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Slowing U.S. Economy Prompts Trend to Simplicity; Lack of Available
Names Still Plagues Marketers
OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE FEATURES)--June 27, 2001--Out
with irreverence, in with practicality. Product and company names
destined to grab consumer mindshare and investor confidence will be
more descriptive and less frivolous in the coming year, says
Catchword, a leading naming and branding firm. With the economy
slowing, companies will focus increasingly on building equity in
corporate and umbrella brands, while looking to back-to-basics naming
metaphors and styles to address ongoing trademark challenges.
"The high-flying economic boom of the late 90's bred names like
YAHOO!, MobShop, Blue Martini, and Loudcloud, which conveyed the
adventurous, anything-is-possible spirit of the times," says Burt
Alper, Catchword's Strategy Director. "With their implied creativity
and new-economy savvy, these names had enough sass to inspire consumer
and investor excitement."
However, the movement from sassy to sensible is underway, says
Alper, citing a list of young U.S. firms bearing names that are
descriptive of their core business: StorageWay (storage service
utility for Internet-related businesses), RadioFrame (wireless firm
developing a platform for converging mobile voice and data),
SupplyScience (web-based inventory management services), JetBlue
(economy-priced air carrier), and University Planet (higher education
software). "These names are excellent examples of what's in' in
today's naming environment," adds Alper.
Even some established companies that tried to update their image
have reconsidered, he said, noting the recent reversion of Impiric, an
international marketing communications firm, to its original name,
Wunderman. Attributing a loss of brand value to last year's name
change, the firm returned to the name of its founder on June 1.
eGoodbye
On the way out are color names (e.g., RedEnvelope, Blue Martini);
irreverent, overly "hip" names (e.g., Loudcloud, Fatbrain); names with
Internet-referencing word parts, like Web, com, net, cyber, inter, e,
i, and my (e.g., iVillage, Cybergold); and the ubiquitous "-ent/-ant"
names (e.g., Sapient, Viant, Lucent).
"The downturn in dot-com fortunes has cast a pall on names overly
associated with e-business," says Alper. "With the new .biz top-level
domain launching this fall, some companies may try to brand with this
suffix to help users find them on the Internet. This could prove to be
shortsighted, since no one knows how widely accepted the .biz TLD will
be accepted."
Hola, Bonjour
On the way in are names based on non-English words (e.g., Andale,
Cambira, Zanova), as the U.S. gradually becomes an ethnic-majority
country. The sharp rise in the Hispanic population, in particular,
will prompt the creation of more Hispanic-sounding or derived names.
Other non-English names will take advantage of the particular cachet
of other native cultures -- for example, Scandinavian languages for
clarity of design, Brazilian Portuguese for vivacity, Polynesian for
naturalness. "Non-English words and derivations often also have the
advantage of being highly defendable trademarks," notes Alper.
In, too, are compounds (e.g., EarthLink, SpotLife) -- still
popular, after a number of years --which offer an almost infinite
number of combinations. "A touch of poetry or surprise often results
when two unrelated words are placed in juxtaposition," says Alper.
"Since naming professionals continue to grapple with the problem of
finding fresh, interesting and trademarkable names, the compound
alternative is a good one."
Also very in, and expected to endure, are blended names (e.g.,
Petopia, from pet and utopia; Alventive, from all and inventive),
shortened real words (e.g., Cysive, from decisive/incisive; Intel and
Teligent from intelligent), names coined from real words (e.g.,
Attenza, from attentive; Delinea, from delineate), and words with
unusual spellings (e.g., Cingular, Thinque). All of these names have
the advantages of being more meaningful, evocative, and available
(from a trademark and domain perspective) than descriptive names.
Under the Brand Umbrella
With costs to trademark, market, and protect new brand names
skyrocketing, Catchword says companies will rely increasingly on brand
extensions and umbrella names, using more descriptive terminology at
the product level. "Cisco, Oracle, and Siebel Systems are prominent
examples of companies that focus most of their marketing efforts on
the corporate name," Alper says. "You don't hear Cisco talking about
its 'XYZ' product. They put their marketing strength behind Cisco."
Developments in individual industries will have an effect on
product branding, too. In pharmaceuticals, for example, the increase
in direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising will produce fewer elusive
drug names (e.g., Celebrex, Vioxx). "We believe that forthcoming
pharmaceutical names will attempt to communicate either the condition
or the symptoms that the product is meant to treat," says Alper.
"Names like Alluna, an herbal sleep aid, and Claritin, an allergy
medication, are easier to remember for both patient and physician."
U.S. automotive manufacturers, Catchword believes, will follow
the lead of their European -- and now, Japanese -- counterparts, and
begin branding with more letter/number combinations. Adhering to the
trend in brand simplification, they will begin to imitate the BMW 318,
the Acura 3.2 TL and the Jaguar XJ12. "In addition to conveying
precision and quality, these names are less expensive to maintain and
allow for easier differentiation across models," Alper says.
Also Expected
As marketers are forced to search ever further afield to find
available names, Catchword also predicts we'll see:
- Names derived from great works of literature (e.g., Starbucks,
from the name of the coffee-loving first mate in Moby Dick;
Reardon Steel Technologies from the character and company in
Atlas Shrugged);
- Names borrowed from songs and poems (e.g. Ruby Tuesday, a
restaurant chain named after a song by the Rolling Stones);
- Letter/number combinations (e.g., Live365.com, an Internet radio
network);
- Names referencing nature and the environment, including plants
and animals (e.g., Peregrine Systems, Springbok Technologies);
- Names relating to freedom and mobility (e.g., MobileSpring),
accompanying the boom in wireless; and
- Names relating to light and vision (e.g., Digital Lightwave,
Light Connect), accompanying the growth in fiber-optics.
"Basic principals of naming and branding require that a name add
value. Too often, in the last several years, creating cool' names
that would stand out in the marketplace became the only rationale for
a name choice," says Alper. "The current return to simplicity is a
signal that branding's silly season has run its course."
About Catchword: Catchword is a naming and brand-development firm
headquartered in Oakland, CA, with offices in Los Angeles and New York
City. The firm's clients include Microsoft, Merck, Safeway, Adobe
Systems, and Universal Music Group. Catchword's recent names include:
Infusion, the self-inflating basketball from Spalding; Oasis, the new
snack bar from Kraft, Lightspeed, a venture-capital firm; and
Alventive, a leading online collaborative-design firm. For additional
information, visit the Catchword web site at http://www.catch-word.com or phone Catchword at 510/628-0080.
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