More Praise for Hello, My Name Is Awesome
“This awesome piece of writing is worth bottling, shaking, and stirring into your brand-name strategy either online or offline. I love the way Alexandra weaves her voice and humor into a very clear message to distill what you are about into a business name. It can be applied to your brand name and domain name. Her process is coherent and creative. A brilliant book I couldn’t put down.”
—Jeff Bullas, blogger, strategist, and speaker, Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencer 2013, and Huffington Post Top 100 Business Twitter Account
“I was skeptical about a how-to book on naming products and brands. Alexandra Watkins convinced me otherwise. Her book is a fun read with lots of practical advice.”
—Patricia Roller, angel investor and former Co-CEO, Frog Design
“Your company or product probably needs all the help it can get. Watkins helped me name my firm, and I’m constantly told what a great name it is. Don’t pick a name until you’ve read Watkins’s book—you’ll want to have a name that you love forever!”
—Charlene Li, founder of Altimeter Group, author of Open Leadership, and coauthor of Groundswell
“The type of hands-on practical wisdom rarely found (but desperately needed) in the academic community.”
—Michael Webber, Dean of the School of Management, University of San Francisco
“This is the perfect book for kick-starting entrepreneurs, brand managers, and practicing creatives.”
—Pat Hanlon, founder and CEO, Thinktopia, and author of Primal Branding
“This book is packed full of practical, real-world advice you would never get from a regular textbook.”
—Dale J. Stephens, founder of UnCollege and author of Hacking Your Education
“In the current crazy business climate, where standing out and being remembered are critical to success, your name had better be awesome. This is the best book on the subject.”
—Nell Merlino, founder and President, Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, and creator of Take Our Daughters to Work Day
“We’ve got a terrible name. No one can spell it. No one can pronounce it. Don’t make the same mistake we made. Read this book and let Alexandra Watkins guide you away from the ‘we thought we were being clever with our name, but now we just look silly’ syndrome.”
—Matt Ruby, founder and CEO, Vooza
Hello, My Name Is
AWESOME
HELLO MY NAME IS AWESOME
How to Create Brand Names That Stick
ALEXANDRA WATKINS
Hello, My Name Is Awesome
Copyright © 2014 by Alexandra Watkins
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
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Tel: (415) 288-0260, Fax: (415) 362-2512
www.bkconnection.com
Ordering information for print editions
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First Edition
Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-62656-186-1
PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-62656-187-8
IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-62656-188-5
2014-1
Book producer and text designer: BookMatters, Berkeley, CA
Copyeditor: Tanya Grove
Proofreader: Nancy Evans
Indexer: Leonard Rosenbaum
Cover designer: Tracy Moon/StudioMoon Visual Identity
To my awesome mother, Joan Casale.
Thank you for being there
for every chapter of my life,
and every page of this book.
The meaning of life is to find your gift.
The purpose of life is to give it away.
—Pablo Picasso
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
1 SMILE—The 5 Qualities of a Super-Sticky Name
2 SCRATCH—The 7 Deadly Sins
3 Domains—Strategies, Secrets, and Silliness
4 Creative Brief—Your Brand Name Road Map
5 Brainstorming—How to Be an Idea Machine
6 Name Review—12 Rules for Building Consensus
7 Name Changes—Pros and Cons
Resources
The How Awesome Is My Name Self-Assessment Tool
Trademarking
Logos & Identity Design
Service Providers
Acknowledgments
Index
About Eat My Words
About the Author
Ask Alexandra
PREFACE
Whether people see it on your storefront, read it on your badge at a trade show, or see it on their caller ID, your brand name makes a critical first impression. Even more than your shoes.
I wrote this book to show how anyone, even the most non-creative person, can come up with awesome brand names and have fun doing it.
Creating names is not a science. Yet naming firms spout ridiculous jargon about “verbal identity engineering,” “rigorous methodologies,” “computational linguistics,” and “scientific scrutiny applied to the unstructured and undisciplined process of brand name creation.” Others try to invent names using math. They take a completely fine word, crunch it with another word, and get a name that doesn’t compute. Or, they subtract a few letters from a perfectly good word and end up with a random name that looks like it was made from the miscellaneous Scrabble tiles left at the end of a game.
Does any of that sound even remotely creative?
Consumers don’t fall in love with brand names created by scientific processes, linguistic voodoo, or mangling the alphabet. Those kinds of names don’t resonate with us because they don’t make emotional connections.
