( naming )
Naming is a sales problem
Clients often bring us a shortlist of names they like. We ask a different question: which one can a salesperson say a hundred times a week without having to spell it?
The phone test
Every name we shortlist goes through a simple check. One of us calls a colleague, says the name once and asks them to type it into a search bar. If they get it wrong, the name costs you money on every call, every referral and every podcast mention.
When we named Kova Skincare, the founders loved a longer Danish word with two silent letters. It failed the phone test four times out of five. Kova passed every time, and it still sounds like skin care in three languages.
We run the test with people outside the project, ideally one from each market you sell in. A name that works in Lisbon can trip up a buyer in Hamburg, and you want to hear that before the trademark search, not after the signs are printed.
What we check before a name reaches you
- Can someone spell it after hearing it once?
- Is the .com or the country domain free, or cheap to buy?
- Is it clear of trademarks in the classes you sell in?
- Does it mean something rude in the biggest languages of your market?
- Can it carry a second product without sounding wrong?
Most names fail on the first two points, long before a lawyer sees them. That is good news, because those checks cost nothing and take an afternoon.
“We stopped spelling our name on the phone. That alone paid for the rebrand.”
Liking comes later
Nobody falls in love with a name on day one. The partners of a logistics firm we renamed in 2023 called their new name boring in the first workshop. Six months after launch, their clients were using it as a verb in emails.
A name grows on people when it is easy to use. So we make sure it is easy first, and leave the liking to time and good work.
