By Greg Guess
The schoolyard taunt isn’t true. Names – in addition to sticks and stones – can hurt you.
Get the name of your invention wrong and you can face an uphill battle or even worse, drive away potential customers and investors.
While there is no such thing as a perfect product name, there definitely are good, better, best and bad names.
Spending a little time thinking through your invention’s benefits, your target customer and what style of name might work is worth the effort.
Understanding the intrinsic value of your invention is a good place to start.
Begin by writing down how your product or service benefits the end user. Starting with a blank sheet of paper will put you into the proper mindset of seeing your product from a functional viewpoint.
In writing down phrases and thoughts, there really isn’t any right or wrong comment. You’re brainstorming. These are puzzle pieces. Once put together, they’ll give you a full image of how your product impacts customers.
After defining your product’s intrinsic value, next consider your target audience.
Your ideal customer is one who already has an age, gender and/or relational bias toward your invention.
“Whoa” you say, “I want to sell my product to everyone.” While Sony would love to have a PS3 in every household, an 80-year old woman living in Portland, Ore., is probably not interested in playing Killzone 3.
By defining your target audience, you can consider other products they relate to. In essence, you are looking at other names that resonate with the people who would possibly purchase from you.
Marketers will tell you that the closer you define your target audience, the better you can relate your product to them. Not all names mean the same thing to different people. An 18-year-old male may react differently to a name than, say, a 45-year-old housewife.
Apple’s wildly successful iPad initially was met with some reservation by women who related to the term “pad” to a feminine hygiene product. Cultural differences are another factor. Chevrolet’s Nova famously flopped in Latin America. No va in Spanish means “doesn’t go.”
Naming a product without understanding how the name relates to an audience can be a disaster.
Sounds Like
Pop, belch, snort, bark, screech, hiccup and smack are onomatopoeias. The words themselves imitate the sound of the action. In some instances, onomatopoeias might make perfect sense for naming your invention.
Pop Rocks candy is a great example. The small pieces of sugary sweets actually pop in your mouth.
On the other hand, Screaming Yellow Zonkers, a sugar-coated popcorn snack, may have misfired. Introduced in the 1960s, the product competed against Cracker Jacks. ConAgra foods discontinued Screaming Yellow Zonkers in 2007.
Another popular naming ideology is the acronym/series number name.
Car companies are great at this. There’s the Mazda3 – formerly the 323 prior to budgetary cutbacks in numbering. And the Mercedes “C Class” – does “C” actually stand for cash?
But acronym and series names really don’t describe anything. If you go this route, you will need to explain your product by adding a proper noun, such as ACS Angle Cut Scissors.
Moreover, stay away from popular names. And remember that almost all short letter/number domain names have been taken.
If the onomatopoeias and numbers/letters don’t fit, consider a name that gives a description of the product.
Examples include Vise-Grip, Skilsaw, Hoveround, IcyHot and Big Ass Fans (the latter makes, you guessed it, huge ceiling fans).
Product description names are very popular and easy to define. Keep in mind, however, the more generic your name, the tougher it is to defend and protect.
If your name becomes a commonplace phrase, you may lose your trademark. Bosch Power Tools lost the trademark “Chop Saw” because the company used it as a generic term in its literature.
Losing a trademark can negate years of investment.
Coveted ®
Many products bear the inventor’s name such as Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, Bosch, Ford, Abercrombie & Fitch and Gillette.
Naming your invention or your company after yourself makes for a unique moniker, assuming your name is unique. As with all names, be sure to use a proper descriptive noun to support the product such as Ford Cars and Trucks.
You also might consider a name that has nothing to do with your product or company but still sounds cool. Apple, Yahoo, Reebok, Starbucks and just about every prescription medicine name are non-related. What does Zoloft or Ambien actually mean?
Names such as these are easier to register as a trademark, but they require marketing to capture and retain recognition.
How you name your product is totally up to you. One thing that is not under your authority, however, is getting your name trademarked.
As you are considering names, you need to perform due diligence. The first place to look is on the Internet.
Search by the name, image and video. And search by variations of the name you are considering such as “Striker, Stryker, Strykere” or “Innovatia, Innov8ia or Innovacia.”
When you believe you have a good name, spend some time on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, www.uspto.gov.
You can do searches on trade names and see if the name you are choosing is already taken. The scope and regulations regarding registering a trademark are beyond the scope of this article, but you have a wide range of resources available on the web.
Be aware that not all information is created equal. Only official government sites (those with a .gov suffix) are accurate.
Once you have several names narrowed down and have searched to eliminate any conflicts, you can test your name on friends and business acquaintances. Consider this a “blue collar” focus group.
After you have chosen a name, searched the Internet and performed all due diligence, register it with the USPTO.
While you are waiting for a confirmation of registration, use a TM on the name. A TM represents an unregistered trademark and provides a lesser “unofficial” level of protection.
A TM means you have staked your claim on the name. Various laws apply to names that are trademarked. While a TM doesn’t offer absolute protection, it certainly doesn’t hurt. Once confirmed with the trademark office, you can add the coveted ® to the name showing your official ownership.
Your name is now registered, your product is ready and you are off to market.
Over time, proper use of your name builds branding equity. In essence, both your product and name build the brand in the consumer’s mind.
Understanding and delivering on the promise of a good product solidifies the integrity of your name – a name you carefully and purposefully chose.
Greg Guess is the vice president/chief creative officer of G5 Creative Group located in Lake Villa, Ill.
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