The Issue With Pragmatically Naming a Brand, a Product, or the Office Pet
By: Stephane Egger
Tags: Naming, Business Strategy, Branding, Brand Strategy, Better Marketing

What’s Wrong With Pragmatic Naming Processes?

Your name has to reflect your positioning and differentiation, of course. Observing these two elements is the pragmatic, correct way to approach the naming process. But you can’t only do that. You need something that’ll reach deeper into your customers’ minds to truly become memorable and dominant in your space.

Here are some of the things to keep in mind when naming your stuff with more panache than the regular go-to's of your industry.

Reach into pop culture knowledge

Sometimes, you can create an immense amount of momentum when launching your new thing by reaching into pop culture or calling upon the popular zeitgeist.

Careful here. I’m not talking about hopping on the latest TikTok trend that’s going to evaporate in 2 days. I’m talking about going deep into humanity’s shared stories. That way, you’ll come up with a name that’ll create a clear separation from your competitors who went the predictable route.

One cool example of this is IBM Watson. They didn’t call it IBM AI 3000 or IBM AskMeAnything Program. Instead, they went with Watson because it already gives everyone an idea of where this is going. Most people will get the reference to Sherlock Holmes’ acolyte. We then instantly get the gist: IBM’s product is a fancy, highly knowledgeable side-kick for any questions or troubles we might have.

Dr. Watson (left) entertaining yet another one of Sherlock’s crazy theories. By Sidney Paget — The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, page 3., Public Domain

The name represents the help, the knowledge, the support, the vibe they were looking for. To top it off, the last name of the company’s director from 1914 to 1956 was, you guessed it, Watson. Now, I don’t know about you, but I feel like both elements definitely make for a great branding asset.

Go 180 on people

Naming the issue your product or service is solving can actually work in your favor.

Take Slack, for example. The word itself immediately makes us contemplate why a company — whose slogan reads where work happens — would choose such a name.

Slack indeed holds various bad connotations:

Sitting in one’s corner waiting for it to happen — whatever it is

Doing as little as possible

In business: characterized by a lack of work or activity

But then again, why not state the issue you’re solving right in the face of your customers and users? As long as it points to your positioning and differentiating factors, you might benefit a whole lot from it. Because it’s unexpected and it’ll make people talk.

Be evocative

The final and best way to separate yourself from the pack and get people talking is conveying images and inspiring a bunch of connotations related to your activity. We saw it with our first two talking points. Watson is evocative. Slack is evocative. Virgin is evocative.

And, by the way, so is Medium. Sure, it primarily has an experiential function and definition: something in a middle position or a channel or system of communication, information, or entertainment. But its nature also conveys a more evocative function: it positions the brand as a means of transmission of information, a system of communication between entities.

Our favorite blogging company — yes, highly debatable, I know — definitely worked on that name for a while to make sure it immediately inspired its users. It chose a word that looks good, sounds good, and provides us with a truckload of positive connotations on what it’s all about. Think about it. We’re all mediums here. Pretty unifying, if you ask me.