The most powerful brand names connect with people and move them to buy because they are based on familiar words and concepts that they understand and appreciate: Kryptonite locks, Mayday tech support, Obsession perfume, Leap Frog toys, Ninja blender—these are the names that speak volumes.
As an advertising copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather, I learned the art of making emotional connections with words. Years later, I began creating names and discovered that, just as a clever print ad headline will turn heads, generate buzz, and spark sales, brand names can have those same magical powers.
I am going to give you my bag of tricks.
INTRODUCTION
“Hello, my name is Alexandra.” Sou
nds simple enough. But people often butcher my name: “Alexandria,” Alexandrea,” “Alexia.” And much to my annoyance, the 100 percent male version, “Alexander.”
What about your first and last names? Are they tricky to spell? Difficult to pronounce? Hard for people to remember? This trifecta of trouble is rampant among brand names: Sur La Table, Iams, Flickr, Saucony, Eukanuba, Xobni. Those are just a handful of head scratchers that consumers struggle with. But unlike the name you were born with, or married into, these easily bungled names were intentionally created by companies. At the time, these businesses may have thought they were being clever. But even after being in business for years, these brands still have to explain, spell, pronounce, and apologize for their names.
I am going to prevent you from making the same mistakes.
As the founder of a nationally known naming firm, Eat My Words (www.eatmywords.com), I have spent nearly a decade creating names for everything from consumer electronics to cupcake stores. Clients including Disney, Microsoft, and Wrigley hire my firm because they have discovered what I have known for years—the kind of brand names that resonate the most with consumers are names that people get and like. We want to feel clever not clueless. (Have you figured out what Xobni is yet?)
I’ve packed this book with firsthand knowledge that will enlighten and entertain you. You won’t find any junk science, branding jargon, or linguistic mumbo jumbo. And I haven’t included the etymology of famous brand names. Sure, those stories are interesting. But this is a how-to guide, not a history book.
Instead, you will get practical, up-to-date advice, such as making sure that Siri and voice recognition software spell your name correctly. You’ll read never-before-heard stories of naming triumphs and train wrecks. And you’ll see dozens and dozens of eye-opening name examples—the good, the bad, and the so-bad-I-gave them-an-award. I am not afraid to name names.
I break down the brainstorming process by walking you through how to come up with dozens of fantastic name ideas using the very same tools, techniques, and resources that I use every day.
My creative and fun techniques for coming up with names can be learned by anyone, even the most left-brained engineer. How is that possible? I don’t use linguistics to create unfamiliar words. Instead, my approach is purely conceptual. It’s based on what I’ve learned after spending more than twenty years as an advertising copywriter: clever ad headlines get noticed, get buzz, and get sales because they make strong emotional connections with consumers. Brand names can have that same effect.
Before we jump into brainstorming name ideas, you’ll learn how to objectively evaluate names using the SMILE & SCRATCH test, a checklist based on my philosophy that a name should make you smile instead of scratch your head.
SMILE: The 5 Qualities of a Super-Sticky Name
Suggestive — evokes something about your brand
Meaningful — resonates with your audience
Imagery — is visually evocative to aid in memory
Legs — lends itself to a theme for extended mileage
Emotional —moves people
SCRATCH: The 7 Deadly Sins
Spelling challenged —looks like a typo
Copycat —is similar to competitors’ names
Restrictive —limits future growth
Annoying —is forced or frustrates customers
Tame —is flat, descriptive, uninspired
Curse of Knowledge —makes sense only to insiders
Hard to pronounce —is not obvious or is unapproachable
This filter is kind of a no-brainer, right? Yet you’d be surprised how many brand names fail this test. (How does Xobni do?) Everything in this book is that simple.
And by the time you finish the last chapter, you will have everything you need to create awesome names on your own.
I’ll admit that some of my colleagues think I’m crazy for sharing my secret sauce. They worry that I may cannibalize my business by showing “amateurs” how to do what I get paid the big bucks for. While I don’t think the book will put me out of the name game, I do hope it will put me out of my misery by preventing more bad names from happening to good people.
Alexandra Watkins
P.S. If you haven’t figured it out yet, Xobni is in box spelled backward. Just don’t ask me how to pronounce it.
CHAPTER 1
The 5 Qualities of a Super-Sticky Name
How do you react when you see or hear a name you like? You smile. We enjoy names that surprise us, entertain us, and make us feel smart because we get them.
Names that make us smile are infectious. They are the ones we talk about, tweet, and repeat because we like other people to smile, too.
