Name: How to build a name in four steps
Uploaded: 2023-07-24T14:22:17.501Z
Duration: 470.67
Description: Finding the right name for your brand is a complex process needing creativity, market research, and strategic thinking. Rebeca Arbona, President & Chief Truth-Teller at BrandTrue, specialises in the art of naming and here shares her four fundamental steps to getting a great brand name.

Rebeca Arbona v3.mp4

Rebeca Arbona v3.vtt

English

{{00:00:07}}
Hi, I'm Rebeca Arbona and I
want to help you learn how to

{{00:00:10}}
approach naming your brand.

{{00:00:13}}
I'm the owner of Brand True, a strategic
naming firm in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the

{{00:00:17}}
United States, and we believe that a
great brand name creates a strong brand.

{{00:00:29}}
There are lots of lousy brand names
attached to really successful businesses.

{{00:00:34}}
So sometimes people challenge me.

{{00:00:35}}
Why is it so important to
get a great brand name?

{{00:00:38}}
But I think you should just always
have the best possible presentation

{{00:00:42}}
of your brand that you can manage.

{{00:00:44}}
And I think that the name is so incredibly
powerful, you know, in trucker slang,

{{00:00:49}}
they say that your name is your handle.

{{00:00:51}}
And  I love that.

{{00:00:52}}
I think it's a really powerful metaphor
because I often think about a brand

{{00:00:56}}
as, it's almost like a briefcase
crammed full of every experience a

{{00:01:01}}
consumer has had with a brand, with
their products, with an ad they've

{{00:01:04}}
seen, with something they've heard.

{{00:01:07}}
It can have sensory impressions
and, you know, just so many things

{{00:01:11}}
in there that full briefcase.

{{00:01:14}}
The name is the handle that you grab it
by, and so it's just the more powerful

{{00:01:19}}
that name is, the more that name is
helping for someone to understand what

{{00:01:23}}
the brand is or how it's gonna make
them feel, the more memorable it is.

{{00:01:29}}
The better position that
you're in to move forward.

{{00:01:38}}
If we wanna think about what
makes a great brand name.

{{00:01:40}}
It's an interesting question.

{{00:01:42}}
It's a little bit like what makes a
great person like,  and there's so

{{00:01:46}}
much variation, there's no one answer.

{{00:01:48}}
But at the same time, I think that
there's sort of a short list of things,

{{00:01:51}}
you know, to be kind, to be  honest.

{{00:01:56}}
Right.

{{00:01:56}}
Those are things that, at least
some of a short list will show

{{00:02:01}}
up in defining a great human.

{{00:02:03}}
Same thing with a name.

{{00:02:04}}
I think that a name for a brand should be
at least a couple of these four things.

{{00:02:10}}
Transparent, clearly
communicating,  what's on offer,

{{00:02:15}}
really real, I call it meaning.

{{00:02:18}}
Plugging in, in some authentic way to what
the brand is about, what the founders are

{{00:02:22}}
about, some element of the brand story.

{{00:02:26}}
Preferably it should be unique,
versus your competitive set.

{{00:02:31}}
And it's also really nice if it's
an engaging, now lots of great

{{00:02:34}}
names and don't have some of those,
but, and name can't be great with

{{00:02:38}}
at least without at least one.

{{00:02:41}}
And I think that in assessing brand names.

{{00:02:45}}
Two things,  should be kept in mind

{{00:02:47}}
in addition to that.

{{00:02:48}}
One is that you should be
thinking about your strategic.

{{00:02:52}}
Necessities, your strategic positioning.

{{00:02:54}}
So for example, if you are first to
market it with some kind of completely new

{{00:02:58}}
and unique thing, then that transparent
communication is way more important than

{{00:03:03}}
if you're in a category where everyone
knows what it is and you may be wanna be

{{00:03:06}}
leaning more into, you know, being unique
and being engaging in order to stand out.

{{00:03:11}}
The second thing that I think is
really important to keep in mind is

{{00:03:13}}
that I think it's really important to
have that strategic underpinning to

{{00:03:18}}
understand what you're trying to get.

{{00:03:20}}
But you have to leave some room for
the lightning strike of creativity.

{{00:03:24}}
You know, you want to  use that strategy
as an important yardstick to evaluate

{{00:03:29}}
the names that you develop, maybe a
little bit more than you use it as

{{00:03:34}}
a filter to keep you from dreaming
up as much as you can dream up.

