Taking a naming seat in the consumer realm

Recently I visited a very large home improvement store called Lowes. It still amazes me how big they are even when there are three or four others nearby that I can drive to in under two hours. I have been visiting them regularly as I try to piece my life back together after the Big Oak fire near Yosemite wiped out my house, cottage and studio office. But even I was surprised when (a) the big display of wheelbarrows that had been outside all summer had disappeared just when I was ready to buy one, and (b) when I turned around inside these big Halloween blow up characters were towering over me. Then I realized it was Sept 1 – and the seasonal change workers had done their magic overnight.

Do these really belong in a home improvement mega store?

On the other hand, further down the bathroom fittings and items aisle I came across this featured display that I recognized immediately was from Brondell, a former client of ours. I noticed right away it was one of their Swash models and felt a big proprietary interest in the name and product. However, later I remembered we didn’t make up that name. It was one they were considering when we arrived on the scene and we did help them solidify on its usage if I recall correctly. Sometimes a key role for a naming consultant is not to make up or provide a client with new names but rather to help them to work through names that are already in play. To advise them on the best usage, to do basic legal and availability checks, and to provide guidance on its proper registration, usage and preservation.

Separately though, it is heart warming to see Brondell do seem to have a successful growing business and are now a Mark Cuban company. When we first met with them they were all crammed in a small office in San Francisco. Since we were based down the freeway in Silicon Valley that may have been why we were selected, or the fact that they saw this as a technology play first and consumer second (more of our usual forte) or simply because the founder was an ex Sony executive as was I too.

Either way it was when more retail companies were selecting us for their naming needs over the traditional consumer-centric naming agencies usually because we brought a different set of coined, unique and available names to the table, and completed projects in much quicker timeframes on a guaranteed results, fixed-price basis.

Finally, here are two of Brondell’s current line of products we named Lumawarm and Breeza alongside Swash that caught my eye in the store:

toilet seat name
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Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Industrial Products Naming, International Naming, Naming News, Retail, Technology Names, Uncategorized

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