Red or Dead v/s Red or Yellow

Came across this lovely site via Brandnama which made me think about why 'Red or Dead' works better as a name than say something like 'Red or Yellow'. Apart from the stronger impact that a word like 'Dead' makes on the human brain - seeing that we're so obsessed with mortality and other such matters - it's also down to rhyming. Nursery rhymes are like memory sticks that have been planted in our head early. They've taken root in our subconscious. As a result, anything that rhymes is likely to work well as a brand name. If you had to choose between a name that's a rhyme and one that isn't, the roots of our learning patterns say you're better off with the name that does. In other words, memorising a poem is a lot easier than memorising this paragraph.

Naming claus: Repetition, rhyming and shyming are good tactics when you're trying to come up with memorable names.

Name gallery #21: 7/10

Speaking of funny names that don't make nonsense.

Funny names v/s Unfunny ones

I think the verdict is out on whether advertising can afford to be funny. It must. Well, no it doesn't have to be funny but we can all be clear about the merits of doing advertising that makes people smile. Funny is more memorable. Question: How many funny brand names can you think of? How many brand names can you think of that make you smile? I don't know about you but 'Ovaltine' sounded pretty funny to me. Does that make it more meorable? I think it does. Do we need more funny brand names? I think we do. If funny is a great way to break the clutter in advertising, I'm sure it'll work well enough for brand naming too. Between a brand name that, just with the name, makes me smile and a brand name that doesn't do anything, I'd go with the funny name. That's it, here's what I'm going to do for all my clients: Every time I have to give them a bunch of new names, I'm going to make sure there are a few funny ones in there. And how am I going to sell these funny names? Well, the same way I sell advertising that makes people smile - with a smile.

Interestingly enough, there aren't too many funny brand names in the world. All the more reason, we need them. They're hard, rare and risky. And that's why you must try them. If you can make people smile with just your brand name, you've got a good thing going. That said, humour is one of the most difficult things to do. Go practice.

Rubbish v/s Cool

God knows where Mr. Brandnama finds these nuggets. Speaking of why they may have chosen to go with that kind of a brand name, I think they're trying to exploit that segment of the market which subscribes to what I call the 'no logo' logo school of thinking. For the uninitiated, No logo is an interesting piece of work by Naomi Klein. People who might have been influenced by this piece of work and other schools of thought against big branding find ways to protest the hegeomony of marketing by going in for anti-branded branded stuff. Mixed up, I know. Well, that's how some people in this world are. It's an interesting niche worth thinking about. Some call it the niche of anti-cool. Next time you want to launch a brand targetting the black sheep of society, you might want to try and do what Rubbish is, perhaps, trying. Just be sure you know the midnset of the people you're angling for. Other brands that fall into this school of anti-selling would be 'Death' cigarettes, 'FCUK' and 'SIHT'.

Naming claus: The black sheep who don't want to follow the herds of branded sheep will buy antibrand-named brands.

Movie names v/s Brand names

Before anyone pounces on me and says movie names are also brand names, I'll say this: I agree. And now that we've got that out of the way, let's do a quick pow-wow on the difference. So why do movie names tend to be more descriptive than brand names? Why don't brand names for products make an obvious reference to the product story? Why do brand names tend to be more interesting sounding than most movie names? Brandnama has this interesting take on the difference between movie names and brand names. Well, let me re-phrase that. Brandnama tries to give us one side of the reason movie names tend to be less evocative than brand names. Here's my side of the same multi-sided story. I think movies have more than a brand or two already built into them, in the form of directors/stars, studios, producers and the like. When you have the power of more than a few brands backing you, you can afford to have a less interesting name to launch you. Brands from large, well known companies are good examples of this 'names that do less' tendency. It's the little guys trying to make a splash for the first time that tend to go for more interesting brand names.

Naming claus: If you're a brand from a known stable of brands, your name can afford to be less interesting. Of course, that's not the bottomline.

Baby talk v/s Big talk

Brandnama has a great post on the value of listening to babies talk. Here's why I think babies can give you some great brand names. Babies mispronouce words. These mispronounced words make us think of the original words. Tick. These mispronounced words make us smile. Tick two. These mispronounced words make us do a double take. Tick three. A memorable brand name is all about making an instant impression. Right off the top of my head, I've thought of three ways in which mispronounced words make multiple instant impressions on a grown-up mind. Very thought-provoking stuff.

