One of the more interesting, and creative, areas of work for me is in naming — products, services, events or companies. The challenge is to conjure something never-before-heard-of yet comfortably familiar and resonant. Add to that the fact that any and all of these “things” must survive and thrive on the Internet and the project takes on more complication.
Being around long enough to have survived the time when clients insisted on names that began with the ubiquitous lowercase “e” and later the lowercase “i,” I remember (and not fondly) the painful twist the web put us all through. Thank goodness folks came to their senses — persuaded by the likes of me, another interesting aspect of this work — and adopted a more long-term view of the import and influence the process and outcome of naming has upon both brand and business vitality and longevity.
I’ll come around to visit this topic again, as I’m certainly keen on this type of work and the process required. That said, I had a good chuckle when I came upon this decade-in-review article from MarketingProfs and thought I’d share. Knowing your history — the good, bad and ugly — and taking the lessons learned is invaluable as I continue to find myself in this game of “name that company.”
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27 jan 2010 2pm
As if to prove my point, Apple announces what will be one of the most talked about — and laughed about — names yet. Kudos to MadTV for having conjured this years ago.