Clients often ask us, “Now that I have a new company name, what’s next?” There’s still much to do, from announcing your name internally and externally to handling legal and administrative details. Catchword has developed a document called “Launching Your New Company Name” to help guide you through key elements of the process.

Here are a few excerpts from the section on Technology. You can download the whole thing in PDF form here.

Once you’ve changed your company name, don’t forget to:

If you find you need professional help, give us a call. We have strong relationships with firms that specialize in highly effective name launches.

All previous posts in this series:

Legal and Administrative
Marketing and Identity
Internal Communications
External Communications

Tags: company name launch, Launching Your New Company Name, Name Launch, new company name
Posted in Catchword, Company Naming, Name Launch | 1 Comment

Clients often ask us, “Now that I have a new company name, what’s next?” There’s still much to do, from announcing your name internally and externally to handling legal and administrative details. Catchword has developed a document called “Launching Your New Company Name” to help guide you through key elements of the process.

Here are a few excerpts from the section on External Communications. You can download the whole thing in PDF form here.

Once you’ve changed your company name, don’t forget to:

If you find you need professional help, give us a call. We have strong relationships with firms that specialize in highly effective name launches.

Next Friday: Technology
Previous Post: Internal Communications

Tags: company name launch, Launching Your New Company Name, Name Launch, new company name
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I am happily addicted to caffeine – until I skip my normal morning dose. There follows an inevitable sluggishness and an afternoon headache. As this is immediately cured by a cup of coffee I haven’t seen much reason in the last few years to quit. Scientific findings oscillate between praise for coffee’s health benefits and the risks or detrimental effects on the body. I usually stick to reading the good findings, but this recent article in the NY Times provides a nice synopsis.

Product branding is starting to pick up on the “good for you” aspects of coffee that attempt to shift the beverage from an indulgent vice into the medicinal cure-all. Some relatively new products highlight coffee that incorporates supplements or that is specially roasted for unique health benefits. The product branding of Caffe Botanica communicates the health of the harvest and is infused with calcium while GanoDerma draws on the Latin name of the Reishi mushrooms that are included in its special recipe (and perhaps unintentionally, that it is good for the skin). Caffe Sanora gets the roots of its name in “sano” which means healthy in Spanish. This Boulder, Colorado roasting company, claims its roasting process keeps anti-oxidants in beans that will help keep you young while getting what you need to get through the day.

For now I’m happy to take my coffee with milk and no mushrooms, but you never know which new branding gimmick is going to catch on next.

Tags: Brand Naming, Branding, Company Naming, Food Branding, In-the-News, product branding
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Clients often ask us, “Now that I have a new company name, what’s next?” There’s still much to do, from announcing your name internally and externally to handling legal and administrative details. Catchword has developed a document called “Launching Your New Company Name” to help guide you through key elements of the process.

Here are a few excerpts from the section on Internal Communications. You can download the whole thing in PDF form here.

Once you’ve changed your company name, don’t forget to:

If you find you need professional help, give us a call. We have strong relationships with firms that specialize in highly effective name launches.

Next Friday: External Communications
Previous Post: Marketing & Identity

Tags: company name launch, Launching Your New Company Name, Name Launch, new company name
Posted in Catchword, Company Naming, Name Launch | No Comments

Tea for what ails you. Tea to help you fall in love (no promises here, at least not in that potential-lawsuit false advertising way). Tea for relaxing in the evening and getting wired in the morning. Tea that makes you (seem) spiritual. Product branding has converged with poetry in the exploding tea market, and I’ve been noticing names that fall far beyond what the creators of “Constant Comment” ever dreamed. Specialty teas are making sure to separate themselves from the fray with names that stray far from simple descriptive naming. Care for some “Iron Goddess of Mercy” or Temple of Heaven”?

The Bay Area’s own Numi Tea can offer you an evocative cup of “Moonlight Spice” (White Orange Spice) and maybe later you’ll meet the “Monkey King” (who tastes like Jasmine Green Tea). “Indian Night” is meant to transport you from your kitchen – under the power of a single teabag. These names speak to us in terms of interesting and exotic associations, but also of the quality of the product.

Celestial Seasonings is the classic cardboard box found in cupboards across America, a company name that is familiar and comforting. In an attempt to update its image new trademarked teas have been introduced with product names like “Morning Thunder”, “Fast Lane Black Tea” and “Chocolate Caramel Enchantment Chai”. These tea names get at an American sweet tooth and driving need for caffeine, but they are also catchy and evocative.

Unique company names are the first step in conveying that the product is much more than some plants you pour boiling water on. I’m a fan of Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, a company name that momentarily includes me in a romantic take on gypsy life. (They make “Love Tea” blended with tiny rose buds.) Mighty Leaf, another producer of fine teas, presents the juxtaposition of a diminutive tea “leaf” with the image of mighty muscles. This appealing and unexpected combination draws you in with the expectation that the tea will also be out of the ordinary and packs a punch that its competitors don’t.

