A good brand name sounds good

Many famous brands have tong-twisting names. We can think of Swarovski, Google, or Pernod-Ricard. And it didn’t prevent them from becoming successful. So what makes a good brand name?

A brand is often the company or division name plus the product or model name, like in Génifique from Lanc?me, DS 7 Crossback by DS Automobiles, or Bing by Microsoft. Through these 3 cases, we will see how to create more or less winning combinations.

Using the family name is in many cases the choice solution - from Dyson to Chanel – unless it doesn’t sound so good.

When Armand Petitjean decided to quit the business partnership with perfume maker Fran?ois Coty (who since then founded the eponym brand) to create his own beauty products brand, he considered that nor his surname, nor his hometown of Saint-Loup, he just thought of, sounded very feminine. The founding team opted therefore for a nearby forest and castle called Lancosme. Inspired by luxury big names like Vend?me: the brand Lanc?me was born.

Petitjean wanted a French-sounding name to differentiate from American competitors. The name sounds round with the letters “l”, “m”, and “?”, and powerful with the sound ‘k’. Sensory research on logos and packaging shows that a congruent combination of sound and shape improves the customer experience (Spence 2012). Key is to align the sound with the brand codes. For instance, Swarovski sounds sharp and cold like a crystal. It is worth highlighting that “k” is an over-represented letter in the brand names protected by Fortune 500 companies. The K- trend started in the US in the 80’s with KFC, Coca-Cola, and continues with Starbucks or Carrefour. 

Pernod-Ricard is not easy to pronounce, even for French-speaking folks, particularly after a few glasses. The brand became Ricard. In the same way, Louis Vuitton is better known under its initials LV. After truncation and acronymization, nicknaming is trending. 

In China for instance, Génifique, Lanc?me leading beauty serum, has been renamed "the little black bottle" 小黑瓶. It is worth mentioning that Lanc?me and Génifique sound twice as strong and strengthen admirably the already massive dimension of the black flask. The raising cosmetics brand SK-II saw its star product SK-II facial treatment essence nicknamed “magic water” 神仙水and the mother company Procter & Gamble had the good reflex to trademark and protect this nice nickname. 

Even Paul Allen and Bill Gates almost called their company Allen & Gates, but inspired by leading brand IBM, they opted for the concatenation od Software and Microprocessor that lead to Microsoft. But where does Bing come from? It was to be feared, from a focus group. The name symbolizing discovery, a bit like Eurêka, has been selected for Microsoft search engine as it is simple, easy to remember, and this in all languages. As Google is coming back to a more straightforward denomination with Google Search for its Adwords and Double-Click services, one might wonder whether Microsoft Search would not have been a clearer name choice, in the first place. Issue is that in one of the main target markets for Microsoft (where Google is not welcome) China, Bing 病 means sick. Luckily for the Asian launch, a local employee suggested last minute to translate Bing into Bi Ying 必应 which means “will find the answer” – phew! 

When global brands sinicize their name, they try at least to reproduce the original brand name ‘s sound, and whenever possible to find a name that conveys the brand codes, like Coca-Cola that became ? ke kou ke le ?, which means ? tasty and makes you happy?. Carrefour also hit the Jackpot with the translation 家乐福 Jialefu which means ? home, fun, and good fortune ? : it could have been worse.

DS Automobiles is a fascinating example of a star product, here a car model, that became a brand, a company. Presidential car of all times, the DS symbolizes innovation but also elegance. DS, pronounced déesse, presents both performance-related qualities with the “s” but is also round with the “d”. For performance- related or technical products, a technical name like the new DS7 makes sense. The additional Crossback denomination illustrates better the vehicle itself, more massive and stocky than previous models, because first SUV by DS. When the brothers Michelin launched their maps and guides, secretly hoping it would make drivers travel more kilometers, they managed the tour de force of creating legendary brands in as different categories as tires and gastronomy. The Michelin Guide is so popular that its nickname has become its brand name : The Red Guide, and Americans are even convinced that Michelin is an American company.

Here are 5 points to watch for your brand name:

1. The sound of the name has to be consistent with the brand codes (personality, origins)

2. The meaning of the name doesn’t matter, as long as it doesn’t mean something silly in one of the target countries 

3. Being simple is not mandatory as a product with complex brand codes calls for a complex name 

4. A nickname is a plus, a competitive advantage to be protected

5. The product’ s specificity: creating a product that stands out is the real key of success

When it sounds good, best is to use a surname for the brand, like Louboutin or Michelin, or a firstname, think of Tiffany, Maxim’s, or Mercedes. Why go without a mythology god like Hermès, the messenger, or a goddess/ DS. Place names like BMW, literally the Bavarian motors (“Bayerische Motoren Werke”) or Lanc?me also work well.

Ideal is to inspire a nickname and why not a product category like Coke or TomTom, or even better, to create a verb : “googling” - a formidable example of a transitive or intransitive verb, depending on the use case. Becoming a verb is synonymous for the brand of total supremacy.

When your personas or target customers, and brand codes are clear, finding the brand name is a simple formality. Good news is that as long as the product is good, users will always find a way to name and most importantly to buy it.

Sources :

Derval, D. (2018). Designing Luxury Brands: The Science of Pleasing Customers Senses. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Derval, D. (2010). The Right Sensory Mix: Targeting Consumer Product Development Scientifically. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

This article has originally been published on Harvard Business Review France website.