What makes a name successful?

In order to be commercially successful, a name must achieve two goals:

1. Have a successful launch (‘stick’ in the customer’s memory instantly).
2. Retain the customer’s attention long-term (Creativity in the name is what ensures this).

Stickiness (the main quality)

A recent online contest has complete strangers giving their input on product (or website ) names. In theory, this sounds like a winning idea. In reality, these are some of the names that came out of the exercise:

1. Kareero.com – Career Oriented Website /Personal Branding
2. Sheppard Systems – Online Church Communications Tool (even shepherd isn’t spelled right)
3. Givolution – Online Gift Cards
4. www.know-a-pro.com – Connecting professional services with customers

It doesn’t take long to realize that NONE of the names above will make it commercially. It is hard to even remember a single one of them.  Just opening up the naming exercise to the whole world does not necessarily yield a good result.  There is a huge difference between a ‘catchy’ name and one that will succeed commercially. ‘Catchiness’ does not translate to ‘stickiness’. Stickiness is the quality that you are after – iPod, Google, Facebook, Xerox – these are names  that stick. Zune or Streak   ( although catchy ) – do not.

Stickiness in a name ensures a successful launch.

Creativity (the second most important quality)

Galaxy (Samsung) is a name that has stuck – primarily because of the huge market share of the product. However, the name lacks all creativity. Galaxy could easily have been Universe  or Globe – none of these take a lot of imagination to conjure up. This is important – because such names – though initially successful – will fail to capture the human imagination (and eventually fail long term).

Creativity in the name ensures longevity.

In Summary (Remembering the Walkman)

When was the last time you bought (or even saw) a ‘walkman’? Yet – you know exactly what it is (and will – for the rest of your life) – because the name has creativity (as does the name iPod).

To ensure that you pick a name that has a chance of succeeding in the business world, your name needs to have certain survival instincts. These include:

1. Stickiness and
2. Creativity

Without these qualities, your name is doomed to zune or streak out of the consumer’s imagination – before you can say Betamax.

About the Author

Anuj Varma has been naming websites and products since the early 90s (when YAHOO was just a weak, muted ‘yippee’). Some of his successes include eConsultancy (a leading digital marketing site), AdverSite (a registered trademark), EssayTopia (a leading essay editing service) – and names for consumer products. He specializes in tech industry naming. In his spare time, he assists friends and family with names their babies will not entirely hate as the grow older.

He can be consulted via his website – thenameconsultant.us