Flora v/s Nataraj

When you're thinking of names for your product, you sometimes wonder whether your name should, in some way, refer to the product category. Here's my take on the matter: The product category in the name matters if it's a new one. A familiar product in a category with many brands is better not alluded to when you're trying to launch a new brand. Example, pencils. Everyone knows pencils. So if you've got to launch a brand of pencils, go crazy and try and come up with an interesting brand name without worrying about whether the brand name should allude to pencils.

Speaking of pencils, let's talk about two of the oldest brands of pencils in India: Flora and Nataraj. In terms of the basics of brand naming, they both do quite well. Flora has a nice and simple feel to it, it is easy to pronounce and it rolls off the tongue easily on a set of alternating consonant vowel sounds. Ditto for Nataraj. So what makes Flora a better brand name? It scores on the visual connect matrix. Flora is good example of a brand name that is in sync with the look and feel of the product.

A quick deconstruction of the 'Flora' visual connect matrix goes like this: Flora means something to do with flowers, the pencils have flowers on them. The visual fits with the brand name and thus registers better on the mind-map. Nataraj loses out on this parameter. But only just.

Naming claus: Try to map the name of your newly launched product with the first thing people will visually notice about your product. It will make the name easier to remember.

As an interesting strategy aside, the first name that comes to mind when you say pencils, in India, is Nataraj. This might have something to do with Nataraj having chosen to go the 'single brand for different kinds of pencils route', as opposed to Camlin that has different brand names for different pencils. And of all these brands of Camlin's pencils, Flora is the best recognised brand. Hmm...fascinating stuff, this business of branding.

Roots v/s New

Pay attention to the roots of the words you're jigging and rejigging to come up with interesting brand names. How the meanings of various words have evolved, been passed down and registered in the conscious to the subconscious corners of the human mind have a lot to do with how people will take to your chosen brand name. Examples: Yahoo means the joy of something and finding something. Googol is a big, big number that means something very mathematical and therefore smart and thus a good person to go to for advise. Mango is delicious looking. Orange is fresh. The roots of a good brand name lie in the connections the words connected to the brand name have made with human beings through the ages. To understand what makes some brand names more succesful than others, understand memes.

Naming note: If your brand-word/name is rooted in a word with a stronger counter-meaning, it will have a very hard time working its way into a space that's already lived in.

Bananaslug v/s Google

If you want to take on a market Überleader like Google, you need a very evocative name - Bananaslug most certainly is. The word 'banana' reminds you off banana peels which remind you of slipping on something unexpectedly and quickly imprints on your mind the Bananaslug difference rather subliminally. Bananaslug also has strong start and end consonant sounds sandwiching the easy-to-recall alliterations of 'na-na'. Futhermore, the name has an effective memory cue in the form of a rhythimic 'consonant-vowel' phoneme flow. I don't think the name is very good but it is rather different - like the product. Strategically speaking, Bananaslug is a well-differentiated move against Google.

Takeaway tip for the people at Bananaslug: Since Bananaslug is about serendipitous connections, differentiate it as 'the search engine for creative people'.

Name gallery #20: 7/10

I like the hybrid name, the inventive use of the number in the logo and the way the number and the word for the number are perfectly integrated. Smart stuff.

Odd v/s Even

This post about a brand named '7 for mankind' got me musing on something odd about brand names with, or that are, numbers. A quick research will tell you that most 'number brands' prefer an odd number to an even one. (Cases in point are brand names like 3, 9, 7/11, 7-up, 57, 3663 and of course 7 for mankind, to name a few.) Why are odd numbers more memorable? Simple: Even is not odd enough to stand out. Takeaway tip: If you must put a number in your brand name, go with something odd.

I v/s U

An interesting thought popped into my mind. Much like Apple has captured the 'I' in our minds, Youtube seems to have usurped the 'U'. How did this occur to me? Well, I was playing the Name Game and the first brand that came to mind when I came to the letter 'U' was Youtube. (No, I didn't think iPod for 'I', but that's because Apple is a stronger brand.) Is it just me or is it also the same with you? Map this against the marketing strategies of Apple and Youtube and you'll realise how well the 'letter-capture' works for them. Apple is a company that's about individuality and Youtube is a brand about user-generated content. Hmm.

Country v/s Country

Going by the principles of naming expounded by yours truly, yours truly is of the opinion that India and China, to name but two, are good, memorable names to have for a country. So which is the least memorable name for a country? I don't remember. (Imagine if people felt that way about your newly, lovingly launched brand.)

