Choosing a Name for Your Product: What Style of Brand Name Works the Best Today?

Have you had any experience brainstorming for the naming of a product? If you’ve never done this before, your creative team is in for a challenging and fun experience. But it’s also serious business considering you have to come up with a product name that’s memorable in a world already brimming full of creative ideas.

One of the best creative sessions you can have is going through the variety of naming types that use differing forms of grammar and English. However, it doesn’t have to adhere to language form and pertain more to other factors that best describe what your product is.

Differing Forms to Consider in the World of English

Today, you frequently see a play on words in most product titles. It’s worth considering using amalgams or neologisms, with the former a combination of two different words and the latter being a made-up word.

An amalgam might be an effective product name when two people are involved in the product’s creation. Combining two first or last names can sometimes be successful if it somehow helps in giving the essence of the product. If you need to create a made-up word that conjures positive thoughts, you won’t be considered too hip or behind the times using neologisms.

As an alternative to neologisms, some companies that merge have to combine their company name with the name of a product. This usually results in a re-branding process, though combining two different company names can sometimes work if the combination is poetic and descriptive.

Acronyms and initials may be considered contrived, especially when we all think of M&M’s mostly dominating that market for decades. That doesn’t necessarily mean using this method wouldn’t work for your own product. Don’t hesitate to use such a thing if in your marketing test phase, you notice people somehow creating a strong association. As with M&M’s, sometimes simply using the initials of you and your business partner’s names can create a product essence.

Using Outside Influences

Sometimes just using descriptive terms can help name a product in a way that sells it immediately. Even a nonsense word that somehow gives an imaginative descriptor on what your product does can be just what your product needs.

In recent years, you’re starting to see product names with foreign titles as a twist on American products. While you can insert your own jokes about those products still being produced overseas, using a geography-based name in creative ways can give a product a true identity. In some cases, it can just be an evocative description rather than a direct relation to where the company is located. London Fog is a good example in the world of clothing.

Alternative spellings are also all the rage in product naming over the last decade. With far too many companies doing that today, though, it might be better for you go back to the basics so you take people by surprise.

Going back and using a simple name is what product naming may need today. When you see the traditional success of a Wendy’s hamburger or the nickname of Adidas shoes, a related name in your inner circle may be all you need to equate positive feelings about your product.

References:

http://mashable.com/2012/10/04/startup-naming/