Brand Name
This article covers meaning, importance, components & example of Brand Name from marketing perspective.
What is Brand Name?
Brand name is a unique name, text, icon or representation that distinctly helps identify an organization, product, person or a service. Brand name a critical asset for business & marketing and helps a consumer identify a particular company while differentiating from other competitors. A strong unique brand name can create positive emotions, build trust, and help build strong brand loyalty. The process of brand image formation starts with a good brand name. Brand name is one of the first things along with lets say logo which catches the attention of the customer. Many a times the brand names can tell a lot about the product and at other times the brand names can be abstract and may not inform the customer about the product or service offering. In the market both have worked well. e.g. a name like Apple doesn't first inform the customer that it is a device manufacturer.
Importance of Brand Name
Without a recognizable brand name, a company cannot be identified among various competitors. A generic name may help get the business done but it will not create a brand which is identified by customer among multiple other products of different brand. The value of the product gets tagged to the name of the brand. Imagine a customer bringing a product home because of its availability and actually liking the product.
Without recognizable and easy brand name, the customer may not recall the brand name for repeat purchase.
For a lot of companies in a competitive market, a generic and more direct brand name may help e.g. ABC Foods can clearly tell the customer that it is a food company. But sometimes, in a more technology oriented or niche sector, a more abstract and thought out brand name may help more. The importance of brand name lies in the fact that a customer should be able to read it, understand it, recognize as well as recall it in association with product or service.
Creating a Brand Name
A brand name should be distinct, strikingly different, and yet easy to remember. It should also be relevant to the product or service it represents. Creating a unique brand name requires a lot of imagination and thorough investigation. Companies need to understand their target audience and their needs, as well as the regional, cultural, language, gender etc. preferences. A brand name should also be obtainable legally and should not overlap with any other company’s trademark name.
Once a brand name is created, it becomes the foundation of a company's brand identity. A brand name is visible all on all promotional material, website, flyers, product-packaging etc. A strong brand name can also help a company differentiate itself from competitors and stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Components of a Unique Brand Name
There are various characteristics and components of a brand name which makes it unique and identifiable among different products and services:
1 Simple & Short
A good brand name must be short, not too long and must be simple for customers to read and associate a brand to.
Sometimes even longer brand names work provided that it makes sense to the customers and give a clear identity to the brand.
2 Memorable
A brand name must be able to leave a connection between the consumer and a product or company, and hence should be easy to remember
3 Distinct & Flexible
For making it unique, a brand name must stand out as compared to competitors.
Also, a brand name must be adaptable to change in product, services, innovation, time etc.
4 Attractive & Contemporary
Every brand name which does well has to be catchy, contemporary and connect with customers.
5 Reflect Product or Service
Every customer must be able to associate the product offering and the associated services with the brand name chosen
6 Legally Available
For any company, the unique brand name must be available legally, and must not be an already taken trademark name
7 Cross-Regional & Cross-Cultural
A popular brand name is one which is linguistically and culturally acceptable worldwide across the countries with different religions, cultures etc.
Brand Name Examples
Apple, Nike, Facebook are great examples of brand name with characteristics discussed above. They are short, memorable and are cross regional in nature. People across countries and regions have been able to remember and interact with these brand names over the years and across different product lines. e.g. Apple is known for its computers, phones, tablets, watches etc. The brand name is well known and even tells a lot about the product even before launch. Brand name becomes the umbrella under which the product and service attributes get tagged to even if they are positive or negative.
Hence, this concludes the definition of Brand Name along with its overview.
Browse the definition and meaning of more similar terms. The Management Dictionary covers over 1800 business concepts from 5 categories.
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