Brand naming

[Cache #260]

We can learn something from shops that live or die on whether they can get people to pull over.

This summer I took a road trip up through Muskoka, to the shores of Lake Superior as far north as the Wawa Goose, and back home via Manitoulin Island and the ferry to Tobermory.

If you want to disconnect, this is one way to do it. For long stretches of the Trans-Canada Highway west of Sault Ste. Marie – amid the rocky shorelines and dramatic climbs – there is no signal. There are also very few people and cars, and a satisfying lack of sirens and leafblowers.

There are also very few businesses. Driving 50-100km for the next cup of coffee, or gas station or tourist trap, is standard. Of the businesses that are in existence, the great majority are independent – not part of a franchise or chain.

Which is perfect, because independent businesses often have the most creative names, something I – and many other potential customers – cannot help but notice and enjoy.

As in (notice how some are so smart, they require no explanation):

Bracebridge

1. Deli Lama & Buddha’s Bakery and Café

Wawa

1. Off the Hook
   – Fish-and-chip restaurant
2. Krazy Fries
3. Faces of Gitchee Goomee
   – A wooden mask-maker using the Ojibwe name for Lake Superior

Manitoulin Island

1. That’s What Cheese Said
2. The Codmothers
   – Fish and chip restaurant
3. Meat Boss
   – Butcher

Tobermory

1. Tacomory
2. The Hungry Hiker
3. The Net Shed
   – Tourist shop in a fisherman’s former net shed

Why are these great names? Because:

They are memorable.
– They use techniques including puns, alliteration and wordplay to anchor in our minds, making it easier for us to give them our repeat business, and refer them to others.

They are meaningful.
– They give us an immediate sense of the value proposition, and hence whether they are for us.

They are attractive.
– They have an element of fun or intrigue, making us want to check them out.

And why is it that very small businesses tend to have more creative names than larger ones?

Naming by committee, which is the trap that larger (and even some smaller) organizations fall into, can be deadly to creativity. After a certain point, extra voices around the table increase the likelihood that someone with especially poor branding / naming judgement will run the process off the rails. You may recognize this as the Dunning-Kruger effect: a psychological phenomenon in which people with low knowledge or skill in an area may overestimate how competent they are.

An owner-operated business is usually in a better position to avoid all of that.

When deciding upon a name for your business, the stakes are very high. An attractive name – a name that attracts your target audience – can make your life so much easier, and a so-so or bad moniker can repel the very customers you seek – and thereby stunt or kill your business.

I have created attractive brand names for many advisors, and also for corporations including Brookfield, Sun Life, Home Trust, Revera, The National Ballet of Canada, Canadian Tire and more.

Here are some super-short case studies:
Advisor names
Corporate names

 

—

I, not AI, wrote this.

Andris Pone, BA, MBA
President
Coin Branding Inc.
andris@coinbranding.com
1 416 560 0928
www.coinbranding.com