The "brain vs. brand" principle

One of the biggest challenges in developing any new brand name is overcoming a dilemma. This is because the basic rules of brand development do not harmonize with the basic characteristics of the human brain. One of the most important brand building rules is called “be different from the others.” Our brain, on the other hand, initially defends itself against everything that is “different.” A name that sounds completely distinct from that of its competitors is initially confusing — especially if you assume the name in a different context, putting a "Monster" into a haunted ship on Halloween instead of a job portal and a "Mokka" into the coffee section of a supermarket instead of an Opel car dealership.

Brand names noticeably gain significance within digital contexts: search engines, speech assistants and LLMs

The second-biggest challenge is a formal one: with around 50 million brand names worldwide, how do you find one that does not conflict with older rights? Although these 50 million are not all in the same countries and in the same brand classes, and there are duplicates and unused brands among them, many new brands fail precisely because of this.

In addition, depending on the intended use case, there are numerous other requirements due to the globalization and digital transformation of brand environments, as well as numerous regulations in various industries: from the EU Health Claim Regulation to complex pharmaceutical legislation.

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Digital transformation: the name is becoming more important

In the digital context of search engines, LLMs and language assistants, the brand name is noticeably gaining in importance compared to other representative brand elements such as a logo, CD and CI. The pronunciation of the name is also becoming more important in the age of Siri and Alexa. AI search and rating portals become even more relevant, rarely suggesting products based on their name and rather basing their suggestions on other factors and algorithms— pricing, in case of doubt.

Problematic market research

All of these challenges can be solved. However, good solutions often fall victim to incorrect market research. In particular, questions of preference to the target group (“Which name is best for...”) are strongly discouraged — for two reasons in particular:

1. Based on the discrepancy between brand theory and brain function mentioned at the beginning, experience has shown that the most familiar-sounding (= most obvious) name is always preferred, which rarely goes along with high uniqueness.
   
2. The name is the first expression of positioning and that is the sole responsibility of the brand sender.

Imagine that the Apple founders had asked their target group whether they should name their company after a fruit. Or that fashion entrepreneur Renzo Rosso had conducted research asking: “Should we name our clothes after an oil-containing fuel?". In these cases, the successful brands Apple and Diesel would probably not have existed in this form.

Of course, you can test certain characteristics of a brand name with appropriate market research instruments. For example, you can evaluate which associations a name evokes, whether and to what extent one can remember it, and which characteristics and feelings are attributed to it.

But whether a name “fits” is just as difficult to clarify in this way as the question of whether a name is “good” per se. The latter cannot be determined without a brand context and is of varying relevance to different target groups. And even negative connotations that the sound of a name can trigger do not necessarily have negative effects on the success of a brand, as the example of the Japanese fashion label UNIQLO (de. Klo = toilet) in Germany shows.

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When is a new brand name needed?

The very first question in a brand building process follows general meaningfulness. Do I even need a new name, and if so, should I expand my own brand, obtain a trademark license, buy a brand, or develop a new brand name? These are strategic and commercial decisions that must be made early on.

There are many successful brand names, but so far there has been no summary of the most important aspects that are important for their success — in addition to a good product.

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Imagine that the Apple founders had asked their target group whether they should name their company after a fruit.

That was the reason for my new book, which outlines and explains as many success factors as possible based on specific cases. In addition to the current state of research on measuring the impact of names, it also includes very pragmatic tips and tricks that have not been found in any textbook to date and which are based on the experience of 26 years of brand name development. For example, what options do I have in purely practical terms when rejecting a trademark application or an objection and which of them promise the greatest success?

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Cultural homeland vs. internationality

How do achieve cultural brand positioning in global competition? Why is "Jägermeister" successful in the USA even with an umlaut and the characteristic Gothic print? Does it matter where the Häagen Dazs brand really comes from — and in which case such "cuckoo branding" makes sense? And to what extent must a brand name be semantically “understood”? The book explores these exciting questions as well as the various techniques of naming and the various trademark protection strategies.

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Trademarks as recyclable material

What contribution can a brand make to increasing company value? This includes the mega-trend of brand valuation, considering low-tax countries for license income, licensing barriers and accounting for intellectual assets. The latter topics can only be touched briefly and discussed as examples, but are included when it comes to strategic naming marketing.

The naming strategy approach to brand name development always sees names as part of a company's brand language. In other words, the context of an existing brand language or the foundations of a new brand language resonate with every name development. Successful brands are always authentic brands, too, and this authenticity starts with the name and then ranges from wording to tonality and linguistic brand architecture.

And why is it all so important? As is well known, you can change a lot of things about a brand: the logo, the colors, the positioning, the slogan and in some cases even the brand content — but if you change the brand name, you destroy the majority of the brand investments made up to that point. Sometimes this is unavoidable, it would be annoying if it had to happen due to avoidable mistakes.

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More about developing the new names for products, services, companies...

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Bernd M. Samland:
Naming for successful brands: Strategic
Name marketing in theory & practice

Hardcover, 191 pages
1st edition, July 2020, Haufe Fachbuch Verlag
ISBN: 978-3648145326, €29.95

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