Naming in an A.I. Age Episode #12
This week, Adelaide has the pleasure of introducing two more of our NameStormers team members: Megan Dzialo and Ashley Elliott. To ensure we can best satisfy the creative needs of our clients, we offer a diverse collection of minds from a generational perspective. Listen in to this week’s episode to hear about why brands like The Honest Company, Warmies, Patagonia, and Glossier may appeal to the Millennial (the largest group of consumers) and Gen Z (the generation with rising spending power) populations.
Episode Twelve of “Naming in an AI Age” Podcast
Adelaide Brown:
Hi, and welcome to another episode of “Naming in an AI Age” with NameStormers. This week we have some special guests, some extended members of our NameStorming team. We have Ashley and Megan, do y’all wanna introduce yourself, say a little bit about your role, um, we’re excited to have you guys on.
Megan Dzialo:
Sure. It’s about time I finally got on this famous podcast. Um, I’m Megan Dzialo. I’ve been with NameStormers five years or so. Um, I was an elementary school teacher before that and then somehow got into marketing and fell in love with it. And specifically naming, I had no idea that it was a thing, uh, that people actually named things, and when I discovered it, I fell in love with it, so I’ve been doing it for five years. Um, I’m a mom of four kiddos, so that also keeps me busy too. But yeah, that’s me.
Ashley Elliott:
Yeah. And I’m Ashley Elliott, uh, Director of Operations. New, new to the NameStormers team overall. Um, I used to be a teacher for 10 years. This, well, I say basically a decade. It was like nine years, but I count, I count 10. I feel like it’s 10 in teacher years. Um, and I have two really small children, so that’s part of the reason why I transitioned over to NameStormers, and I love it so far. So far so good.
Megan Dzialo:
We love you, Ashley.
Adelaide Brown:
Yeah, we do. She makes our lives easier.
Ashley Elliott:
You gotta say that. But yeah, I appreciate it.
Adelaide Brown:
Um, well I’m really excited to have you both on, as Megan said, it’s about time. Um, these are two of our key team members other than Mike. So, Mike’s had the mic, no pun intended, for the last couple episodes. Um, but we also wanted to mix things up and get a little bit more perspective from Millennial versus Gen Z and just talk about, um, our perspectives, our opinions on naming and some of the projects we’ve worked on. Um, so we’ll jump right into it with the first question. Um, what are some of y’all’s favorite names in the market today? We work with both B2B and B2C, but we all know we prefer the B2C. So, touch on some of those.
Megan Dzialo:
So is it our favorite ones in the market or favorite ones that we have named or either one.
Adelaide Brown:
Either one.
Megan Dzialo:
Okay. I wrote down a few. I’m a mom and so two brand names that stood out to me, were Honest Company, which has been around for a while. But I like Honest cause it’s short, it’s sweet, it’s direct and to the point, but it also feels really safe and gentle and trustworthy. So as a mom obviously we’re looking for products and things that are going to be safe and gentle for our kids. I also like that it’s one word, um, and it doesn’t necessarily say what products they do, but it mainly communicates a value. So, I like Honest. Um, along the same lines of kinda kid, um, not that honest is only kid products, but Jellycat, have you guys heard of Jellycat?
Adelaide Brown:
I don’t think I have.
Megan Dzialo:
Okay. It’s just a stuffed animal company. They just make really high-quality plush animals that, and I buy for my kids and they each get one special one whenever they’re born. And I love the name Jellycat. It’s stuck with me. It is the only stuffed animal company that I know about because of that name. It’s just kind of evocative and weird and it’s like, what’s a jelly cat? And they make a lot more than cats, but they’re called Jellycat.
Ashley Elliott:
Uh, is that one that you microwave?
Megan Dzialo:
No, those are called Warmies, which I love Warmies too. And we also have those, and I like that name. But a few other ones I like, I’m a gin drinker, so I like Boodles gin. I love the name Boodles because it doesn’t sound like anything else that’s out there. Kinda memorable and fun to say. Um, and then another one I had on my list was Liquid Death. And I think we’ve talked about Liquid Death before, which is a water and maybe a tea as well. I think they’ve maybe expanded into the tea category.
