A brand name is more than just a word or more put together to represent a brand, especially a brand that has
grand future visions. The name must give a tangible feel of the brand as a whole, allowing the audience to
identify and differentiate the brand from others through communicating its core.
When naming a brand, stakeholders must have already defined the brand in their minds fully and realized their
goals, values, and aspirations. Moreover, they must consider longevity, phonetics, trademark ability, and
differentiation.
A single word or a couple of words can portray the brand’s concept and promise to consumers. The chosen name
should speak all it can about the brand and the competition in the market as shown in the following figure:
At Imagine Group, we take into consideration the brand architecture model and positioning, and then conduct an
exhaustive exploration of naming concepts based upon them. In our kickoff meeting, we note concerns, legal
issues with naming rights, and personal biases a client might have towards names. We also identify the
territories within which our naming exploration happens.
When all measures prior to the beginning of actually picking names are complete, we ask the client a series of
questions and distill what we learn into a creative naming brief. This helps us create the kind of name that
works for the project, whether descriptive or evocative.
Our team of expert linguists keeps track of the whole process, analyzing the phonetics and structure of a brand
name’s sound in order to create a list of the most promising names according to their field. The following
illustration shows what makes a good name phonetically:
Finally, three to five final name options with rationale are chosen for a preliminary screening and a linguistic
check, and then for a last round of refinement before finally choosing the name most fitting.
These are the basics of the process of brand naming. Other processes can be involved in accordance with the needs
of each brand, depending on its distinctive and unique story. The following diagram briefly explains the steps
of the whole process:
