Company Naming
This is an invitation to discuss the importance, AND sentiments regarding the naming of your company or product in the hi-tech industry.
When flying to a trade fair - Would you attempt to fly the aircraft? Not unless you are a pilot. When you need your offices built would you hire a contractor? Yes, unless you are one yourself. You will turn to consultants or , contractors or employees for every task which is not in your area of expertise. Yet, when it comes to naming your baby or generating your business marketing and communications strategy - you feel so strongly about it, you simply cannot let others handle it. With no resources to hire a full time employee you are sometimes tempted to do it yourself. What else can you do?
Or-Tal Kiriati, lemino
A correspondence about what a name should say...
The following correspondence followed post on this forum and we thought it will be a valuable addition to the string – so here it is:
Ron: As a naming expert, can you please explain why you chose Lemino and what does it mean?Or-Tal: Let me know your communications trouble and I will help you let your markets know about you.
Lemino is dealing with Letting People Know.But it is a far more interesting story then that. To cut a very long story short, as a one person company, my business should have carried my own name. I am the business and it is the simplest thing to do. The only reason I use Lemino as my name is because as a naming expert, people expect my company to have a name (plus I really really like Lemino and it works in about 14 different languages perfectly). It was offered, about 7 years ago, to a company that does not exist any more. After spending tens of thousands $$$ abroad with no luck - I made them an offer which they liked, but the board, at that point in the company's life, did not approve of any additional spending on naming. So I won that name...
Ron: I have to be frank with you, and say that I didn't realize Lemino stands for Let Me Know. It's not an easy thing to understand, and I'm afraid I'm not the only one. I can see now that the name is "cool", but I'm not so sure it's a good name. But I'm not the expert.
Or-Tal: Do you know what LEGO means? And NIKE? You do not need to know what a name means in order to appreciate its functionality.
Lemino has a nice ring to it. The rest is just an "air".Ron: Yeah, that's true. But I guess Lego and Nike sound good BECAUSE they are successful. The same as "IBM" - it sounds like a great name, but only because it's been there all the time.
Or-Tal: Lego means "I build". Nike is the god of victory.It's just that when I first read "Lemino", I though of "Lamination" (Don't know why). I asked my wife, she thought of Lemmings. ;-)
Just my 2 cents.
IBM is really not a good name, and survives only because of its branding and age (Originally International Business Machines).
As for Lemino and your wife's association, here is a quote from our beloved Wikipedia:
"Lemming or Lemmings can refer to:
A small rodent - see Lemming A Comedy play and album by National Lampoon A A 1997 blink-182 song. A computer game - see Lemmings (video game) An Apple Computer advert - see Lemmings (television commercial) A 2005 French film - see Lemming (film) A 2007 Jinn album - see Lemmings (Jinn) Teal-colored lemming scouts that appear in the animated series A dentist in Monty Python's Flying Circus"
If you google "lemino" you may get, except for my web site and Lemino as a user in various forums, a family name, and a town. Associations are very personal and you can never control or be aware of a 100% of the possibilities. But you can try to see where it is going or which is the worst most dangerous association.I have a lecture about naming. In it, I refer to namespaces and name meanings. It's a common mistake people do, when they are searching for the meaning of a name. Note that you won't ask yourself the meaning of an established brand, but you tend to question names of small or new companies. This a natural tendency to judge. But really - it says nothing about the ability of a company to work with a certain name. An example that comes to mind is the name "Serendipity". Nice meaning, but does it mean that the company by that name can work with it? Establish a distinguished presence? Rise above the noise?
Lemino has a good, easy to pronounce sound. It bears no negative meanings in any of my target markets and it has been tested. None of my contacts ever wondered about its meaning and only one person who contacted me ever pronounced it in the wrong way (accenting the middle). People do not have to like the name. All I need is that they remember that name and can easily access my domain. I am considering opening a blog soon, which will discuss naming among other issues facing the starter-ups...Ron: I agree that for an already-established company, the name is not so important (would IBM be better if they change to a good name today? I don't think so).