{{00:03:46}}
So, I think to some people it
sounds easy to just cook up names.

{{00:03:50}}
I don't think it is.

{{00:03:52}}
I think the best way to approach
it is to hire a professional.

{{00:03:55}}
But I think that a really helpful
analogy is to think about maybe

{{00:04:01}}
some people are perfectly willing
to paint their own houses, and some

{{00:04:06}}
people wouldn't touch that job and
hire people to paint their houses.

{{00:04:10}}
What's more.

{{00:04:12}}
I think painting your house, you're
perfectly capable of doing a job just

{{00:04:16}}
as good as, or maybe almost as good
as a professional, but maybe naming is

{{00:04:20}}
more like decorating your house where a
decorator just takes it to a whole other

{{00:04:25}}
level and has access to resources and
skills that you don't as a layperson.

{{00:04:31}}
So can you do it without?

{{00:04:32}}
Yeah, but it's not that simple.

{{00:04:34}}
And the skill and the talent and
the experience,  make a difference.

{{00:04:46}}
So I've mentioned the role of
strategy in naming quite a bit.

{{00:04:49}}
I think you have to think about some
basic foundational strategic principles

{{00:04:53}}
or, or just answer some basic questions.

{{00:04:56}}
I think the first thing
is, who are your people?

{{00:04:58}}
Who is the target audience?

{{00:05:00}}
I like people language better
that you need to connect with.

{{00:05:04}}
And then who are you?

{{00:05:05}}
Who is this brand?

{{00:05:06}}
Who is it from?

{{00:05:07}}
How do you wanna show up?

{{00:05:10}}
Complicated, yet simple to answer
that, to define that really well.

{{00:05:14}}
Once you've done that, what is it that
your people need to know about you?

{{00:05:19}}
And to what extent can you
communicate that in your name?

{{00:05:21}}
That's the really interesting.

{{00:05:24}}
Creative exploration.

{{00:05:26}}
And last, what's going on competitively?

{{00:05:28}}
I made some mention of that earlier.

{{00:05:30}}
It's really important to understand if
you need to be more descriptive, if you

{{00:05:35}}
need to be more emotional and evocative,
what is it that's already happening in the

{{00:05:38}}
category that you want to stand out from?

{{00:05:47}}
There's one that I really love,
which is a building product we

{{00:05:51}}
made for a company called Formica.

{{00:05:53}}
And it's specifically a kind
of fiberglass wall panel wall

{{00:05:57}}
or ceiling, which is important.

{{00:05:59}}
That's very, very protective
and very, very durable.

{{00:06:03}}
They're waterproof.

{{00:06:04}}
So think about things like the
halls of hospitals or  hotels

{{00:06:09}}
that might get bashed or even like
a gas station bathroom, right?

{{00:06:13}}
So with a product like this, but also
with some nice aesthetics,  Formica

{{00:06:19}}
needed a name and we came up with
about, well, hundreds and hundreds

{{00:06:23}}
of options, and then about 20 really
powerful names that we liked a lot that

{{00:06:28}}
we brought to the client and of them
all, we ended up naming it Hard Stop.

{{00:06:33}}
Which I think,  you know, being able
to plug into kind of a business saying,

{{00:06:38}}
'oh, do you have a hard stop at three'?

{{00:06:41}}
Makes it a little bit clever, a
little bit more memorable, the way

{{00:06:43}}
it fires in the brain, but it also
reinforces that durability, you

{{00:06:47}}
know, something bashes into it.

{{00:06:48}}
It's not gonna punch a hole through it.

{{00:06:50}}
So it's fun and clever, but
still really hard driving in

{{00:06:54}}
transparently communicating.

{{00:06:56}}
The other thing I love about this example
is that names typically have two parts.

{{00:07:01}}
There's the name and then
there's the generic descriptor.

{{00:07:03}}
It's, you know, Tide laundry
detergent and people, that generic

{{00:07:08}}
descriptor that you can't really own.

{{00:07:10}}
People tend to throw it away, but we like
to use it to add a lot of power to a name.

{{00:07:14}}
So this fiberglass wall panel,  we decided
we encouraged the client to name it.

{{00:07:23}}
Decorative protective panel in order
to underscore that unlike their

{{00:07:26}}
competitors, these were actually
pretty and had pretty patterns

{{00:07:29}}
and grains and that kind of thing.

