Brand Names & Brand Language
Language is a promise. Is articulation. Is the address of an audience.
It shapes the brand image and is an essential part of strategic brand management. It starts with fitting brand names and slogans, leads to coherent naming systems and continues in all materials, presentations, conversations, sales documents, advertising as well as storytelling and branded content – online and offline. With precise rules, relevant messages and consistent wording, it steadily contributes to the brand profile.
Brand names & slogans
Brand names are the first touchpoint between people and brands.
A good name is convincing. It draws the customer's first attention to the product, the brand or the company. It creates an image or a feeling and, at the same time, is the first chapter of a brand story. An unsurprising case of: "You never get a second chance to make a first impression".
Strategic impact programming.
When it comes to naming, nothing should be left to chance. After all, good names are an expensive and rare resource in the world of brands – and play a significant role in the success or failure of a product. They must link the intended thoughts and associations with the product or offer and address the desired target group with utmost precision. It is imperative to draw a perfectly fine line between creativity and strategy.
Good brand names don't follow trends. They set them.
Sometimesthey even mark the turn of an era. VOX led the way for expressive media brands within the German television landscape. Until then, pure abbreviations such as RTL, ARD and ZDF essentially dominated the channels. Since then, the VOX principle has made others such as ARTE and Phoenix follow along.
At every turn, we come across many of the 2,500+ brand names we have developed to date – in supermarkets, on the street, in our living rooms. They taste, tell, invite, inspire. They can be experienced with all our senses. They turn products and services into personal, memorable experiences
Good slogans position. Bad are redundant.
As much as the brand name is the invariable cornerstone, as much does the slogan offer ways of strategic configuration. A good slogan permanently anchors a brand within the mind of the target group. It gets to the point of the core values and, ideally, ensures that the brand message is quoted in everyday settings again and again.
There is no doubt that the development of coherent slogans is an ambitious discipline within verbal branding. For continuous optimization, we have been empirically studying the effect of slogans on populations for years. This self-produced knowledge gives us a head start for the creation of concise messages – as well as the certainty that in some cases it is better to forgo the slogan. After all, a bad slogan is worse than no slogan at all.
It's crowded. Let's make room.
There are around 50 million registered trademarks worldwide. In Germany, the number is already close to 3 million. All in all, an impressive density that makes it increasingly harder for both start-ups and established brands to find their niche and to achieve individual and meaningful differentiation. This is where we come in.
Product language &
corporate language
We see what we hear.
Design dresses a brand and gives it a uniform visual face. However, the first image is generated by language. Colors, feelings, moods... This is why strong brands use language as a strategic factor, having realized that brand language is key to a clearly recognizable, end-to-end brand experience – consistent, characteristic, conspicuous.
Let it shine: with language.
Consistently formed and implemented across all channels, words are like sparks: they inspire, illuminate and incite. For passion and a high level of brand loyalty.
Corporate language and product language make or break the brand experience.
Ideally, corporate wording continues throughout the entire customer journey of brand communication: from advertising campaigns and social media to voice assistants. From SEO wording to employer branding.
Naming systems
Form follows function.
Constantly increasing competition demands regular innovations from a company's brand management. These new products, product categories or services need a smooth and comprehensive integration into the existing portfolio. Not from an inside perspective but following the needs and application scenarios of the target groups.
Structures that emotionalize.
Whe nintegrating new segments into the existing brand levels, it makes particular sense to keep familiar linguistic and naming patterns in maximum harmony. This creates trust and commitment – as long as structures already exist. If not, this is a wonderful opportunity to provide systematic and consistent access to products and solutions. With a feel for the right use of familiar terminology and neologisms.