Or-Tal: Unfortunately, for me, I am a business communications and marketing strategist. This is possibly one of the worst namespace ever (I do not dare to compare it with the pharmaceutics, though).It might be true that Lemino is a good name (you are by far more knowledgeable about it than I am...), it just didn't help me find out what you are doing. Isn't that a part of the function of a name? It's not just there to be 'cool' and 'nice' and 'not offensive' - it should also help me understand what you do. When I saw 'Lemino' in our StartupIsrael site, I didn't understand that you are a marketing expert / branding company.
I think a blog will be great, and please tell me when you do start it!
There are so many business names in my area that try to state what the business is about. So few are memorable. (take Abcmarketing and Marketingxyz for example).
I do not presume to have a fantastic name. It is true that is does not clearly state what I do. But then, it also doesn't say "here is another one like these...". This name works for me. A name does not have to say what that business is all about in order to work for the business. It can also be simply intriguing. Or playful. Or catchy. Sometimes, while trying to be very creative - we get lost with words that don't sound like anything and seem so strange on our tongues we cannot begin to remember them.But then, on the other side, while trying to be straight forward no-nonsense businesses, we use names that are a combination of out-of-the-dictionary words, which get lost in the crowd of other users of the same dictionary. This may be especially bad when we use an English dictionary, trying to reach with it to other non-English speaking markets. (Just for fun - try "no preservatives" in French...).
It also would not work well for businesses that sell creativity, like my business.Ron: Well - I'll give you that - it's a memorable name, and you're right - a business marketing/com name would have been awful probably.
Naming - Process and Timing
The question whether a name is “nice”, “silly”, “meaningful” and so, is of course subjective and each company may has its own taste and preferences. However, the process and timing of choosing a name are of great importance too.
As it is in all fields, it is much better to start with a name that may last than to change it just before sending your products to the market. There is a huge difference between naming a new company and renaming a company after it has "been there for a while" The cost is much higher in terms of money, reputation loss, focus, and so.
That raises the question “what is the right process to choose a name so it may last for long?” How can we prevent common mistakes such as Toyota did with Pajero? How can we make sure our name is not only “nice” but also politically and mentally correct for all our target (probably global) market?
Timing the Naming
Well as you pointed out - the earliest you deal with it - the better. Not for me, as a naming consultant, but for the company surely.
A naming or renaming process may take anything between 3 weeks and 18 months, depending on the size and age of the company as well as on its global perception and brand architecture complexity.
When a company is just starting-up, the process won't only be shorter, cheaper and easier, it will also be less risky than when you have to rename a 5-10 year old company which has already established some presence in its markets. The main risk then is loosing the momentum of course.
In order to do a proper naming process for a new company I suggest contacting a naming consultant which is not just a copywriter. A naming consultant is someone who can also help you work out your business strategy, your positioning aspiration, bring out your USP and analyze market trends and language.
This brings me to your comment about the name perception being subjective. Naturally, we all have different tastes and so may perceive names differently. But names can be perceived silly and still work. How is that? It can happen in an industry which uses a "silly language". There fore, the analysis carried out by a naming expert is not a subjective one. There is a very clear set of tools which enables a naming expert convey an opinion whether a certain name may work or not.
As for subjective feeling and personal tastes, well this is just one other consideration a namer has to think about. And when the company is younger with one, 2 or 3 partners it's a lot simpler to find something that will please all 3 tastes. But when a company grows and there is a 5-10 member board and a full 5 people management and sometimes you want to run it by all 100 employees... that is when you realize that the question whether one likes it or not is not necessarily relevant to the success of the name in the market place.
Or-Tal Kiriati, Lemino
Politically correct naming
I need to point out that in order to make sure that a name is politically correct in various countries it must be tested or examined by local people from the target market.
This can be done in 2 ways: the best is testing the name in focus groups. That's also rather expensive.
The cheaper way, which normally works at least when you want to screen out extreme results, is testing in on one or two contacts in the destination country.
The main differences: one person only may bring, in his criticism, personal experience and views which a group can neutrelize. A group may also, to a minimum degree, sometimes, predict market attitude towards a name. For instance - is it possible to make jokes using this name?
Still some test in the destination country is a must if you want to do a proper naming process.