Ashley Elliott:
Liquid Death, man, I, when you see it looks like it’s an alcohol but it’s not. So, it, or like a coffee one of those, so I was really surprised when I found out it was water, but yeah.
Megan Dzialo:
Well and you have the tagline with it of “Murder Your Thirst.” You’re like, oh, I get it. I got it and it’s just makes me wanna buy it. So yeah, those are just a few on my list.
Ashley Elliott:
I, um, I guess as a millennial I am all about, um, trying to improve myself and I feel like as I’m starting to age, I’m trying, you know, working with teenagers, I was like, let me just not show my age. So, I feel like I’m really into the beauty stuff currently. Um, so Falscara, I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but it’s basically like the false, so I’m a lash person, like I won’t do anything else, but I’ll do lashes and I have a lash lady, she’s great. Always, always will stick with her. But Falscara was recommended to me by a friend, and I like what it is because it’s literally false lashes, but it’s like you put it on like mascara. So, it’s really easy to use. Wow. And so, I actually like that. It, it’s pretty simple. I probably wouldn’t have just picked it out of like a, you know, cause it’s not like a standout in terms of visual, but it really is, it’s quality product. So that’s, that’s one of mine. Um, and then Coco and Eve, I don’t know if you guys have heard of that. It’s really known for tanning for like, uh, the tanning lotion and application. And I don’t, I was like, “Coco and Eve” never questioned the name at all. And then when I started thinking about this I was like, why is it named Coco and Eve? Like, I didn’t know. So, I looked it up and for me it’s familiar cause it’s Adam and Eve. I was like, oh, okay, Coco and Eve. That makes sense. And then the coco is the product that they use. Like, they use like the natural, smell good type stuff for the, for the fake tan. So, I was like, oh, okay. Well, that makes sense. Um, and it kinda indicates that the product is, is natural.
As a teacher, former teacher, I guess I’m a lifelong teacher, I don’t really know what to even call it these days, but Better Than Paper. I don’t, this is probably like a little niche product, but uh, you know, you have bulletin boards, and I hate, it’s a, it’s a demise. It’s, it’s like the demise of me, like the bulletin board, the paper never actually lasts. Kids like to rip it off. Um, when you start stapling it, you can’t use it again cause you have all these staple holes. And so, a teacher came up with this thing called Better Than Paper. Literally what it is, it’s better than bulletin board paper. And it’s like this vinyl that you can reuse, you can write on, you can, it doesn’t show anything. And it’s actually pretty, pretty solid stuff. I got it last year for the first time and I was like, oh, I will recommend this. But I like that it’s teacher created. It’s efficient, you can reuse it and it’s pretty simple. So that’s, that’s one of mine. And I have a few others, but I digress. We can, we can talk about something else after this.
Megan Dzialo:
I like these niche products that I haven’t heard of before and this is great.
Ashley Elliott:
Yeah, I don’t, I’m like not a stuffed animal person apparently. So, I need to get on, get on my game.
Adelaide Brown:
These kids are about to get a couple new, new stuffed animals in there.
Adelaide Brown:
I think you mentioned, Ashley, something that my generation really focuses on, which is like the wrapping of with the better than paper, like “teacher created” and all of that. I think Gen Z is at least challenging companies a little bit in where they are willing to put their money. Obviously, we’re not really the, the big payers um, in this day and age yet. Um, but I think a lot of brands that have stuck out to me in terms of what they’re doing is less about their name. Even though like the punchy or short one-word names really stand out to me. But like Patagonia really sticking with its brand ethos in like donating the entire earnings or the owner ownership of to national parks and like land preservation. It’s more those kinds of brand movements that I think stick with me and then encourage me even if I don’t need the product, um, to go and invest or spend my money with them. So, I think both of those are really the name versus like sticking with the entire brand, um, mission, vision, all the values.
