Branding is more than finding a new name or image. It’s about developing a compelling promise and making the right impression, one that resonates and stands out. It is strategic, with the long-term goal of cultivating a relationship of trust and loyalty. But a smart and meaningful brand will generate that positive first impression that is so essential to attracting your target customers.
Our fascination with fashion brands, sometimes outrageous, extends from companies to products and even novel names for types of consumers: Baby Boomers, and then Generation X, Y and now Z. Millennials (that is, Generation Y, born in 1980-1995) are in fashion. now, as they represent the largest generation of purchasing power, spending $ 200 billion per year. They also tend to be social activists and very entrepreneurial. The 2014 Deloitte survey found that 6 in 10 Millennials cited their company’s sense of purpose as part of the reason they chose their job, while only 12% identified “personal gain” as a priority. Additionally, a 2014 Bentley University study revealed that 66% of Millennials want to start their own business.
However, this market segment is very diverse and dynamic. Among Millennials, there are some interesting subgroups, each with catchy brand archetype names, defined primarily by their values and buying behavior. For instance:
• Yuppies: young urban professionals, with a well-paying job and a wealthy lifestyle, a predecessor of the true Millennials. It’s not a new archetype (the 1986 Newsweek cover story, the “Year of the Yuppie”), but it’s still used to describe the most successful guys, those with lots of new money bought before the 2008 recession.
• Muppies: The current version of the yuppie (that is, the Millennial-Yuppie hybrid), the Millennial after the financial crisis, are also driven by ideals for success, status, and their quest to really be important. ” cool “. But the path to that “desirable life” is not the same. The Lehman collapse made it clear that the Muppies would not reap the same monetary and social rewards as the yuppies before them. You may be working at a prestigious law firm or bank, but you will soon be leaving to start a new company or a company run by someone under 40. While the yuppies found ways to manipulate the markets to get a healthy payout, the Muppies are finding ways to make their profits. business to change the world.
• Hipsters: They probably live in hot neighborhoods in Brooklyn (for example, Williamsburg) or San Francisco, are countercultural, value independent thinking, appreciate art and indie-rock, and are associated with edgy vintage fashions and more progressive preferences in comparison. with culture. protected mainstream consumers. They can even be trust fund graphic designers who enjoy warehouse parties.
• Yuccies – the newest archetype, a cultural offshoot of yuppies and hipsters – the “young urban creatives.” Yuccies thinks hipsters are mainstream now, a generic. They describe themselves as more creative, with more valuable ideas and believe that they deserve to pursue their dreams and even profit from them.
Yuces define themselves by their purchases, driven by both price and taste, as long as the purchased material validates their intellect. Named after the writers, Warby Parker glasses appeal to them the most because these cheap frames make for a literary feel.
The challenge of creating attractive names extends to companies and products. A recent article in The Economist on “Nine Billion Company Names: Companies Are Devising Increasingly Dumb ways to Identify themselves” revealed how difficult it is today to find that ideal name, one that conveys the essence of personality. Of the brand. .
The name development business has never been more hectic due to today’s unprecedented rate of startups and the ease and desire to go global, which is why they are seeking acceptance in many languages. There are some basic guidelines for creating memorable names, for example, short and simple (2-3 syllables max), they should reflect the personality of the brand, evoke emotions, sound good, and of course, be distinctive and protectable. The tech boom has given rise to unique names like Google, which is derived from the mathematical term of ten to the power of 100 (a “googol”), and it also has the advantage of being used as a verb. On the other hand, some naming experts have described Yahoo as “tediously crazy” and PayPal as too familiar. They also consider “Mondelez,” the new name for Kraft / Nabisco’s snack division, to be bland and “soulless,” with no human face on the company’s brand.
The pharmaceutical industry faces other challenges. They are highly regulated and most prescription drugs have names that primarily appeal to physicians who are in love with the more scientific or medical sounding names. For these Rx products, many pharmaceutical companies are using a new discipline, “Phonology.” This involves linking the raw sounds of vowels and consonants with the desired emotional impressions for the new brands.
Research by linguists and neuroscientists has shown how certain speech sounds affect the emotional and subconscious relationship with a brand, even in foreign languages. For example, the use of “x”, “z” and “c” imply power and innovation, hence there are so many pharmaceutical names with these letters, eg Nexium, Clarinex, Xanax, Zyban, etc. Similarly, the letter “x” is used frequently in the world of high technology, looking for a connotation of action, for example, “Matrix”, X-Files “, and so on.
While many companies are obsessed with developing names that stand out, even going to the absurdity in some cases, the personality and promise of the brand should always be the main compass in developing that ideal brand name. At the end of the day, common sense should prevail.