A question: do you think that Microsoft tested their new MP-Player name, ZUNE, in Israel?
Or-Tal Kiriati, Lemino
Or-Tal,Interesting
Or-Tal,
Interesting discussion. I think that in today's internet world, there's another important issue - domain name. If you want to get a domain name, some people want a ".com", which means that it's even harder to come by with a good name.
And what do you say about recent internet companies with names as Meebo and Bebo and such? Is a 'silly' name a good strategy?
Ron
Silly names?
Some people thought that GOOGLE is a silly name. Not knowing what it meant.
Some people don't know that NIKE is the god of victory.
What a name means is not as important as what it conveys. Sometimes the underlined meaning helps a company convey its messages to the world.
In general I am not in favor of "silly names" - if that means an accidental collection of syllables with no meaning or reason. This sort of name is also "accident prone" when you take it globally.
It's much safer to properly research your area, your industry, your namespace - and get to a reasonable result. You will find that it will get you a name much easier to work with.
That said, it does not rule out "silly names" where silliness in the industry's language.
By the way - there are still plenty of ".com" domains you can find if you go through a professional process.
Good examples
Hi Or-Tal,
What would you consider a good name for a product? Could you give examples for
names that "made" the product in high-tech producs or other industries?
Einat
Name rating and analysis
Thanks for your comment, Einat.
There are many ways to analyze if a company name or a porduct name is good or not. At the end of the day, you measure a name's success against your expectations of it.
Here are some fun examples: Miztubishi failed with the name Pajero in South-America, because of its sexual meaning there.
Cheverolet NOVA did NOT GO well in Spain...
Toyota couldn't market MR2 in France (sounds like MERDE). Estee Lauder couldn't sell a seried of products with the name MIST (meaning MANURE in German).
Japanese manufacturer of a drink called Pocari Sweat couldn't understand why he couldn't penetrate the American market. Sweat has health connotations in Japan.
A Greek entrepreneur couldn't make it with TAVERNA in Japan, since TABERNA in Japanese translates to something like "do not eat".
And slightly closer to the hi-tech industry:
Quantum Computer Services was founded in 1985 and renamed, in 1991, AOL, or America Online.
Backrub was founded in 1996 and changed its name to GOOGLE in 1998.
Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web was renamed YAHOO (Yet Another Hierarchial Officious Oracle).
Lindows, the LINUX software developer, agreed only in 2004 to rename itself as Linspire.
Did you know that COMVERSE operated as EFRAT Future Technology, after its founder's daughter? Officially there wan no name change at all. Comverse simply owns Efrat.
Emblaze was founded in 1994 as GEO Interactive. It went public with this name in the AIM, London and renamed itseld as Emblaze only in 1998.
There are many more examples, of course. And many ways of analyzing names professionally.
Or-Tal Kiriati, Lemino
An important comment about translating Brand Names
Recently the ACADEMIA (האקדמיה ללשון העברית) took it upon herself to translate SEGWAY to Hebrew.
Please note: SEGWAY is NOT a word to be translated and cannot be found in dictionaries. It's a name, in this case also a brand, and you cannot decide to translate it. I mean, how would the president of the academy would feel if we translated his name and called him Moses Son-Of-Asher? Or his vice - Abraham Dew?
I believe Segway is a name based on the musical term SEGUE. Dictionary: "To make a transition directly from one section or theme to another. Or: To move smoothly and unhesitatingly from one state, condition, situation, or element to another". How is this reflected in the horrible hebrew term coined for it by the Hebrew Language Acadmy "REHINOA" (רכינוע)???
Should Segway desire to create an actual word and preferably even a verb from their brand they can do it with the assistance of professional namers. Should they want to translate this name to Hebrew, it will be, again, with the assistance of prefessional namers, and not necessarily all linguistic expert are or can be professional namers.
I would suggest that the ACADEMIA start by creating a Hebrew word for ACADEMIA.
***
By the way, it is customary to translate names in the Chinese market. This is because they write the names in Chinese and the Chinese Alphabet doesn't endorse all sounds we use and know. That is why STARBUCKS is called XINBAKE in China and that's why the won a case against a place which tried to sell coffee under the name XINBAKE in China.