Naming Education

Blog Archives

Mooboo – The Best Bubble Tea for You

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Athol

“MooBoo Bubble Tea” has been hitting the headlines lately but not as a great product name. Instead there are the controversial issues regarding alleged unpaid hours issues (thankfully now resolved legally.) I wonder whether this burst the bubble of MooBoo…

Who owns that consumer brand?

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Athol

Recently there have been another spate of questions on Quora and other online forums about product brand vs company brand, especially from new marketeers or entrepreneurs wrestling with these issues. Admittedly it is different in small startups from the big…

Even AARP supports trademarking

Posted on October 12, 2016 by Athol

In a recent article, AARP News wrote about elderly people still having time to come up with million dollar inventions. And yes, of course, they talked about patents – and often how unlikely that would be. But in a sidebar…

Why you need to register your trademark

Posted on September 21, 2016 by Athol

A lawyer once made it very clear to me. He said if you ever have a dispute over a name, and you end up in court, then the party with the registered trademark stands up and says: “Judge, I have…

American Express – Perfect name for a credit card

Posted on August 17, 2016 by Athol

I can’t imagine anyone nowadays saying American Express isn’t anything but a perfect name for a high class credit card. But in reality, this was originally a name for a freight company along the lines of other Pony Express services.…

Tagged with: Creative Naming
Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Hospitality & Travel, Naming Education, Trademarks

How to select a naming agency.

Posted on August 7, 2016 by Athol

How to select a Naming Agency Before you can select a naming agency it is prudent to understand what kind of agencies and consultants are out there. They fall into 4 broad categories: 1. Big Company Full Service Agencies: These…

Rules for race horse names are rules for your product names

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Athol

On the eve of the second leg of the Triple Crown, NBC Sports recently ran a little video explaining the rules associated with naming race horses. Turns out that the American Stud Book, Principal Rules and Procedures actually lays out…

How to name your solar company or products

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Athol

Last time I calculated carefully, there was a solar startup about every four and half hours in the USA alone. Even if that has now slowed down to two a day (probably unlikely or very conservative), what are you going…

A classy brand as soon as you hear the name.

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Athol

If you are going to name your company after yourself, as so many do, it really helps when you have a last name as impactful as Alan Revere does. But he didn’t stop there. So today when I review the…

Posted in Branding, Naming Education, Trademarks

How can you legally share a trademarked name?

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Athol

Believe it or not, trademarked names can be shared by different companies. Even companies in a similar line of business and hence trademark category. But there has to be a mutually agreeable (and usually long term) contract in place. Sometimes…

Posted in Branding, Naming Education, Trademarks