Ashley Elliott:
Well have you heard of um, speaking of the, the vision I guess, have you heard of Kemo Sabe? The hat company?
Adelaide Brown:
Oh, no I don’t think so.
Ashley Elliott:
So, it’s, so I’m Native American and then my friend was like “let’s go to Kemo Sabe.” I’m like, what are you talking about? What do you mean? Um, cause it’s like the Lone Ranger, it was his best buddy, and he would call him Kemo Sabe. And I’m like, is this a native company? It’s not a native company but um, it’s kind of nostalgic and like the old black and white western type stuff. But what it is this hat basically you can make, create custom hats fit to you with like your own little band. It has like a little, what’s it called? Like almost like branded on, and you can create it. My friend does it. They’re kind of pricey, I don’t like, so I don’t have one. But I went with her to get one and they’re actually in Vegas too. And it’s pretty cool and it’s, it’s like this custom experience that you go to, and we went in, and you had to have, you had to pass this little threshold to get in and it was like this custom experience. So, for me that was like, culturally I was intrigued just because of it, also kind of like disappointed cause it wasn’t native owned. But yeah, um, I like the familiarity of it and that that was one that stuck out to me cause it’s like an actual legit name.
Adelaide Brown:
Yeah. That’s interesting. Connecting the product with that like very niche, personalized experience. I like that too. I’ll have to look that up.
Ashley Elliott:
Yeah.
Adelaide Brown:
Um, we, I mentioned this a little bit. What do you think sways y’all’s purchasing power? We talk a lot about names and like seeing them on the shelf and just buying more impulsively versus, um, tempted to try something in a store. When where do y’all draw the line? What kind of sways you over that, that point, even when you have your list headed into the grocery store or whatever store you find yourself in.
Ashley Elliott:
I love that you think we just go get groceries.
Adelaide Brown:
I know – well that’s like the only list I can think of the context but thinking of Costco with like the little try. Like I got, I got completely duped the other week when Costco had these little chicken sausages and barbecue, the Japanese barbecue sauce. And I bought both of them right after I tried them. So, I felt pretty, I mean it was worth it, but I felt kinda duped by them.
Megan Dzialo:
Costco is magic. Yeah. I wrote down four things that sway my purchasing power, and I’d say none of those four things are actually the name. Which is interesting working at a naming company. But, and it kind of depends on what I’m buying. If I’m buying something that I’ve never bought before, reviews are my number one thing. Like that’s the number one thing that’s gonna sway my purchasing power because I care a ton about efficacy in real people saying that things actually work and are long lasting and are beneficial. And so, in some ways, depending on if I, if I’m really looking for efficacy and it’s not just like a fun impulse buy, I’m not really looking at the name as much as I’m like, I want to know from other people that this is actually gonna work. And so that was one thing that swayed my purchasing power.
Um, but kind of like what you were saying, Adelaide, I look at, or maybe this was Ashley or maybe both of y’all said this, it’s all the other kind of dressing on the package that I care about that’s pointing out sustainability or even social consciousness or the benefits or health-conscious things. Um, how is this actually gonna benefit my body? Like I’m looking for those call outs typically to be able to say, okay, if I buy this, it’s there’s actual value, there’s actual benefits or I’m gonna be benefiting this company or this organization with my dollars or what I’m looking for a lot of that stuff. Um, price is gonna be another thing, but it’s not as high up on my list as those two things. But then I also put package design if it’s modern, if it’s, there’s a lot of white space. If there’s some bright colors. I really like neon colors. If it’s, if it’s beautiful, I don’t know if that’s just like a female thing, but I think it’s a human thing in general. I tend to wanna buy something more beautiful over something that just kind of looks old and dingy. So those are a few things I wrote down.
