What’s in a name?

of the moment. The day you bought them, you would make sure they are delivered in broad daylight so that neighbours in the township saw them.
The entire “line” would know that so and so has bought a “Fantasy” bed or later “Therapaedic”.
Who said names do not tell stories? In polygamous marriages, they are talking and even shouting names given to children. In workplaces some people end up acquiring sobriquets befitting their behaviour. Those names tell stories.
Recently I walked into a furniture shop, at Lifestyle Holdings and was stunned by the names I found on their furniture.
Of course, I had been attracted by an advert dubbed “Half Price Promotion”.
The marketing people at Lifestyle Holdings have quite revolutionarised the naming system. I went to the bed sections. The names were astounding.
There was one huge one named Bonde Ramambo (the King’s Bed). With the comfort required by royal etiquette what would one expect? I wondered. After all, who does not want to live and sleep soundly like a king?
There was another befitting one, Zverudo (for love) then there was Sithandwa, the Ndebele version of the loved one. There was a Gothic looking one, yet very nice aptly named Pachinyakare. Then there was Mambo, the king. There is one named Harmony and to spruce up the naming process there are feminine names Beverly and Diana. Is this not compelling?
I moved to the lounge suites. There, I saw another regime of names, some of them personalised. It was a whole range of names from Tawanda, Beatrice, Elizabeth, Rudo/Uthando, Strive, Ketty, Hilton, Julian and Naison. What a naming regime!
If my name was, for instance, Naison, would it not have been nice to buy a bed called Naison and so does a lady called Beatrice”?
Then there was the Dandaro (the resting place) Executive, African Queen, Rolex, Kensington and so on.
In modern day marketing matrix, it makes sense to give names that customers can identify. It seems the naming regime started by Lifestyle Holdings will soon spread across the marketing divide.
As people we have moved from colonial names to our own as business become more and more indigenous.
Many companies producing and marketing local products should move away from European names and give names that are local and are easily identifiable with our day to day lives.
A recent study on phones also found the same.
Strategic Naming
President William Lozito and Chief Linguistics Officer Diane Prange say names are important when they identify with the common language of the consumer. For instance, consumers pegged LG and Samsung brands almost identically as modern, creative, engaging, original, cool and easy to remember. Nokia brands scored lower than the three other manufacturers on all 15 measures. Motorola received praise for its “Moto” brand architecture but ranked low on all six name attributes.
Five Laws of Brand Naming
Names matter
They create a distinct sense of identity and personality and allow an emotional connection with the product.
Don’t lead with a number
Numbers are cold and impersonal, and placing them first in a name adds an emotional barrier between the consumer and the product.
Focus on the 3 Fs
Names that tell something about the product’s form, function or features are more appealing.
Leverage lifestyle
Pick names that make people feel cutting-edge, stylish or sexy.
Match the name to the market
If your customers aren’t into “edgy” round off the corners.
The study surveyed 515 Greenfield Online panellists who own cellphones. The iPhone was not included because it was introduced in 2007, midway through the study period. BlackBerry was also excluded because most of Research in Motion’s sales have been in business markets.
Further evidence of a direct link: Both LG and Samsung stopped using numbers and letters as phone names in 2006, and started naming phones with words that not only described phone features but also provided aspirational attributes.
LG’s success came after a first shot with Fusic (no gain). Chocolate was its first hit, in the summer of 2006, followed by Shine, Vu, Voyager, Dare and Decoy. The action names are “cognitive metaphors” focused on the lifestyle of the user, Ms Prange said.
Samsung began its climb with the BlackJack at the end of 2006, followed by the UpStage, FlipShot and Juke. Early 2008 saw even more engaging “loose metaphor” names in the Access, Instinct and Glyde from Samsung.
“The deduction is a lot of the seduction in these names,” Ms Prange said.
Ms Prange and Mr Lozito agree that Motorola’s Razr name was brilliant. Unfortunately, the company couldn’t seem to let go. After the Razr came the Rokr, then the Slvr and the Pebl and the Moto Krzr, a “much less intuitive” name.
“They just held on to a good thing for too long,” Mr Lozito said.
Nokia is still having trouble letting go of the number system. Nokia is the worldwide leader in cellphone sales, but stateside, Mr Lozito believes Nokia is “unlikely to succeed in the US unless it learns the value of a good name”.
It’s time we give local products names in simple local languages.
Source: Strategic Name Development
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