For example, a marketing professor from Columbia’s Business School (Bernd Schmitt, Ph.D.) commented that “when a product is launched its name is only part of a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign that also involves advertising, research, and social media” (Colapinto, 2011, 41). And while this is certainly true, he goes on to argue that “the name is just a starting point for a brand. The most important branding decision is more about brand strategy, distribution channels – where are the customers you want to reach” (Colapinto). However, Dr. Schmitt is not emphasizing a key part of the brand naming process. If brand name creation is done correctly, the company and the team explicitly address brand strategy and target customers during the creation of the brand name. This makes it is possible to save a large amount of money down the road because the company didn’t complete each stage of the marketing process in a silo. The more companies collaborate and horizontally structure their teams, ideas, and organization during the brand naming process, the more integrated the overall strategy and the less work that has to be done later. These issues would already be addressed during the brand strategizing that took place when the name was created. (Read more about the silo problem in management)

And, although Mr. Colapinto does defend this perspective with examples like F. Scott Fitzgerald who originally wanted to call his iconic “The Great Gatsby” the “Trimalchio in West Egg,” it’s important to realize that the strengths of a well thought out name go far beyond simple consonance and alliteration (although these can be important components). A branding strategy really should be derived and agreed upon during brand name construction. A name essentially embodies aspects of the strategy – while many people might not think much more beyond the brand name, names tend to appeal or repel them on a subconscious level.

Finally, we would argue that brand naming is a dangerous dance between creativity and efficiency. We are big believers in “out there” ideas and some of the great brainstorms that can stem from them. But trademark screening and brand name architecture design tend to be the more challenging and no less important parts of the process, especially when talking about global brands. Our team is more well-rounded because of the requirement to factor in the practical realities of IP protection and the need for global, cultural, and linguistic acceptability. While team members are creative, artsy, and right-brained, they also are grounded in the necessity of developing brand names that are legally available and resonate with different targets around the world. If managed properly, recognizing these constraints can actually sharpen rather than dampen our creative focus, reinvigorating us all and resulting in some truly amazing new name ideas that work in concert with a cohesive brand strategy and pass all legal and linguistic hurdles.

Many of you may find yourselves constantly fighting to grab top of mind awareness and preference for your key brand names.  One tactic that will help insure victory is to thoroughly analyze your competitors’ names, nomenclature system and naming architecture.  Competitive brand name research can address issues like:

• Which names are driving the most traffic to each of your competitor’s web sites?
• How are competitors employing different naming strategies like master brands, endorser brands and blue granules?
• Where has “category creep” created inconsistencies between trademark rights and actual usage?
• How well are your brand names performing compared to your competitors on key metrics like memorability, positive purchase intent, differentiation and engagement?
• Where are the weaknesses in each competitor’s naming architecture and how can you leverage your brand portfolio to take advantage of the resulting opportunities?

For answers to these and many other related question, please contact Mike Carr at 512-267-1814.

Apple Tablet PC

As the January 27th announcement of Apple’s new tablet PC fast approaches, many have speculated on its name.  While the inside favorite seems to be the iSlate, others are offering up alternatives like the iTablet, the iPad, etc.  Regardless of what is announced on the 27th, here are some of our thoughts regarding the iSlate name, both the good and the bad:

THE GOOD:

• It does continue to leverage Apple’s branding around the “i-” names (iPhone, iPod, iMac…)
• It relates well to the physical appearance of the PC while also distinguishing it from the many other tablet PCs on the market
• Slate is a “cooler” word than Tablet or Pad … especially if the actual product is thin and slate-like in appearance
• It is controversial which, in this case, is a very good thing.  Just the amount of discussion and blogging on the name has raised the awareness and interest in the product launch tremendously
• It is easy to say, spell and remember

THE BAD

• It may not be registrable as a trademark.  While Apple was able to register iPhone in spite of Cisco’s and Teltronics’ pre-existing trademark rights in the name, the same may not be true of iSlate.  There is already a company, Slate Computing, using ISLATE for computers and a whole lot more, with pending trademark registrations in the U.S. and Canada.  There is also an application for the iPhone called iSlate, and Fujitsu reportedly has some IP protection around SLATE.
• It may not be as distinctive or differentiating as needed for building a strong brand.  ESLATE is already used for for a computer voting system.  INFOSLATE in a registered trademark for a mobile computer. NETSLATE is a pending trademark for a tablet PC and the list goes on and on.
• It has some off-color and inappropriate slang meanings.
• The domain name may be expensive. A quick check on Network Solutions shows that just about every top level domain starting with iSlate is already registered.  Good luck buying the dot-com, dot-net, dot-org, etc. rights in the name for a less than six figures.

However, Apple has consistently proven itself to be very savvy when it comes to brand building. We certainly wouldn’t bet against their ability to build strong brand identity around their new tablet PC, regardless of what it is called.

In working with trademark attorneys for over 20 years, we believe that most are very conservative when it comes to new product naming and interpreting trademark law.  While this may keep you out of trademark infringement lawsuits, it also sometimes eliminates potentially viable, strong names because they have some degree of TM registration risk.  We have seen cases where companies avoid using a “risky” name nixed by TM counsel only to have  a competitor then come along later, register that name or a similar name, and gain competitive advantage and market share as a result.

We do believe TM counselors should ALWAYS BE INCLUDED in the name selection process.  But, they are not infallible, they are conservative by training, and questioning the thinking behind their recommendation is prudent and sometimes reveals a gem of a name with only minor wordsmithing.  That is, when we advocate for a name with a client’s TM attorney, we try to understand what, specifically, TM counsel is concerned about.  We might ask questions like:

1. Is it the total name that creates the problem or just a particular syllable?  Can we salvage the essence of the name by tweaking the spelling?
2. Does adding a graphic element to the name itself and filing for the word mark and design element together help?
3. Will narrowing the Goods & Services description reduce the potential risk?
4. If we include an existing trademark as part of the registration might this facilitate the process?
5. What other ways can we reduce the likelihood of confusion?

There are often several viable strategies to consider before dismissing a name that has “some but perhaps acceptable risk” when evaluating a trademark.

Three of the many good trademark attorneys we have worked with over the years are:

1. Herb Hammond, Thompson & Knight
2. Scott Johnston, Merchant & Gould
3. Darin Klemchuck, Klemchuck Kubasta LLP

Note that we are not trademark attorneys, don’t provide legal advice, and strongly encourage you not to skimp when it comes to trademark counsel.  While good attorneys are often expensive, we have also found they tend to be most helpful in accurately assessing TM registration risk and in providing the guidance you may need to salvage that great name idea.