Why a brilliant brand name matters for business success

A company or product name is arguably its most valuable brand asset. And yet it’s often unprotected, or worse, a potential liability, ready to pull down the whole house of cards.

What do The Porterhouse Group, Kylie Jenner, Diageo and Beyoncé have in common? All four have been involved in costly trademark disputes involving brand names. We’ll come to some of these and other interesting examples shortly. But first, a small bit of context.

For consumer businesses – and even in the corporate world – a brand is the most valuable entity a business has as it seeks to capture everything the company represents and stands for. The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science created what it calls a “distinctive asset grid” which helps organisations pick out the assets that best represent their brand, as measured by fame and uniqueness.

Typically, there are no more than three or four key brand codes or assets (eg logo, colour or typeface) that are core to the brand’s distinctiveness. As most marketers know too well, it’s all about being recognised (think McDonald’s golden arches or Coke’s unique bottle shape), especially when it comes to the moment of consumer purchase or decision-making.

I spoke recently with Jenni Romaniuk, research professor at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, who explained how, “The name is the brand, it’s how you know other things are distinctive assets, because they evoke that name. I refer to it as direct branding – using the name or indirect branding – using another device to evoke the name, which are your distinctive assets”.

Why then do some business owners, marketers and even brand managers give it so little consideration? By consideration, I don’t mean interest. Most of us love naming things; our kids, pets, houses and so on. Perhaps because it’s relatively easy, and such a personal thing to do, we therefore bring this thinking into business. A name can have an emotional resonance or meaning for people and so the criteria for selecting one can often be very subjective. Therein lies the trap that many fall into.

As most marketers know too well, it's all about being recognised

Read the full article in The Irish Times.