Naming firms

Naming firms

Unlike their full service marketing counterparts, naming firms specialize entirely in the linguistic art/science of creating product and company names. Currently there are about 50 naming firms globally.[1] Naming has become big business, with some larger companies investing upwards of $500,000 to create a new brand name. One of the big drivers has been pharmaceutical corporations with their growing pipeline of new medicines, each needing its own place in the market. This demand, combined with stringent naming criteria of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has caused many in the health care field to look for expert assistance. In addition available domain names have become increasingly scarce, with over 85 million names registered as of 2005. This places an additional brand burden on emerging internet based firms.

Typically, naming firms used to charge anywhere from US$30,000 to US$80,000 or more to develop a company or product brand name. This will often include the creation of a list or multiple lists of brand name candidates, suggested tag lines or positioning statements, the domain name status of each name, and (depending on the firm), logo design/corporate identity. The fees may also include market research and consumer focus group testing. Many naming firms will also provide trademark services as part of their process. Once the exclusive realm of Fortune 500 companies, an increasing number of small business owners and consultants have turned to "namers" to help clear a spot for their new business or product.

However, not all businesses can afford such services and this has given rise to dedicated naming agencies that handle only naming, even for small clients.

For those who go it alone, most naming professionals advise to run any potential new name through their government's trademark database (For example, the United States Patent and Trademark Office for US only brand names) as a starting point, and to check state and local web sites as well. Almost every naming firm will advise potential new businesses to run a self created list of names by a trademark attorney for added safety. Since legal fees are often exorbitant, you may want to use a naming consultant first to help narrow down the list, and only use the lawyers for the final two or three names.

See also

References and notes



Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Product naming — is the discipline of deciding what a product will be called, and is very similar in concept and approach to the process of deciding on a name for a company or organization. Product naming is considered a critical part of the branding process,… …   Wikipedia

  • Master-McNeil — Master McNeil, Inc. Industry Naming Founded Berkeley, CA, 1988 Headquarters …   Wikipedia

  • SPEAK campaign — SPEAK, the Voice for the Animals is a British animal rights campaign that aims to end animal experimentation in the UK. Its current focus is opposition to a new animal testing centre being built by Oxford University. TOC HistoryThe campaign was… …   Wikipedia

  • Brand management — Marketing Key concepts Product marketing · Pricing …   Wikipedia

  • Brand architecture — is the structure of brands within an organizational entity. It is the way in which the brands within a company’s portfolio are related to, and differentiated from, one another. The architecture should define the different leagues of branding… …   Wikipedia

  • United States — a republic in the N Western Hemisphere comprising 48 conterminous states, the District of Columbia, and Alaska in North America, and Hawaii in the N Pacific. 267,954,767; conterminous United States, 3,022,387 sq. mi. (7,827,982 sq. km); with… …   Universalium

  • china — /chuy neuh/, n. 1. a translucent ceramic material, biscuit fired at a high temperature, its glaze fired at a low temperature. 2. any porcelain ware. 3. plates, cups, saucers, etc., collectively. 4. figurines made of porcelain or ceramic material …   Universalium

  • China — /chuy neuh/, n. 1. People s Republic of, a country in E Asia. 1,221,591,778; 3,691,502 sq. mi. (9,560,990 sq. km). Cap.: Beijing. 2. Republic of. Also called Nationalist China. a republic consisting mainly of the island of Taiwan off the SE coast …   Universalium

  • France — /frans, frahns/; Fr. /frddahonns/, n. 1. Anatole /ann nann tawl /, (Jacques Anatole Thibault), 1844 1924, French novelist and essayist: Nobel prize 1921. 2. a republic in W Europe. 58,470,421; 212,736 sq. mi. (550,985 sq. km). Cap.: Paris. 3.… …   Universalium

  • Merrill Lynch — This article is about Merrill Lynch as an independent company prior to its January 2009 acquisition by Bank of America and its continuing existence as the wealth management division of Bank of America. For the corporate and investment banking… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”