Ashley Elliott:
Yeah, I think I like simplistic, so I’m, I’m either one or the other. I’m either super bright and neon, like give me the nineties vibe probably. That’s maybe why, or I want it to be so simple that it’s gotta be a good product because nothing on the package is saying that it’s a good product. And so, you literally, it has to be, I don’t know, I feel like there’s less of a story so it’s, there’s more reason to buy it for me. Um, also social media, the reviews. I feel like I like the watching a video of somebody giving a review. I feel like that’s, I mean I can look on Amazon, I can look at the, you know, if it has 5,000 reviews, I’m gonna scroll probably a little bit to the first few, but listening to somebody talk about it, the, the TikTok videos of Get Ready with Me. Which, side note, oh my gosh, the millennial in me, used to think it meant “grown woman,” the GRWM. I’m like grown woman, yes, let’s go and, no, it’s let’s get ready with me. So, I didn’t know that. But um, when they show the products that they’re using to get their, for me I ha I have curly hair, I don’t know what to do with it. And so going to, to watch some videos of people who have really good curly hair, and what I’ll do is- I’ll just screenshot when they put up the products, I’m like, okay, I’m gonna go look into this. But it might not be something that I would normally research and actually buy, but based on they, they seem to have good hair and let me, let me follow that. Um, if I do, if I do a lot of research, if I don’t know anything about it, but sometimes I just go to social media first. Um, impulse. If I see that it makes my life easier. If I see that it streamlines something or if it makes, especially with kids: I’m like The Dollar Spot. Great. Um, I, I mean I will just have a whole cart full of stuff and like even if I don’t use this now, it will come in handy at some point. That’s kind of what I do. And if it’s cheap and functional, definitely. Uh, I bought some makeup recently and part of it was the, the lady at the store kind of guided me through, I don’t really wear makeup and I don’t really like care a lot about that, but I’m trying better. But there’s so many things when you go to the store, like you go to Sephora and it’s like there’s rows and rows of different brands and while I know the brand names I don’t know if this product’s gonna actually look good on me or whatever.
But this lady, there was this product called By Mario. It’s the Mario makeup um, line. And the thing that sold me completely, she was like, it’s like one of those um, contour sticks that you can buy, and it was a contour stick, and she’s like, but the key, the other side has the brush, it’s all in one. I was like, oh, done, sold. I’m gonna get it. And that was my impulse buy. So that also, yes, functionality. Can I just take one with me and go, which it’s not that much more to just get a brush, but for some reason that sold me. And then realistic images on the reviews or realistic videos. That’s why I like videos cause it’s harder to kind of like falsify what it looks like on you. But you know when people do like the Shein Hall, the Shein Hall and they like, they try on all these things and like that’s what I like. But also, just like real pictures of people. Like I recently bought a swimsuit cause we’re in Vegas and I was like, I wanna see what it looks like on a curvy person. Not like this stick because that is not my body type, so I really wanna see actual reviews. So that’s kind of mine.
Adelaide Brown:
No, I, I need to turn to the reviews more quickly than I, than I have. Y’all have a lot of great insight. I am a sucker for packaging. My friends will also always laugh cause if I see something that just looks aesthetically pleasing. Which is different in different contexts but like alcohol, face, like any kind of face treatment, lotions, et cetera. If it looks cool, then likely I will put it in my cart, but then I get home and it’ll like break me out or whatever. So, I really need to think more about the reviews cause I guess the packaging can’t judge a book or a concealer by its cover.
Ashley Elliott:
Maybe you need to give the reviews. Maybe you’re, you’re the people we’re waiting on.
Adelaide Brown:
Maybe? I also have ridiculously sensitive skin, so I just need to leave it to the influencers. But we’ll see.
Megan Dzialo:
So then, I might be jumping the gun here. You can stop me, Adelaide. But we had another question about kinda Millennials versus Gen Z’ers. And we probably should have said this at the start, but maybe you can already tell that Ashley and I are millennials, Adelaide is the Gen Zer. Do you care about reviews? Do you read reviews? Like maybe you can speak to how you feel like Gen Z is maybe different from a millennial.