Tags: Brand Naming, branding company naming, Food Branding, Product Naming
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So putting aside the atrociousness of the name (seriously, this could be the worst company name ever launched), this new “Google-Killer” is not ready for prime time. I had to check it out, what with all the publicity it has received. Alas, the folks at Google can still rest easy. The folks at Cuil aren’t going to threaten their dominance any time soon.

Best part for me: the search for “naming” revealed two hilarious search results –

1) An old press release about Catchword hiring Mark Skoultchi in New York. The result itself was not so funny (if a bit out of date — Mark has been a partner in the firm now for several years). But the photo that they paired with it … priceless. IT’S NOT MARK. In fact, it kind of looks like George Stephanapolous. Random.

2) A reference to my old company, Master-McNeil (who wisely reserved “naming.com” an eternity ago). Again, the reference was not so funny, but the photo that went with it was a screen shot of SnarkHunting (another naming company’s blog site). Whoops. How does that happen?

A few friendly words of advice from your neighborhood naming consultant: Change the name, then change the algorithm and start all over again. Can’t do any worse than the first time around, on either count.

Tags: Name Launch, search engine, technology naming
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Clients often ask us, “Now that I have a new company name, what’s next?” There’s still much to do, from announcing your name internally and externally to handling legal and administrative details. Catchword has developed a document called “Launching Your New Company Name” to help guide you through key elements of the process.

Here are a few excerpts from the section on Marketing and Identity. You can download the whole thing in PDF form here.

Once you’ve changed your company name, don’t forget to:

If you find you need professional help, give us a call. We have strong relationships with firms that specialize in highly effective name launches.

Next Friday: Internal Communications
Previous Post: Legal and Administrative

Tags: company name launch, Launching Your New Company Name, Name Launch, new company name
Posted in Catchword, Company Naming, Name Launch | 1 Comment

Central coastal California is a heaven of fruits and vegetables in the summer. The Berkeley farmers’ markets showcase a kaleidoscope of luscious produce and a walk down the line will reveal some equally beautiful names. Many of the farm names have stories that are as organic as the vegetables, but they follow principles that are familiar to those of us at a professional naming firm.

Unique and memorable names for farms in California include: Full Belly Farm, Blossom Bluff Orchards, Gospel Flat Farm and Ella Bella Farm which all telegraph quality produce that is grown with great care. The recent local and organic movement has people thinking a lot more about where their food is grown and where it’s coming from. Distinct, creative farm names separate smaller farms from large-scale industrial agribusiness that probably doesn’t have a name in the supermarket. “People know us as the dirty girls – even Joe (the farmer) gets tagged as one although he bristles a little at that sometimes. They remember us,” says Sierra Schlesinger smiling easily while selling two pounds of shelling beans. The farm gets its name from the original owners; two women who tried to call it Fan Tan Farm in 1995. Local farmers nicknamed them the “dirty girls” and the name stuck.

Agriculture relies on brand naming just like any other business. Names make it easier to make a personal connection with the people who grow our food. Frog Hollow Farm’s yellow peaches are indescribably good in both texture and flavor. Flying Disc Ranch’s Aram will let you sample a few different varieties of fresh, soft dates that are more delectable than fine caramel. People remember company names and when the product is consistently good they develop fervent brand loyalty. Dirty Girl Produce’s Early Girl dry-farmed tomatoes have become legendary in the Bay Area and beyond. “Sometimes people don’t even bother to look at the signs,” says Dirty Girl worker Steve Wright, “but they know what they’re looking for and ask you: ‘Are these the Dirty Girl tomatoes?’”

(more…)

Tags: Food Branding
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Clients often ask us, “Now that I have a new company name, what’s next?” There’s still much to do, from announcing your name internally and externally to handling legal and administrative details. Catchword has developed a document called “Launching Your New Company Name” to help guide you through key elements of the process.

Here are a few excerpts from the section on Legal and Administrative. You can download the whole thing in PDF form here.

Once you’ve changed your company name, don’t forget to:

If you find you need professional help, give us a call. We have strong relationships with firms that specialize in highly effective name launches.

Next Friday: Marketing and Identity

Tags: company name launch, Launching Your New Company Name, Name Launch, new company name
Posted in Catchword, Company Naming, Name Launch | 3 Comments

You didn’t create your product or company overnight; so don’t expect to name it overnight either. Naming is a process that works best when ample time is spent exploring the vast creative possibilities. Plan ahead and allocate up to six weeks for a full naming process. The more time you allow, the more time your naming firm has to turn over every stone in the search for your perfect name. A good client will give their naming firm sufficient time to do their job, and in return a good naming firm will provide a fantastic range of naming options.

Unfortunately, extenuating circumstances come up, and sometimes you just don’t have a lot of time. Naming specialists can still help – we know how to turn things around quickly if there’s no other option – within reason, of course!

Still, if you have a choice in the matter, don’t put naming off until the last minute. Call your friendly naming specialists as early as you can.

This is part two in a ten-part CatchThis series. Check back every Monday morning for subsequent naming tips. Check out previous Naming Tips here.

Tags: naming advice, naming experts, naming firm, naming specialist, Naming Tips
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