The Rules of Creating Brand Names

Hi,

Sometime in your career you are going to face the challenge of creating or signing off on a new name for a product, company, or whatever. Very few people are skilled in this field. There are a lot of blowhards who will try to bluff you into thinking they know how to do it. But there is only one rule with naming: There are no rules.

Look at the names of the world’s leading brands, aka. Business Week and Interbrand’s "100 Best Global Brands": Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM, GE, Intel, Nokia, Disney, McDonald’s, Toyota and Marlboro. These brands make up the world’s "top ten" by value. See any patterns there, any 'best practice' re names? No? No. There is none. There are family names, like Disney and McDonald’s; initials, like IBM and GE; semi-descriptive and "associative" names, like Microsoft and Intel; and abstract names, like Nokia and Marlboro.

In fact, 46 of the 100 brands are named after their founders. There's not a lot of strategy in that. SO next time someone says, "You can't call a product that, it's against the rules...", just say: "I follow Kiely's Rule which says I can call it any damn thing I like."

Cheers!

Michael Kiely