Adelaide Brown:
Yeah, I think, I think that Gen Z is more about the influencer. Even like the micro influencer is so big. Someone who’s smaller but still, who seems more trustworthy because they’re so much smaller, but they have a really loyal following. Um, the “the grown woman,” the Get Ready with Me videos, um, those are huge. I like, I’m not big into like skincare routines but if I see one of those that even just looks satisfying to watch, I’ll be screenshotting products as well. Um, I think it’s more that then, cause there’s also, I mean right now there’s such a craze with different companies or products buying reviews. A bunch of lawsuits are going on now. So, it’s a matter of, I mean you see like the 5,000 reviews but then how many of those are real.
Megan Dzialo:
Actual, yeah.
Adelaide Brown:
Um, but I recently got on Rent the Runway too, and their reviews I think are huge to their platform. I mean you can see most people who rent something will post a picture in it and leave a review and then you have an understanding of where the size falls. I think that’s a really great implementation of reviews cause you’re seeing, like Ashley said, like real people experiencing, using the products. I don’t know that’s, I think that’s, the biggest, I think there’s a lot of similarities there between Millennials though and Gen Z.
Ashley Elliott:
You recently said, what were you talking about? You were talking about reviews, you said something else that you look at packaging. Is there anything else?
Megan Dzialo:
I think just maybe social con- when you were talking about Patagonia.
Adelaide Brown:
Oh yeah.
Megan Dzialo:
Here’s the thing, I don’t even know what, maybe I’m dumb for this. I don’t even know what a Patagonia is. Is it a place, is it a mountain?
Adelaide Brown:
It’s a mountain range.
Megan Dzialo:
Okay so maybe I knew a little bit otherwise. Yeah, I wouldn’t have really known that. And so, it’s not for me or I’m wondering for you, is it really the name that draws you in or is it really the actual story and the social impact that they are having as a company? And I think you only know that if you start to kind of dive into who they are and kind of look at their brand values. And so, I don’t know if you could kind of speak to as well.
Ashley Elliott:
Well, I think if they advertise those as well, you know, like if they’re advertising their brand values clearly, then it’s like easier to find out what they are instead of having to go research it.
Adelaide Brown:
Yeah. For me they were also trendy before they put their money where their mouth is, so to speak. So, when I was in high school, they were hugely trendy like every, that was the thing to have “a Patagonia.” Which they like built the association with their name, with their product. So, like just that little fleece sweatshirt thing was then synonymous with the brand. And so that was built in and then for several years later after the trend kind of died out for them to make that huge movement and kind of set a standard for other companies. I think that was, I mean strategic but also really effective.
Ashley Elliott:
I like what you said about them having a, about people having a smaller following but a loyal one. I feel like that’s something that often we think of just people who have the most followers are the ones that have like the best credibility but that’s not always the case, I think. Have you heard of Glossier makeup? So, my friend, my, my friend, so my friend’s a Gen Zer and she just tells me all the tea. So that’s the only reason I know about these companies. But she talked about it, and I was like, let me check it out. There was this product called Boy Brow. And I love it because you always want like the brows that the boys have and that’s what I kind of think of. I’m like, let me get the boy type of brow going on. And it’s the first brow product I really tried, and I still love it to this day.
But I like that you, at first you could only buy it online. They didn’t really have an in-store and there wasn’t one local and then they, in Austin they did a pop-up shop, and it was only for like two weeks. And that’s kind of cool to me that it’s kind of, it feels exclusive, it’s only two weeks. And so, I went and bought a ton of product because it’s a chance to go in-store, which I feel like is a very different vibe than what it used to be. So, I don’t know if that was interesting.
Adelaide Brown:
I bet it was also much more luxurious, like the setup they had rather than a like standalone store. And I mean, with makeup that makes so much sense cause you have the makeup you buy for, I mean I, I don’t think I’m the only one who keeps my makeup past its expiration date, but you have that makeup for so long.
Megan Dzialo:
They have expirations?
Adelaide Brown:
Yeah. You only need to buy it every once in a while. So, two weeks for a little popup and then you get your own little-
Ashley Elliott:
A stash.
Adelaide Brown:
Yeah, your stash.
