How to pick a brand name for your new business or product

Opinion piece by The Media Lab in Stuff’s Business Section - 30 June 2022

Choosing the right brand name could be one of your most valuable marketing decisions.

Originally appeared in Stuff.co.nz/business - 30 June 2022

Antony Young is a co-founder of The Media Lab (formerly The Digital Café), Wellington’s largest independent media agency.

When Jeff Bezos first had the idea to launch an online bookstore, he planned to call it Cadabra. It wasn’t until his lawyer started mispronouncing it did he decide his venture needed a better name and renamed it Amazon.

About 45,000 businesses are started in Aotearoa every year. Since Covid we’ve seen an explosion of new ventures set up, as Kiwis across the country are coming up with new business ideas, side hustles or acting on a dream to work for themselves.

One important task every entrepreneur makes is to come up with a brand name for their new venture.

What’s the value of a brand name?

If you’re Apple $947 billion dollars! That’s its reported brand value according to global research company Kantar, which released its annual brand value study last week.

About 45,000 businesses are started in Aotearoa every year.

It could be one of the most valuable decisions you make.

So what’s the best way to pick a brand name for your new business?

Here is my best advice after 30 years in the advertising industry.

Think about the customer your business is targeting

Sharesies wanted to introduce investing in the share market to a new generation of millennials and GenZs. That’s why I love its name. It’s approachable and fun. More importantly, it’s accessible to that first-time investor than say, Forsyth Barr.

By the way, there’s nothing wrong with that brand name either, particularly if you’re an older, more conservative investor looking for the reassurance of an established and credible firm in this space. See how it works?

Give a clue to what you do

When you’re doing a start-up, it’s not likely that you will have a lot of money to market yourself. If your brand name can start that marketing job for you, then all the better. Kiwi-owned food delivery service DeliverEasy achieves this.

RocketLab again tells you what they do. One exception to this rule is not falling into the trap of being overly generic, particularly when there are a lot of other competitors out there. A quick search on bed retailers uncovered Beds 4 U, BedsRus, Bed Post, Beds NZ, The Bed Shop, Best Beds and The Bed Store. Pretty hard to stand out, huh. That’s what one London based bed retailer must have thought too, when it named its business Button and Sprung.

Make it easy to remember or find on Google

Sometimes it’s just hard to find a name that isn’t taken, so sometimes there’s a temptation to make up a name. You see it all the time. Brands leave out vowels, such as, Flickr or invent a word that doesn’t exist, for example, parcel delivery company Oberlo.

The advantage is being the only company with that name, but you may also find that customers are unable to recall your brand or find you online. I like campervan rental company Jucy. You might recall their distinctive green vehicles on our motorways, sign written “Google J-U-C-Y.”

Be careful if you’re considering naming your company in Te Reo Māori

Yes of course, you might want to strongly reflect Aotearoa in your brand, but I would exercise caution and absolutely consult an adviser in Te Ao Māori and Te Reo Māori.

A merino wool clothing retailer got into trouble because the store was called Huruhuru, which embarrassingly translates to “pubic hair” (among other things). I also am seeing that there is an expectation by Māori to not commercialise their taonga. A friend recently had to rename her business, as it was pointed out to her the word kōwhai was not hers to use.

Watch the acronyms

I can confess that advertising agencies are some of the worst culprits for this! The largest advertising firms in the world include BBDO, DDB, TBWA not to mention Y&RVML! Bear in mind that New Zealanders have a penchant for shorthand. BNZ, NBR and McD’s are abbreviations of their proper names. To avoid this, try to keep your brand under three words or four syllables.

Finally, make a list

Considering the above, write a long list of possible names. Ask partners, friends and business colleagues to contribute. I recommend brainstorming a list of 15 -20, because once you get past ten you start to get a bit more creative. Take your time to come up with that list. Then pick one, and immediately register the domain name. Remember it could one day be a billion-dollar asset!

Antony Young is a co-founder of The Media Lab (formerly The Digital Café), Wellington’s largest independent media agency. He spent twenty years heading media agencies in New York, London and Asia, before returning back to New Zealand.