Creating a memorable name is just one part of the recipe for success in today’s marketplace. Before you take the new name or name change plunge, note that NameStormers offers brand strategy development, new name testing, logo design, brand audits, competitive research and other services essential to create a strong foundation from which your brand name can thrive. In today’s competitive market, a new brand name has to do more than just capture your audience for a fleeting moment, it has to be unique enough to stop them in their tracks.

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Our focus is always on the most important attribute – memorability. Our typical new name or name change engagement is quick, efficient, affordable, professional, enjoyable and most importantly, successful. We promise to work with you for a fixed cost until you are satisfied. Delivering great names is our passion, and we’re confident that you’ll be happy with the results. Just take a look at our clients’ testimonials (see the Praise for NameStormers column to the right)– we’re on a first-name basis with most of our customers.

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Some names stand alone perfectly. Other names are elevated to a whole new level when you add a tagline. Whether it’s product literature, ad copy, collateral material, web pages or web banners, names don’t have to stand alone. We develop taglines as part of our normal new name development or name change process. If you already have a name and you’re looking to find the perfect tagline, our creative team will come up with one that fits your company’s needs.

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In today’s marketplace, many names must cross borders and work on a global level. We can tailor your name development to cross these boundaries by including International Trademark Screening at the end of our normal name development or name change process. Early on, we pre-screen all of our name ideas for trademark issues in the U.S. and Canada, giving you more viable name ideas to consider. Whenever you are ready, we will perform a “deeper” preliminary international trademark screening on your top names using the Thomson & Thomson International databases, and supplement this with search engine checks to ensure exclusivity and avoid confusion.

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Just because a name is perfect in English, doesn’t mean it’s ready to debut globally. Your name should have positive connotations at home and abroad, which is why we can quickly perform a cursory check for negative meanings in multiple languages. We can also complete more detailed linguistic checks, using native linguists in each targeted language, dialect and/or country. Findings on pronunciation, translatability, negative connotations, associated meanings and overall cultural suitability will be presented and reviewed with you.

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Name testing research gives you key insights into a prospect’s reactions to your top name candidates and the reasons for those reactions. It provides you with external feedback that is often critical in selecting THE name. NameStormers uses a hybrid research methodology that combines the benefits of quantitative testing with “deeper dive,” one-on-one probing. The results provide both the statistical validity you need to make your name selection and the qualitative data for understanding the “why” behind your prospects’ scores and comments. Our process includes questionnaire development, sample selection, on-line quantitative and one-on-one qualitative interviewing, data analysis and graphical presentation of the results.

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Making the right first impression often begins with a great name and a great logo. One that grabs your audience, stands out from the competition, and makes your customers and employees feel inspired the moment that they see it. As experts in logo creation, we begin with a variety of initial concepts to give you a full range of choices. With your feedback, we create a more focused set of secondary concepts before arriving at your final logo choice. The logo is delivered to you in a variety of digital formats for use on letterhead, signage, advertising, web sites and more.

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A Nomenclature System helps you maintain a coherent, consistent naming structure throughout your organization by identifying the “rules” to follow for all new product naming.

We typically begin a Nomenclature System engagement with an evaluation of your existing names. We conduct in-house and external research and gather existing company and brand collateral. As we start identifying different ways to handle your current and future naming needs, we will conduct intermediate project reviews and Q&A sessions with you. Towards the end of the project, final name development guidelines, naming templates and a transition strategy will be presented and approved by you.

One of several key deliverables during the course of a typical project will help you formalize and communicate this process to others in your organization. This Naming Decision Tree, similar to the one shown in the link below, outlines the process everyone in your organization should follow in determining the type of new name needed. See Naming Decision Tree Diagram

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Some clients want to move beyond a simple Nomenclature System to a comprehensive Brand Name Architecture. While a Nomenclature System provides the specific guidelines for how to develop future names, a Brand Name Architecture examines the strategic relationships between all of your brands, your brand hierarchy, the messaging associated with each, how to optimize your brand portfolio and much more.

Once constructed, your Brand Name Architecture will provide a clear road map of where you are today and where you need to go to maximize Brand ROI throughout the company. It will provide you with the tools to educate everyone in the company regarding the value of your brands and how to effectively nurture them.

While the traditional tree structure is one way to portray a brand architecture, we also evaluate other ways including Brand Molecules. First popularized by Sam Hill and Chris Lederer in their book, The Infinite Asset: Managing Brands To Build New Value, the molecule lets you analyze and tweak more complex relationships than a simple tree structure allows. It highlights the relationships and roles between brands, sub-brands, product families and external influencers. It helps identify the future actions required to optimize the Brand Name Architecture (what brands need to be pruned or added, how should equity be transitioned, where should messaging be re-focused). The fictitious Tiger example in the link below could represent a line of high performance speed boats. See Tiger Brand Molecule

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We’ll audit your current brand portfolio and help you decide what is and what isn’t working. We benchmark competitors’ brand architectures, positioning, strengths and weaknesses, then show you how to leverage your brands to realize your biggest competitive opportunities.

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Over the years, we have developed relationships with other firms that are leaders in their respective fields.  Here is a partial list:

1. Brand Solutions, a Seattle-based brand positioning and strategy firm that provides on-site seminars, research and more.
2. CKPT Law is a business and technology focused law firm in Dallas providing patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret litigation, licensing and more.
3. Design North, a highly-regarded package design firm located north of Chicago in Racine, Wisconsin.
4. Fitzgerald+CO, headquartered in Atlanta, is one of the most respected advertising agencies in the Southeast.
5. Satow Strategies, a leading brand positioning and marketing strategy firm in Phoenix.
6. Shine Strategic, an experienced, Austin-based marketing communications organization.