The Name as Positioning ToolLet’s look at how naming can support marketplace positioning. Corporate and product naming goes through phases. So as not to be tempted to name your company on the basis of a “hot trend,” it’s helpful to understand some of the more obvious naming fashions. In the late 19th century as the industrial evolution was blooming, corporations often used eponymous naming—simply using the surname of the founder to label the company. “I’ll personally stand behind my product,” these captains of industry seemed to be saying with names like Kellogg’s, Ford Motor Company, and Hershey’s still prospering more than a century later. In the first half of the 20th century, as names became more descriptive of what a company actually did or made, the often unwieldy handles were shortened to acronyms. Not only did the initials provide a name with fewer syllables and were often easier to remember, they lent an aura of “global mystery” to names like RCA, IBM, and TWA. When the technology boom zipped into our world in the latter half of the 20th century, concocted names lent a high-tech conceptual positioning to names like Xerox, Exxon, and Verizon. With the Internet boom (and even after the subsequent bust) suggestive names really began to take off—names that would help differentiate companies in the super-crowded marketplace of the mind. Google, Yahoo! and GoDaddy may be the clearest examples of this naming trend.
With naming, there really is no right or wrong answer. It comes down to your brand strategy. What is your name trying to communicate to your core market? Does that name speak to your differentiating factor ? Is it meaningful and relevant to your customers and prospects? The now-ubiquitous GPS (Global Positioning System) marketplace is a good place to look at how different naming schemes can help companies find their way to a unique marketplace position. Refer to the BrandXcellence Naming Quadmap™ to see how these names fall...
Magellan is an experiential name. I know who Magellan was (at least, if I recall my 8th grade history class). So my “experience” of Magellan, gives me an indication of how the Magellan GPS is positioned. Heck, if Magellan can be the first explorer to circumnavigate the globe, I guess I can trust a Magellan GPS to help me find my way. Then there’s GlobalSat. While this combo-word can be considered a concocted name (note its position on the quadmap), it’s still explanatory, telling me by the name alone—no tagline or business description necessary—that this company must make products that use information from satellites to supply me with the direction-finding capability I need. No nonsense and direct to the point. Finally, we have an entrant to the GPS market beginning to build some media buzz: TomTom. What a fun, suggestive name. And their TV commercials, some featuring Monty Python alum John Cleese, have a humorous spin. Not surprisingly, the TomTom GPS claims to be easy to use with a fresh and non-intimidating user interface. So TomTom is a good name—that speaks directly to differentiation—for the position they chose in the marketplace. So, when you’re choosing a name for a business, product or program, consider your position in the marketplace. What are you trying to accomplish with your name? Does it speak to your brand’s difference? How can you make your marketing job easier with a name that does some of the work for you? Will your name be lost in the mire of the noisy marketplace, or rise to the top with uniqueness and memorability?
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