super Fast Pain Relief,” “Faster Than Everyone Else Relief,” etc. I always present a wide range of options for names because I want the client to see the possibilities. However, in this case, the client selected a highly descriptive name that was similar to the other names in the category and now faces the uphill battle of driving differentiation through excellent marketing.  A well-differentiated name choice would have given him a head start.

What is a “best practice” case for use of perceptual contrast? Apple was an unusual name for a computer company, but it did stand out in a world of highly technical names such as Microsoft and VisiCalc. Perceptual contrast further enhanced the name choice by using competitive technical gibberish as the “weight on the bat” to help sell the simplicity of an Apple Computer. Check out this review of historical Apple ads and notice how the game changed even more when Apple introduced the “Think Different” campaign. The evolution of Apple advertising is a wonderful example of perceptual contrast in action!

Apologies to Dishwalla for borrowing the lyrics from their hit song “Counting Blue Cars,” but this lyric is actually a wonderful observation of human nature. It is also representative of a common mistake in naming. Nobody counts white cars. So why do so many companies give their products generic or descriptive “white car” names? I face this issue regularly with clients.

Most clients lean towards generic or descriptive names despite the obvious issues with trademarks. They want to name their product “Fast Chop” because “fast chopping” is the main benefit of their product. The obvious reason why clients prefer generic or descriptive names is simple: they believe it saves on advertising costs. Every package of their product is a descriptive billboard that communicates their main benefit!

What they fail to consider that most times their competitive set consists of products called EZ Chop, Speed Chop, QuickChop, TurboChop, etc. To the end consumer, “Fast Chop” is a white car in a sea of white cars. Nobody is going to notice “Fast Chop” even if the name is prominent on the package. Any advertising that is done will be wasted as well. Consumers will think the product is great, but when they get to the shelf they will be confused by all the similar names and similar products.

If all you see all day is white cars, but one day you see a blue car…I bet that would get your attention, wouldn’t it?

Keep your competitive framework top-of-mind when considering the name of your product or business. Don’t settle for a “white car” name if the market consists of white car names. Insist on a blue car name…one that communicates the product benefits in a unique way.