New York Series: Naming a Brand

This is the oldest marketing lesson in the book – What to call our brand. It seems it doesn’t matter how many times the story is told, but some businesses never seem to learn. Here’s a bad example of a clothing brand name which I saw in Bloomingdale’s today.

acne

Yep, Acne. Which means pimples here in Australia. I’m surprised it even made it instore. So here’s the startup blog rules for brand names. Which I’ll keep short:

  • Try to invent a word that currently has no meaning. (our job is to invent meaning under it)
  • Ensure you can ‘own it’ globally. (No confusion, registerable)
  • Make sure it doesn’t mean something ridiculous, in your country or another.

That’s all that matters in real terms. Other rules are made up by people who are focused on stuff which doesn’t really have much to do with brand building.

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One thought on “New York Series: Naming a Brand

  1. That really is a shocker. What were they thinking??

    A bit of research tells me that they are a Swedish mob and it stands fo:r

    Ambition to
    Create
    Novel
    Expressions

    Nverthless it’s a hideous name…

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