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 Let’s take a quick trip back to our first marketing class (realizing that for some of us, it’s a longer journey than for others). Do you remember the most important lesson learned?
For the more astute readers, you probably guessed the answer by looking at the article’s title. No doubt, the #1 most important marketing principle learned, is ‘The Consumer is King!’ As marketers we’ve been trained to
carefully consider how each decision we make impacts our consumer and their relationship with our brand. Typically, it also means we do lots of
testing to determine preferences before we execute any major programs. And since we’re all trained to minimize risk, there likely aren’t many among us who’d make a major marketing decision such as a new brand name, without testing. However, years of experience helping clients test and select new brand names has given us reason to provide a ‘blinking yellow light’ caution when testing names.
 Typically, consumers are asked to ‘pick the best name’ from a list of choices. Without fail, I’ve observed 9 out of 10 times, they’ll pick the most
descriptive ones. Descriptive names are comfortable and safe, and they tell the consumer exactly what the product is. The problem is descriptive names are also generic to the category, blend into the shelf, and fail to break through; they contribute to product failures.
However, descriptive names are great for a ‘product descriptor!’ That’s what a product descriptor is supposed to do – tell what the product is. But it’s not what a brand name should do. A brand name should be distinctive. It should creatively communicate a brand’s unique benefit and personality in a memorable way. Distinctive brand names create a ‘buzz’ because they are not predictable and boring. They also are a lot easier to trademark.
So how do we reconcile our ‘Consumer as King’ lesson with selecting names? It’s all in the methodology. Instead of asking consumers to ‘pick their favorite name’ from a list, ask them to select the names that best communicate specific brand benefits or attributes we’ve determined are meaningful. And in case you’re a little nervous about using distinctive names, inevitably, consumers embrace these names once they’re in market - instant acceptance of a name they would’ve trashed in research testing mere months before!
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Previous NameLogic News Issues:
Spring 2006
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Our focus is developing new brand names and identities for products, services and companies. We create 'Inspired Names that Make Sense.'
Nancy Cesari Myers
972-735-8380
myers@namelogicinc.com
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