Merriam’s Guide to Naming is clever and enjoyable. Most readers will find it to be a well-rounded lesson in finding a perfect name and then a tool for successful branding that can complement the chosen name. This book provides strong, thorough guidance related to choosing and establishing a brand name. At the same time that Merriam values and emphasizes the power of a strong name, her lessons fully acknowledge that a great name will not, alone, make a venture successful.
The book is friendly, conversational and a quick read. It has a healthy amount of corporate examples to support the author’s rationale with well-recognized examples. However, this book is much more than a listing of “dos” and “don’ts” of creating brand names. The majority of the book focuses on the “how” and, just as importantly, the “why” to naming plus branding guidelines. It will help you to minimize mistakes in your own naming practices, and it will enable you to better evaluate and understand brand names that you observe.
Much of Merriam’s advice challenges long-standing traditions and assumptions, but it is spot-on and supported. For example, she advises how ineffective evaluating names by tossing possibilities around the office can be. She backs this up with a discussion on how familiarity can influence likeability. Acknowledging how frequently ideas are thrown around the office for evaluation, Merriam also encourages awareness of the sensitivities and office politics that can play out when naming a brand.
Merriam’s Guide to Naming is suitable for anyone who has ever contemplated a brand name – from novices to experts, consumers to verbal designers. For novices, the book provides a confidence-building foundation to increase familiarity and comfort with what encompasses a name. Even for those without branding experience, the book is easy to follow and provides interesting examples of corporate identity to tie together the big ideas. For experts, this guidebook provides examples and rationale that will further develop their perceptions of the naming process while also encouraging them to relax and to not put undue pressure onto the brand name itself. Instead, readers are encouraged to consider the larger naming process.
Merriam provides insight relevant to modern times, such as selecting and purchasing an appropriate domain name. In addition to purchasing the desired domain, she soundly recommends buying all surrounding or related sites, as well as sites with common misspellings, so that you do not lose Web traffic. Then, providing even more frank wisdom, Merriam advises that negatively related domain names are also purchased for your brand (such as “yourbrandheresucks.com” or “hateyourbrandhere.com”). While these suggestions may provide much-needed protection and brand saving later on, they are details that are often neglected during the naming and branding process.
While the book focuses mainly on selecting and implementing a name in general, Merriam also supplies specialized guidance for various naming situations. For example, she advises when it is best to maintain the influence of a parent brand at the corporate level (for example, Pepperidge Farm’s Goldfish cracker brand does not have its own unique domain). Additionally, she discusses the factors to be considered when choosing to maintain an existing name, combining names or creating a new name in the event of mergers or acquisitions.
The book is a quick read, logically divided into 11 succinct chapters. Each chapter emphasizes the main point with examples from big-name corporations.
The first chapter, The Role of Name in Branding, explains how the name is important but not all that critical. In this chapter, readers consider that American Family Life Assurance Company (AFLAC) is actually the acronym of a long, complex name that was made into a successful brand by connecting it with a quacking duck.
In Chapter 2, Naming Criteria: What Makes a Good Name, Merriam provides six suggestions for creating a strong name – unusual, distinctive, meaningful, emotionally vivid, ownable and not an acronym.
Chapter 3, Domain Name Hang-Ups and Watch-Outs, advises whether or not a brand needs to own a domain name. Additionally, the chapter focuses on considerations specific to domain names, such as how your domain name reads, how searchable it is and the like.
Chapter 4, Ideas to Consider: Types of Successful Names, is full of examples of successful names as well as names that never should have been chosen. Not an advocate for acronyms, Merriam also suggests caution when creating amalgams but is more optimistic for names including alliteration and rhyme, appropriation and a founder’s name. Geographic locations, such as the street Marlboro is named after, are also another suggestion.
Chapter 5, Naming Process Overview, recommends five fundamental steps for choosing a name. These stages are – in their prescribed order – preparatory research, creative brief, name generation, evaluation and selection and implementation.
Chapter 6, The Creative Brief, encourages marketing teams to create a written document that shows the brand’s differentiation and outlines the brand name along with what it stands for, the market, competitors, strategy and implications.
Chapter 7, Evaluating Names, focuses on establishing clear, objective criteria for name evaluation and selection. Descriptions of formal research tactics, as well as cheap ways of getting brand name impressions, are discussed.
Chapter 8, Naming Mergers and Acquisitions, addresses the special challenge of naming merged companies. Merriam discusses the advantages and disadvantages of retaining a singly name (MARS) creating combination names (ExxonMobil), and creating a new name (Verizon), as well as suggests factors to consider in making such a decision.
Chapter 9, Implementing the Name, formulates a plan for successful execution of the chosen brand name. Advice is provided for claiming appropriate domain names, securing a trademark, designing a fitting logo, creating verbal content and creating a strong first impression both within your company and publicly.
Chapter 10, Name Architecture, discusses branding hierarchy and portfolio issues, when companies have multiple brand names with which they identify and or promote. Rationale is provided for whether a company should have one name for everything, multiple names, a hybrid approach to multiple names or a mixed approach. Strategic considerations are provided for the readers to decide which solution would fit their situation best.
Chapter 11, Making a Worthy Name, provides a concise overview of the book’s key points, as well as a sense of encouragement for those approaching the naming process. In this final chapter, Merriam reminds readers that the five important things to remember are:
follow a process;
dig deep;
don’t do boring;
what you like doesn’t matter; and
look at the big picture.
I would recommend this book, without reservation, to any reader who has ever wondered, “Why did they call it that?” No matter the level of expertise. It is thought-provoking, thorough but not boring and just a delightful read in general.