Megan Dzialo:
I do think about like when our parents, when we were younger, and our parents were buying things like they would buy products based off what they needed and there was also not a whole lot of choices. Like you couldn’t just go on the web and find a million different brands for the one thing that you were looking for. And so, I also feel like at least my parents are really brand loyal. Like they have that one thing that they always bought, their go-to thing and they stick with it. Whereas I feel like, I dunno if this is true about Gen Z, but also with Millennials, I am not necessarily brand loyal unless I feel a sense of belonging with that brand. Which is, I think what you guys are talking about whenever it’s a small little pop-up shop, it feels exclusive. It feels like you’re a part of something small but really powerful, or if, if I’m supporting this product, I’m ultimately supporting something way bigger. And so, and but I’m also ready to kind of drop that with a hat if this brand is kind of maybe standing for something that I don’t also stand for or isn’t sharing my values. I feel like our generation right now is quick to be like, well I’m boycotting, I’m out, I’m going on to the next one. And so, I think that’s something that’s unique to both Millennials and Gen Zers. Um, but it’s also a really big challenge I think for a lot of these companies just kind of knowing how quickly and how transient we are between some of these different brands.
Ashley Elliott:
I mean I, yeah, I think you’re totally right. I think of my mom like literally was loyal, but we only, I mean we’re from a small town and we had one department store that you drove to and that’s where, that’s the makeup section you had.
Megan Dzialo:
It wasn’t online shopping.
Ashley Elliott:
Shopping, online things. Right. Yeah. That makes so much sense.
Adelaide Brown:
I think, I think we’re pretty actively brand disloyal to a certain extent just because we have so many options. It’s, there’s a lot of buyer power in at least our generation, but that is so true. I think about like, my grandparents have four or five of something that once one runs down it’s just in case the company doesn’t when they, when one runs down, they have, they have their backup and then their backup to their backup. But if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Ashley Elliott:
Right. I think, I think in terms of, I mean maybe it’s the nerd in me, but if something is, or especially if there’s something that’s local, like if it’s a local business and it has the town in the name, I feel like that helps me want to buy that specific product. Yeah. Local business. Um, yeah, I, I like, like Round Rock Donuts, I’m like, okay, well I know it’s from Round Rock cause we live in Round Rock, so I’m gonna get the Round Rock donuts and it, it has its own following for sure, but just that it’s different and it’s local. Um, my friend recently, so she opened this dog, it’s, it’s like a dog park on steroids and they do boarding and all kinds of stuff and it’s in downtown Austin, and so I didn’t even remember the name Doogie Howser. Y’all remember that like back in the day? I was like, I never watched it. I knew of it, I heard of it a lot. She called this “Doggie Houser.” And it’s like so funny to me and I love that it’s a play on it and you basically just house your dogs there and when you go on vacation and you do stuff, it is so fun. And it makes me wanna take my dog even though I’m not gonna board, I’m just local. So, I love the play on names and the, the funny stuff like the, it doesn’t necessarily have a story, but I love that you can like, “oh yeah, it’s like Doogie Howser. Oh my gosh.” That’s one thing that I was thinking of too.
Adelaide Brown:
They just did a, they did a reboot of Doogie Howser, I’m pretty sure, so it’s even more relevant.
Ashley Elliott:
Oh, perfect. Yeah.
Megan Dzialo:
That’s brilliant. Yeah.
Adelaide Brown:
Well thank y’all for joining this conversation. This has been so much fun getting y’all’s insight and getting a chance to dig a little deeper into our understanding or our perception of brands. Um, but I hope y’all have a good rest of your day.
Ashley Elliott:
I’m gonna go “Grown Woman.”
Adelaide Brown:
Yeah. Take a video, post it. We’ll see what kind of brands you’re using.
Ashley Elliott:
No following, zero followers. Zero out of 10.
Megan Dzialo:
I’d follow you.
Ashley Elliott:
I appreciate it. It’s the loyal following right there. That’s what I need.
Megan Dzialo:
There you go. Exactly.
Adelaide Brown:
Bye ladies.
Ashley Elliott:
All right. Thanks for having us. Bye.