Conference: The creation of brand names

Naming is an integral part of the marketing strategy to create and choose a brand, product or company name. Linked to several issues, naming must combine several qualities such as its capacity for memorization, understanding and meaning. This makes it a work of careful reflection and research confronted with various complexities.  

Subject to several conditions, a brand name goes through the stage of legal acceptance before marketing efforts are focused on creating the conditions for good brand awareness, and then on the financial aspect. Between creative work, skills, and issues related to naming, Antoine Masurel, founder of the agency Raison d'être, specializing in naming, wording, and branding , answered questions from the Intuit Lab School during its conference.

Intuit Lab: In designing a visual identity for a brand, how is the research work around words essential to guide its universe? 

Antoine Masurel: If "a picture is worth a thousand words," then those of us who work with words often need images that express richer ideas. Conversely, images can be developed from concepts expressed in words. One doesn't exist without the other. However, naming, in terms of creation, requires literary skills. I think it's a different kind of expertise from simply constructing or interpreting an image. In this game, the strongest people are the conceptual thinkers, those who don't create the image itself but are able to express intentions.

The competence of those who make the image and the competence of those who create names, slogans, is poetics, the art of formulating things. Writing is a technical contribution to people who are in the visual. 

What are the main pitfalls in creating a brand name? 

AM: The main trap in naming is to stay too close to the characteristics, to what we are trying to name. If the name is a summary of what the product is, we lock ourselves into a narrow logic. Suddenly, when we have acquired a certain notoriety about the name and we have the potential to develop other ideas that would be supported by that name, we are locked in by the meaning.

The other pitfall is the length. A name that is too long can be a very good idea in terms of visual representation but it depends on how the name is used, if it has to be reproduced often in writing. There are so many acronyms where we do not know what it is, there is no emotion, evocation, meaning. Whereas when you look at what that meant initially, it made sense. But a long name can also be an element of originality or a stylistic posture. 

It is necessary to arbitrate between the power of seduction of the name which justifies that one continues to use it even if it is long or the indifference that one has in the name. It is mostly customer requirements. There are no limits on the name, as long as it is argued and that we alert on the negative points. We know that the brand is made to live on and if at some point we are stuck, the name change could be a good operation too. 

Do the evolution of society and the change in consumer behavior have an impact on the choice of naming? 

AM: There is no equation which says that a name which would correspond to particular expectations, really has more potential than a name which I would have conceived in an intuitive way. There is no rule because there are a lot of external variables that will make the name a brand. So there shouldn't be any trends because the key to a brand name is that it stands out from the crowd. 

If we try to catch a trend, we do it at the same time as a lot of people who have caught the same trend. We do not see that at the same time, will arrive on the market, full of names in the same trend. A trend is good if you are a precursor, creator of the trend.

Thank you to Antoine Masurel for his generosity and the time he was able to devote to the students and teams of the Intuit Lab School.