What's your name?
The risky business of choosing company, brand and domain names and why it's better to sort through the alphabet soup as soon as you can!
When a company or product is born, it needs a name. But right from our early school days, we discover that names can cause problems. What to bear in mind when choosing a name and why you shouldn't waste any time:
Company (name) and brand (name) are not the same thing!
The company name is the name by which your company identifies itself and under which you conduct your business. It’s a legal entity and appears on all formal documents, including your tax return, legal contracts and bank information.
A brand represents your company’s product. It is a word and/or design mark that distinguishes your goods and services from the competition. The brand serves as a central element in brand communication and customer loyalty.
A brand and a company name can overlap if the company feels that a single name is suitable for the identification of all its products.
Coming up with a name is not enough.
Before we discuss what to consider when choosing a brand name, remember that, most importantly of all, your brand name must not infringe existing trademark rights! If an older trademark already exists and is also legally protected, you may be prohibited from using yours. Trademark law allows the trademark owner to monopolize their brand (name). The owner is therefore solely authorized to decide who may use the brand (name) and may thus prohibit you from using it. Trademark infringements can have consequences under both civil and criminal law.
So first things first! A trademark search is in order. But beware: checking for identical names alone isn’t enough, because it also depends on the likelihood of confusion. The trademark office does not check whether your trademark infringes on earlier rights, and unfortunately googling trademark names yourself isn’t helpful either. For EU trademarks alone, 29 trademark registers, 27 company registers and countless other databases for business names, product names and copyrighted titles in 27 countries must be searched. It is essential to consult a trademark law expert.
If nothing else stands in the way of your trademark, you should start the registration process: yesterday! Because otherwise:
- anyone else may use your brand or
- register your unprotected trademark at a later stage and then prohibit you from or ask you to pay to continue using it. Why might this happen? Perhaps because your product is successful and your (unprotected) trademark has become well-known. Always consider your long-term game plan!
Winning back a brand is a lengthy, costly and often futile undertaking. So make sure to take precautions!
A trademark cannot be protected in general, only in connection with goods and services identified by it. These goods and services must be categorized into so-called classes according to internationally valid specifications. For example, the Nike swoosh may only be used in connection with the assigned goods – i.e. clothing, shoes and headgear (class 25), but not food (class 29).
When you register your trademark, make sure that you include all relevant classes and geographies and keep in mind that there is an obligation to employ your trademark within a specified period of time.
Depending on the geographical scope, it will take different lengths of time before you can be sure that your trademark belongs to you. Global trademark applications can even take up to two years. So start in good time! Not only is redesigning products, advertising material and campaigns expensive and time-consuming – communicating a name change is also very challenging!
A brand name needs to be well thought out.
A brand name has certain requirements that should be taken into account.
- It should be easy to remember and pronounce. Otherwise, word of mouth, online searches and sharing it with friends will be difficult. Hyundai and Lamborghini are very well-known brands now, but are still frequently misspelled online. And before Hyundai became famous? "I love your car! What is it?" A.... Hundai? Hyundia? You-and-I? But then again, who am I to talk with Haberlehner ;)
- It should be flexible enough to adapt it to future developments in your company, such as product line extensions or geographical expansion. So be sure to keep your long-term strategy in mind and consider cultural and linguistic contexts. Otherwise? Just ask Ikea with its "Fartfull" workbench – which means speedy in Swedish, but in English... Or Mitsubishi with its “Pajero”, which translates to "wanker" (excuse my language) in Spanish... to name just a couple of examples.
- Your brand should stand out from others.
- Think about a long-term brand strategy. If you give each new product a new name, you’ll also have to protect each of these names and the larger the brand portfolio, the greater the time and cost involved. Because not only do you have to register your trademarks, you also have to regularly renew and constantly monitor them to prevent infringements by third parties. Which is why it might make sense to register an umbrella brand and then continue working with numbers or descriptions to identify the other products in your portfolio.
Finally, the domain name should also be included in your considerations!
Is the desired domain still available?
And if so, with which domain extensions? After all, what good is it if you’ve decided on a company or product name and the corresponding domain or a halfway acceptable variation thereof is no longer available?
Names have power and a good name will make a lasting impact!
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Also interesting: A logo doesn’t sell (directly), it identifies.
Why your logo isn’t the expression of personal taste, but a graphic extension of your brand identity.
