Our Naming Services
THE PLANNING COMPONENT

The Naming Plan channels creative efforts in the most promising, constructive directions. (Sometimes, however, the most important function of the Naming Plan is to enforce greater clarity in the underlying business proposition.) Our naming plans have nine sections:

1. Objects
   First, what are the primary and secondary "objects of the name?" That is, defined in terms of the noun it designates, what are we primarily naming? (This is not always self evident, and can be the key to breakthroughs in positioning as well as in naming.)
   
   
2. Users
   Next, who are the priority users of the name, the occasions of use, and the needs and feelings of the users on those occasions? This discipline puts us in the mind of the customer, not the namer.
   
   
3. Media
   In what special media must the name function, and with what implications?
   
   
4. Nomenclature
   What other language, or nomenclature, will surround the name? Nomenclature can include language such as a generic descriptor, a companion product, corporate and brand endorsement, principal business unit names or other subcomponent names, and slogans or theme lines. Understand or create these and naming becomes easier.
   
   
5. Function
   Functional considerations are legal availability (category, geography), distinctiveness, phonetics, linguistic attributes, brevity, and required communicative functionality.
   
   
6. Image
   What tone, or style should the name convey? Image and personality criteria should come from a clear understanding of the product, brand or institutional personality, as articulated in the identity platform. They can be rich sources of solution ideas.
   
   
7. Type
   There are many kinds of names. The naming plan indicates which types are most likely to meet the functional and image criteria, to help focus creative effort.
   
   The universe of name types includes preexisting names, real words capable of use in a different way, and coined or created inventions:
   
   

   	Proper	Dictionary	Created
   	PersonPlace	Descriptive Imagistic Arbitrary Imported	Real-sounding Combination Acronym Alphanumeric Abstract

   
   
   
8. Content
   Can the name do its essential job (which is merely to designate) and also convey some kind of information? The category or industry, perhaps? Geography? Size? A distinctive attribute?
   
   If so, what kinds of information are potentially most useful? This list can be a rich source of naming ideas.
   
   
9. Directions
   The naming plan ends with a starting list of directional naming ideas. These help to give our name-generating team (which includes the client) their work assignments.
   
   After approval of the naming plan, name generation begins.