I love seeing the grin on someone’s face when I say that I named a Spanish language school in Colombia Gringo Lingo. I get the same reaction when I mention the robotic vacuum I named Neato. And most people laugh out loud when they hear about the Church of Cupcakes.
Imagine if before people were even customers of yours, they loved your product or company simply because they loved the name. Maybe they’d even pay to buy a T-shirt with the name on it. That’s the power of a name that makes people smile.
Remember the philosophy that the SMILE & SCRATCH name evaluation test is based on: A name should make you smile instead of scratch your head. SMILE is an acronym for the five qualities of a great name, which I cover here. (SCRATCH is the flipside, which we look at in the next chapter.)
SMILE:
The 5 Qualities of a Super-Sticky Name
Suggestive
Meaningful
Imagery
Legs
Emotional
Ideally your name should have all of the above attributes.
Suggestive —
Evokes Something about Your Brand
A name can’t be expected to say everything, but it should suggest something about your brand. Not in a descriptive way, like Fast Signs, but in a creative or metaphorical way, such as Amazon.
The name Amazon suggests enormous. Founder Jeff Bezos chose the name because, to him, Amazon conjured up images of one of the world’s largest rivers, and he envisioned his company being unfathomably large.
While Amazon.com famously started as an online bookseller in 1994, the company expanded rapidly into other areas. By 1999 the company was selling music, consumer electronics, video games, software, home-improvement items, toys and games, and much more. Of course, now it offers everything from lingerie to lawnmowers. And Amazon drones may one day be delivering our packages. No matter what they do or sell in the future, the name Amazon will always fit. Can you imagine if it had been named BookBarn.com?
Suggestive Coined Names
I have great respect for anyone who can invent a clever name that suggests something about the brand. Some of my favorite coined names are Dreamery, Groupon, Pictionary, Cinnabon, Chillow, Pinterest, Chuggernaut, and San Franpsycho. These names, also known as portmanteaus, work well because they cleverly marry two words together, are intuitive to spell, and easy to pronounce. Easier said than done. (More on that in the next chapter.) Other coined names that work well are those that suggest a positive brand experience. Jamba Juice, Twizzlers, and Zappos all live up to their fun, high-energy names.
A Suggestive Name Can Be Inspired by Your Brand’s Personality
When you write your creative brief (Chapter 4), you’ll jot down a few adjectives that describe the personality of your brand. You can use those words to spark name ideas. For instance, if you want to convey that your brand is adventurous and rugged, think of metaphors and phrases that fit those words. SUV names do this incredibly well. Explorer, Expedition, Range Rover, Yukon, and Denali all suggest rugged adventure.
Ad agencies are notorious for suggesting creative prowess through their wonderfully strange names. Some of the most imaginative are Victors & Spoils, Captains of Industry, The Glue Society, and Wexley School for Girls. These are certainly more interesting than traditional agency names like Foote, Cone &
Belding.
How to suggest Trust or Credibility
While your business should certainly be trustworthy and credible, trying to cram any form of those words into your name can sound disingenuous. Luckily, there are many other ways you can convey that you have a quality company or product. Adding a strong secondary word in your name is an excellent solution. For instance, the company that makes the robotic vacuum Neato is named Neato Robotics. Other modifiers you can try are Global, Industries, or Group, which can instantly add heft to you name. Other ways to convey trust and credibility include customer testimonials on your website, a guarantee, professionally designed promotional materials, and an active social media presence. Actions speak louder than words.
MORE EXAMPLES OF SUGGESTIVE NAMES
Leaf (electric car)
Kickstarter (crowdfunding)
Brawny (paper towels)
Ninja (blender)
FitBit (activity trackers)
Meaningful —
Resonates with Your Audience
It’s important to make sure your name is meaningful to potential customers, not just to you. Most of the time when people encounter your name, you won’t be there to explain it to them. And they won’t have the time or interest to read about it on your website or the back of the box.
No one needs to explain the meaning of the name Norcal Waste Systems. It’s unfortunately descriptive and has awful visual imagery. Not exactly something you would want to have emblazoned on a T-shirt or water bottle.
When the company was formed in 1983, the name Norcal Waste Systems was fine for the commercial businesses they served. But twenty-five years later, with hundreds of thousands of residential garbage-collection customers, the name was far from appealing. Waste had an especially negative meaning to the environmentally conscious communities it served in northern California, Oregon, and Washington. What these customers cared about was recycling, composting, and reclaiming useful materials before they were buried in a landfill. Ironically, Norcal Waste Systems was an industry leader in all of these areas. But no one would ever guess that based on the name.
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