Corporate image-makers and brand agencies have only hurt themselves by ignoring the correct methodologies required for proper naming. Agencies asking sub-contractors to hire free-lancers to do their brainstorming and run focus groups.
Exercises to pool 5000 names over five months for few millions to come up with a PHOOFFS are finished. Extreme exercises with executives locked up in a boardroom, in the dark, each with a flashlight, making letter signs to form words while the other half tried to decipher, now lost in the darkness along with their OINGA, BOINGA names.
If this is the end of logo design then what’s the future for Corporate Identity Services? Yet, this offers a great leadership opportunity for providing well-executed name identity, under the guidance of “Masters of Naming Architects”. After all, there never was a shortage of great names just lack of expertise and wisdom.
Seven Remedies* from The Brand New Laws of Corporate & Name Identity Image:
1. Respect:
A name must have an alpha-character to qualify and gain respect. Face of honesty, integrity, reliability and credibility. No room for “PurpleFrog,” “PinkRhino,” “Globe-a-Con,” or “Tomorrow Inc.” Sobriety must prevail because corporate names are not beer commercials.
2. ONE Face, ONE Name:
Stand up with a happy, healthy face. Don’t try too many masks and transmit multiple personalities. This can seriously blur the image. Advertising is wasted in harnessing a common mind share. Is the name selling Accounting or Space Navigation, Computers or Distilled Water? Honest names are truly honest about what they do.
3. Current Status:
If you think you’re on top of the world, then show it with your name. Old-fashioned names will not attract customer’s attention to your ongoing evolutions. Glories of the past often lose their value with the changing times. Face cyber-branding realities of tomorrow’s global e-commerce.
4. Become A Star:
Have a star quality in your brand name. Its alpha-structure should be bright, clear and shiny. Don’t educate the universe on how to spell, pronounce or remember a weird spelling or obscure origin of a blunt klutzy name. No need to be a matchstick when it can be a flashlight.
5. Freedom To Travel:
Spread your wings and fly away. Wander country to country with your name-Identity and explore global opportunities. No room for difficulties of global translations, connotations, secondary meanings, foreign obscenities, pronunciations and all other language issues. Today, marketing is ONLY global, BURN all the other books that say otherwise. Think locally, but name universally.
6. Pride & Joy:
Be a leader. Set an example. Take pride. Introduce it globally with full confidence. Why the embarrassment? It’s not stolen, or is it? Watch competitors struggle with confusion, dysfunctionalities and embarrassing naming stories. Shine where others hide.
7. Rightful Ownership:
If you own a corporation, why not its name? Today, 93% of corporations do not own a global trademark with an identical domain name. This is the easiest thing to do. Shortages of global names are only myths successfully established by design firms. Fix it immediately as there is no winning without a global trademark with an identical DotCom.
{*Adapted from The Brand New Laws of Corporate Image Javed, Linkbridge 2003}
In Summary:
At this moment, there is a much bigger war of branding image going on out there. Corporations are fighting for global positioning while shareholders are frightened by the fake hoopla. For those genuine, honest and progressive corporations of the real economy armed with realistic goals; there are still a lot of opportunities to stay clear of these corrupt, polluted and damaged name identities. Seek out professional naming solutions to your marketing needs making sure that your names are on solid ground and can pass the Acid Test of Trustworthiness.
Naseem Javed of http://www.naseemjaved.com, is a syndicated columnist, author of Naming for Power, Founder of ABC Namebank International, www.abcnamebank.com world-renowned lecturer, and an expert on corporate naming issues. Naseem is a committed follower of sobriety in corporate and communication strategies and a harsh critic of the “beer commercial” mentality on naming and the influence of voodoo branding on our culture. A hilarious speaker, he has a powerful message on why Global Name Identities are on fire.
