You are introducing a new product and need a new brand name. Or, you discover your existing brands overlap and lack distinct identities. Perhaps both.

You certainly can turn to major brand naming companies (for a representataive listing, click here). We, in fact, are particularly impressed with the work done by the company, A Hundred Monkeys. Traditionally, advertising agencies have also provided this service. The going rate today for one brand name with these popular providers is $75,000 or more per name.

Using UnCommon Sense to develop your brand name can cost considerably less and provide similar results. We begin with your brand positioning, making sure it is crystal clear. This includes a written description of the intended target for the product, its benefit and reason why (convincing support for the benefit). Early in the process, the new brand's relationship to existing brands and management's expectations also needs to be clearly understood. We then seek a very clear understanding of the user and how he or she talks about products in this category (FedEx, for example, came directly from customer vernacular). Even evaluating details like the size of the intended package is important (there's not much space on a Tic Tac package!). This whole process takes 6-8 weeks. Our recommended names (usually 6-8) are prescreened for availability through the United States Patent and Trademark Office database.

In general, there are four types of brands:

1. Family or place names (Heinz, McDonald's, Evian, Oneida)
   
2. Abbreviations (AT&T, CBS, IHOP, AOL, IBM, KFC)
   
3. Totally derived names with little or no meaning (Exxon, Lucent, Amazon)
   
4. Derived names that reflect the brand's benefit or offering (Die Hard, Beauty Rest, Lens Crafters, Freedent, Sir Speedy, Nature Made, Acura, Staples)

We favor names in the latter category, like the Yogurt Drinkables example shown here which we developed for a southern California dairy. Even our own name - UnCommon Sense Consulting - reflects this thinking. Why not try the UnCommon approach!

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