Brand / Naming Architecture

“Stuff happens” … Over time, companies come up with product or family names that made sense for some reason then, but now things have changed or the names are seemingly random and do not tie together nicely.  In high technology markets we seem to be fond of names that are meaningless, filled with numbers and abbreviations that make no sense (except perhaps to us).  In addition, many company names are also meaningless … Apple does not grow apples. Amazon is not a fierce tall female warrior.  Tivoli is not the Tivoli fountain in Rome.  HubSpot has nothing to do with hubs or spots.  You get the idea.

In FMCG businesses, often the product becomes a brand, like Tide or Ivory. These names are “metaphorical” not “literal”. They have the margins to invest incredible amounts of money to make those metaphorical names mean something in detergents and soaps.  Most high technology companies simply can not invest much to make a name (brand) have a meaning.

Another distinction is that the products themselves in FMCG markets don’t change very much over time.  Almost by definition, in high technology markets your products either change over time (at varying paces depending upon your market segment) or you get left behind.

Rationalizing the company, sub-brands/ product family and product names is critical in high technology markets.  If you have a metaphoric company name, tread carefully about adding a sub-brand or product family name that is also metaphoric … One step further into products themselves and you are toast.

Our approach to Brand / Naming is based on decades of experience in industry and as practitioners.  We (and you) are not Apple or Tivoli.  We do have aspirations, but budgets are always tight and there are ways to maximize the results for every dollar you can spend.