{{00:07:31}}
So it's a good example, one that we're
really proud of, one that we can talk

{{00:07:35}}
about,  to sort of illustrate how
all of those different considerations

{{00:07:40}}
can be wrapped up in a creative
name that makes the brand stronger.

Hi, I'm Rebeca Arbona and I
want to help you learn how to

I'm the owner of Brand True, a strategic
naming firm in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the

United States, and we believe that a
great brand name creates a strong brand.

There are lots of lousy brand names
attached to really successful businesses.

Why is it so important to
get a great brand name?

But I think you should just always
have the best possible presentation

And I think that the name is so incredibly
powerful, you know, in trucker slang,

I think it's a really powerful metaphor
because I often think about a brand

as, it's almost like a briefcase
crammed full of every experience a

consumer has had with a brand, with
their products, with an ad they've

It can have sensory impressions
and, you know, just so many things

The name is the handle that you grab it
by, and so it's just the more powerful

that name is, the more that name is
helping for someone to understand what

the brand is or how it's gonna make
them feel, the more memorable it is.

The better position that
you're in to move forward.

If we wanna think about what
makes a great brand name.

It's a little bit like what makes a
great person like,  and there's so

But at the same time, I think that
there's sort of a short list of things,

Those are things that, at least
some of a short list will show

I think that a name for a brand should be
at least a couple of these four things.

Transparent, clearly
communicating,  what's on offer,

Plugging in, in some authentic way to what
the brand is about, what the founders are

Preferably it should be unique,
versus your competitive set.

And it's also really nice if it's
an engaging, now lots of great

names and don't have some of those,
but, and name can't be great with

And I think that in assessing brand names.

One is that you should be
thinking about your strategic.

So for example, if you are first to
market it with some kind of completely new

and unique thing, then that transparent
communication is way more important than

if you're in a category where everyone
knows what it is and you may be wanna be

leaning more into, you know, being unique
and being engaging in order to stand out.

The second thing that I think is
really important to keep in mind is

that I think it's really important to
have that strategic underpinning to

But you have to leave some room for
the lightning strike of creativity.

You know, you want to  use that strategy
as an important yardstick to evaluate

the names that you develop, maybe a
little bit more than you use it as

a filter to keep you from dreaming
up as much as you can dream up.

So, I think to some people it
sounds easy to just cook up names.

I think the best way to approach
it is to hire a professional.

But I think that a really helpful
analogy is to think about maybe

some people are perfectly willing
to paint their own houses, and some

people wouldn't touch that job and
hire people to paint their houses.

I think painting your house, you're
perfectly capable of doing a job just

as good as, or maybe almost as good
as a professional, but maybe naming is

more like decorating your house where a
decorator just takes it to a whole other

level and has access to resources and
skills that you don't as a layperson.

And the skill and the talent and
the experience,  make a difference.

So I've mentioned the role of
strategy in naming quite a bit.

I think you have to think about some
basic foundational strategic principles

I think the first thing
is, who are your people?

I like people language better
that you need to connect with.

Complicated, yet simple to answer
that, to define that really well.

Once you've done that, what is it that
your people need to know about you?

And to what extent can you
communicate that in your name?

It's really important to understand if
you need to be more descriptive, if you

need to be more emotional and evocative,
what is it that's already happening in the

category that you want to stand out from?

There's one that I really love,
which is a building product we

And it's specifically a kind
of fiberglass wall panel wall

That's very, very protective
and very, very durable.

So think about things like the
halls of hospitals or  hotels

that might get bashed or even like
a gas station bathroom, right?

So with a product like this, but also
with some nice aesthetics,  Formica

Explainer

Finding the right name for your brand is a complex process needing creativity, market research, and strategic thinking.
Rebeca Arbona, President & Chief Truth-Teller at BrandTrue, specialises in the art of naming and here shares her four fundamental steps to getting a great brand name.


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Rebeca Arbona

Discover insights from other experts

President & Chief Truth-teller

Arbona emphasises how your brand needs to have the best presentation and naming it is one of the most powerful routes to success. 

The key role of brand naming

Creating a great brand name is not as simple as it may appear. Arbona outlines the key characteristics that names should have.

Creating a great brand name 

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How to go about naming

Arbona gives valuable insights into the essential strategic fundamentals for crafting an outstanding new brand name.