Comments on: Naming the no-tears way

By: Lee Wilson

Lee Wilson — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:33:38 +0000

Great post – one thing I would add is that you should designate one person who makes the final call. They need to be someone who will respect the process you outlined – but in the end I’ve found someone has to “own” the name – either the VP Marketing or CEO. After all the research and testing it will still be a judgement call and you are likely to have someone unhappy with the result.

Probably better if it is the VP – if it flops the stink won’t adhere to the CEO.

By: Frank Catalano

Frank Catalano — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:16:03 +0000

Bob: First, you bring up a great point — when all is complete, the name has to work for the target audience. But knowing who the target audience is shouldn’t be a completely limiting aspect in brainstorming, since avoiding names that wouldn’t make sense to a target audience would likely be factored into some of the naming criteria or would be addressed in the later culling phase.

On one level, the naming criteria build a creative sandbox in which to play with a well-defined boundary. However, the criteria themselves can lead to making connections across criterion; e.g., what word or words means both A and B? So in some respects, just having criteria can provide creative fodder.

It also helps if you have brainstorming participants who read and experience broadly outside of their industry. I’ve found this really helps my own brainstorming. So organizations should solicit participants of varying backgrounds and levels (if the organization is a large one) or add outside participants. And I still adhere to having not one, but several dictionaries and thesauri at my disposal (including those with archaic words and not just the ones in Microsoft Office or found via Google). These may not have the exact words, but may spur other ideas.

And you just have to have people willing to think creatively. That’s perhaps the hardest. Sometimes people don’t give themselves permission to be speculative, worried about how it might look. But having criteria can give them a safe sandbox, if they’re willing.

All in all, the creative process is the hardest part of this to analyze. And I’m afraid if I did it too well, it would become the analog Swiss watch I took apart that I’d never be able to reassemble for my own use.

By: Bob Jacobson

Bob Jacobson — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:03:43 +0000

Dear Frank,

I agree with your basic premise, that criteria function as necessary constraints without which brainstorming becomes a meaningless meander. These are the nuts and bolts of collective decision-making.

However, it would be useful for you now to explain how people come up with names in the first place — how they must reach inside and discover connections and allusions that make it possible to pull out metaphors, similes, and analogies that lead to compelling names. For example, it’s one thing to name a kid Bob, another to name him Thor or Laurence or Victorious. How does one reach deeper? With greater resonance among the target audience?

The same goes for products, services, and events.

To me, this is the naming challenge that too often goes unspoken and thus unmet.