Blog Archives

What does a naming agency cost?

Years ago when I was researching naming agencies and what they charge, I went to that awesome fountain of knowledge, Wikipedia and looked up Naming Firms (as they call them). Immediately I saw it was dominated by the big guys

Tagged with: ,
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, International Naming, Naming News, Naming Resources, Trademarks

Trademarks can last a long, long time thanks to Mickey Mouse

When people ask me how long a registered trademark is good for, my glib reply is often “How old is Mickey Mouse?” Unlike patents, which typically expire after 17 years or so, trademarks can be renewed every few years. How

Tagged with: ,
Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, International Naming, Naming Education, Naming News, Naming Resources, Retail, Sustainable Brand Names, Trademarks

Brands that grew out of adversity

As the world goes through some tough times right now, it is interesting to see which major brands grew during depressions and wars. Surely there are some lesson to be learned here – not the least of which is press

Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Drinks, International Naming, Name Origins, Naming News, Strange Names, Trademarks

This is not the way to create lasting branding prestige!

Hotix(TM) or Hiitox or maybe  even Hotix-Pro(TM) – these product names have been flying across my screen all week. All pertaining to be the latest Swedish small wall heater plug-in the socket. All with the same photo image. Why would

Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Industrial Products Naming, Name Origins, Naming News, Retail, Rotten Names, Strange Names

+ Names are often a -ve

Just as we happily bid farewell to a bad me too product called Google+, new video services come online called Disney + and Apple +.  Walt Disney and Steve Jobs must be turning in their graves. Doesn’t management get that

Tagged with: , , , , ,
Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Domain Names, International Naming, Name Origins, Naming Education, Naming News, Rotten Names, Sustainable Brand Names, Trademarks

French Bee instead of French Blue – except in logo

While the current news is sensationalizing the potential airstrikes over the end of August in France and British Isles (and outside Europe too), the budget French airline company is buzzing  along nicely amongst happy travellers. They really are flying  higher

Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Hospitality & Travel, International Naming, Name Changes, Name Origins, Naming News, Retail, Strange Names, Transportation

$12 million to get their own names back!

What is a name worth? The National Park Service (NPS) and their concessionaire Aramark for Yosemite National Park have announced they recently settled their trademark dispute with the former concession licensee Delaware North Corp. (DNC) for a mere total over

Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Hospitality & Travel, Naming News, Public Site Naming, Trademarks

A Tribute to James Burke

Those of you old enough to have watched television in the 1980s may remember James Burke, host and driving force behind my all-time favorite science documentary series, Connections. In each episode, Burke would start with some scientific advancement, show how

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, International Naming, Naming Education, Naming News, Strange Names, Technology Names, Trademarks, Transportation

Name of the Week – Mail Chimp

For a long time I have wondered how Mail Chimp grew so big so quickly, despite some formidable competitors like Constant Contact, Vertical Response or emailforce.io. The more I looked at it the more it seemed to me they did

Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Name Changes, Naming News, Strange Names, Trademarks

It takes some spunk to name your company Splunk.

When I first heard the name Splunk® I thought how cool a name it was. Surely one of those new mobile apps for and by millennials. No, rather it is the name of a back end data server and privacy

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Name Origins, Naming Education, Naming News, Technology Names, Trademarks

Recent Naming Articles

Brand insider articles from an experienced marketing team.

Mar 2023: Pricing your naming project

Oct 2021: The devil is in the trademark details

Mar 2019:The Power and Value of a Trademark

Jan 2019:4 common branding mistakes

Oct 2018: You named it What?

Linked In

Share this page on LinkedIn:


See his industry naming commentary (where he takes a critical look at names) via the blog on this site