Incidentally, if you did spend some time analysing country names, you'll realise how nicely they adhere to the principles of good naming. Examples: Japan, Russia, Pakistan, Bangladesh...notice the stop-start pattern?

Thingnamer v/s Brandnama v/s Brandaclaus

The Name Game is catching on. Here's my list of 26 names after each letter of the English Alphabet. Where's yours?
Adidas
Boyzone
Caterpillar
Du
Ebay
Folgers
Google
Haier
India
Joost
Kinkos
Lily
Mojo
Nike
Orange
Puma
Qualcomm
Rabobank
Sandoz
Tiger
U-tube
Viacom
Waterman
Xbox
Yellowstone
Zippo

Well, boys and girls what can we learn from this? Off the top of my head, this: That strong consonant sounds are the key to memorable brand names. That soft vowel sounds don't make as much of an impact on the mind. That a soft touch will only work as a counterpoint to a hard sound. And that's why you should always choose brand names that alternate between soft sounds and hard sounds. Go back to my top-of-my-mind list to see what I mean. Think of your own list and you'll end up doing what I mean.

Hungary v/s Bulgaria

And Bucharest v/s Budapest. Any name is a brand name minus the brand and that's why I'd like to spend a few minutes trying to understand why people confuse Budapest with Bucharest and Hungary with Bulgaria. I have a friend from Bulgaria whose country of origin I sometimes confuse with Hungary. Ever wondered why? I did. And no, it has nothing do with bad Geography. I rock in Geography. Ask me the capital cities of most countries in the world and I'll reel them off within and without the blink of an eye. So what makes me confuse Bulgaria with Hungary? The same things that you should keep in mind when picking a brand name for your product. Take a closer look at the cities and countries I have mentioned in this post. Look at where the 'G' in Hungary and Bulgaria is. Look at where the 'R' is. Look at where the word Bucharest stops for the first time. Look at where Bucharest and Budapest come to rest. See the connections? No? Look again. Look long enough and you'll learn a few valuable lessons in brand naming. Clue: Good brand names are about stop-starts and strong consonant sounds. End of this lesson.

FCUK v/s STIH v/s SIHT

Why is the brand name FCUK more evocative than the not-yet-brand-name STIH? both FCUK and STIH are rejigged from the original 'dirty words'. What makes FCUK more memorable is the fact that the first letter and the last letter of the original word is in the same place in the rejigged word. Lesson in dirty-word re-branding techniques? If you're looking to make up a brand name from the seven dirty words in the English lexicon and want your name to riff off the already branded-in-your-mind dirty word, make sure the first and last letters of your new brand name are in the same place as that of the dirty word. Example: SIHT will make a better brand name that STIH. Thanks for this dirty thought, Mr. Brandnama.

China v/s India

Brandnama has an analysis-inducing post on the top 20 brand names in China. The top 5 names in that list have the word 'China' in them. What does that say about the Chinese consumer and how different is he/she from the Indian consumer? What does it say about Chinese companies? I think what it says is that when it comes to marketing, Indian companies have the edge. So why is China so far ahead of India in the economic race? I think it has something to do with discipline and unity. Other things that the list of Chinese brand names says about India and China include things like Indians are more individualistic and prefer names that don't riff off 'India'. No, make that Indians were more individualistic. Today, if I had to choose between a brand name that alluded to India and one that didn't, I'd stick my neck out and bet on a name that drew on 'India'. 'Made in India' is a label that's on the rise, I think.

Name gallery #19: 7/10

Now this is what you call a great name. Lateral and memorable. Apt for the product it's hawking. Almost perfect. Perfect. (Because nothing can ever be perfect.) Elbows.

Bata v/s Nike

It's a no-contest, right? Or is it? When it comes down to just the name, I think Bata is just as good if not a better name than Nike. For one, Bata is easier to pronounce. For two, Bata is more memorable because of the repetitive sound it carries. For three, the 't' in the Bata is a stronger consonant sound than the 'k' in the Nike. So, given a choice, which brand would you buy? Exactly. Just goes to show why it makes sense to have a tagline to go with your brand name. The next time you come to me for a brand name, be prepared to buy into a tagline or two. Incidentally, I buy Bata.

.xxx v/s .com

An interesting defensive naming strategy is outlined in an article I read about the introduction of .xxx names for websites that want to identify themselves as having content of the sexually explicit kind. According to the article, the first people who will go ahead and register .xxx domain names are corporations that have nothing to do with sex and want to make sure nobody registers their names as .xxx domain names. Thought provoking.