Siegel+Gale's Global Director of Research Insights Lisa Bertelsen and Global Director of Naming Nik Contis co-presented the session "What’s In a Name? Unlocking powerful brand names through market research" at MRA 2012 Annual Conference and Expo. The session looked at naming from the perspective of a market researcher and seasoned "namer," offering guidance on name evaluation and research design.

1. The next 60 minutes
+ Nuts and bolts of name research
+ What name research can accomplish
+ How to prepare for research
+ Different research methodologies
+ Pitfalls to avoid when designing research
and interpreting data
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2. Naming: A high-stakes game
+ Trademark clearance
+ Linguistic reviews
+ Registration of domain names
+ Positioning
+ Visual identity
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3. Why validate a name?
+ To determine whether a name accomplishes its purpose:
+ Distinctiveness
+ Consideration
+ To understand how a name affects perception:
+ How does it contribute value to the brand?
+ What is the brand personality that the name helps to create?
+ Does the name help the brand stretch (e.g., price tiers, need states,
different product categories)?
+ To mitigate risk (e.g. perform a disaster check)
+ To help inform the rationale for a name decision and overcome
factors that can sway decision-making:
+ Biases
+ Internal politics
+ Idiosyncrasies
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4. Scenarios in which name research is useful
+ Merger or acquisition
+ When a new company name is a possible outcome, you can
determine the equity of that name and how it maps to the equity of
the existing company brands
+ Complex issues surrounding brand architecture
+ The ability of a name to encompass different price tiers or need
states
+ Regional performance of various names
+ Competing agendas or company politics
+ Consensus-driven corporate culture
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5. What name research should not be used for
+ To pick a ―winning‖ name
+ To determine the likeability of a name
+ A means of soliciting ideas from consumers
+ When options are so similar or extremely literal
Which do you prefer…
- “I.Q.”
- “Smart” OR
- “Professional” ?
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6. Associations
Thoughts, feelings and
imagery that people tie to
words
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7. Dimensionality
Greater dimensionality is a key
indicator, at face value, of a
name’s ability to be memorable
and engage consumers at an
emotional level
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8. Flexibility
The more flexible a name is, the
easier it is to adapt to different
product line extensions or price tiers
Names with greater flexibility can
provide companies with more up-
market (or down-market) stretch
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9. Value
contribution
How well the name contributes value to
the concept, category or brand
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10. Messaging,
voice and
positioning
Developed from the language people use to
describe their needs and the personality
traits they assign to the brand
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11. Emotional
engagement
How a name makes a person feel
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12. Pronounceability
How can you remember (or recommend)
a product if you can’t say it?
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13. Auditory
resonance
How a name sounds and whether the
name matches people's perception of
the product or category
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14. Consumer
needs
- Functional and emotional benefits
- What drives preference
- How you measure up
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15. Linguistic
check and
trademark
search
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16. Brand
architecture
- What role it will play in naming
- Competitor/category naming conventions
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17. The pros and cons of different methodologies
It is important to remember that, regardless of the methodology
you choose, qualitative thinking drives name research
Qualitative Quantitative
+ Explores respondents’ + Results are projectable
perceptions, feelings and the (representative of the entire
associations they have with population being researched)
particular words and brand
+ Confers statistical rigor and
+ One on one (IDI) format validity
+ Respondents can fully + Can also be more time- and
interact with stimuli cost-effective
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18. Eliciting feedback–the phased reveal
+ Round I: The name at face value
+ Round II: The name in context
+ Round III: Association with the corporate brand
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19. Certain names may test better than others
Coined words Evocative words Suggestive words
(Kleenex) (Cloud tissues) (SofTish tissues)
+ ―Made up‖ means + Rich range of + Literal and more
these can be difficult to associations familiar, so tend to
connect with functional perform better
attributes + Tend to engage,
support an experience + Require less ―thinking‖
+ Can be more or interpretation
distinctive (implications + Not as transparent as
for trademark suggestive names + May not stand out
clearance and domain
name searches)
+ More ambiguous =
more flexible
+ Less polarizing
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20. Context is important…
+ Ecological validity is critical
+ Without it, our understanding of human perceptions and
decision-making is flawed
+ Notional applications (e.g., a business card, an advertisement)
contribute to what is being communicated about the product,
so they should be tested when possible
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21. With brand attributes, more doesn’t
mean better
+ Names should deliver on the characteristics that your product
or company wants to be associated with
+ But names alone do not need to convey all the desired
attributes
+ Look also to typography, logo, in-store experience and
advertising
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22. Memorability is good, but difficult to measure
+ You need to be top-of-mind if you want people to buy
+ High imagery names are easier to remember than low
imagery names
+ Memorability can lead to greater word-of-mouth sharing,
making it cheaper to build brand awareness
+ But true testing requires a time lapse, ideally when the
decision-making takes place
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23. Brands and categories fit differently
+ ―Fit to brand‖ and ―fit to category‖ are typical metrics
+ But ―fit to category‖ can be at odds with differentiation
+ Differentiated ideas are initially disliked by people because
they are unfamiliar
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24. Key takeaways
+ Name research can reveal what a word does for a brand
+ It can also mitigate risk
+ But it is critical to understand what research can and cannot
achieve
+ If done well, research can provide insight into:
+ What associations words can create—be they imagery,
sounds, feelings or experiences
+ How people respond to particular words
+ The impact of a name on their relationship to your product,
service or corporate brand
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