IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BRAND NAMES

For Best Performance, Only fill with Premium Creativity

It’s important that you only use premium creativity when developing and driving your name. Filling your name with thin and unoriginal ideas may affect its performance and potentially compromise the health of your brand vehicle. A brand name running on thoughtful, high-octane creativity will provide a much smoother ride.

Steer clear of legal obstacles

It's important that every naming steward understand and appreciate the distinction between domain names and trademarks. Registering your brand name as a URL does not provide you with legal rights to the trademark.

A domain name is an internet address; a trademark is a protectable legal asset. And, while driving a name without a trademark may provide you with some rights, you could be headed for a naming accident. To be safe, have a qualified intellectual property attorney evaluate your name for trademark availability.

RememberYou're developing a brand, not an internet address. You can always modify the domain to resolve URL availability issues.

Your Brand name is just one vehicle for marketing success

A name may be your most important and powerful brand element, but it’s not your only one.

In order for a name to be succesful as a marketing vehicle, it will need to be supported by other brand communications—such as smart graphic design, a complementary tagline, and unified brand messaging. Combining your name with the proper hardware will optimize your brand’s performance and ensure you get the most out of your brand name.

(See “Optional Hardware’ for more information on name accoutrements).

Remember You only get out of your brand vehicles what you put in. High grade creativity leads to high grade brands.

Speeding is dangerous

Everyone wants to get to their destination as quickly as possible. Many people get waylaid in product development or internal naming contests and find themselves behind in their brand development schedules. But do not panic. Speeding is a surefire way to get into a terrible naming accident. Only naming while intoxicated is responsible for more brand fatalities.

Whether you're developing a name yourself, or collaborating with a trained naming specialist, always allow enough time to complete your naming assignment: At a minimum, six weeks from initial concepting to trademark clearance. If you're planning on driving your vehicle in other countries, you should allow a minimum of 10 weeks.