Watkins - Hello, My Name is Awesome

More Praise for Hello, My Name Is Awesome

This awesome piece of writing is worth bottling, shaking, and stirring into your brand-name strategy either online or offline. I love the way Alexandra weaves her voice and humor into a very clear message to distill what you are about into a business name. It can be applied to your brand name and domain name. Her process is coherent and creative. A brilliant book I couldnt put down.

Jeff Bullas, blogger, strategist, and speaker, Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencer 2013, and Huffington Post Top 100 Business Twitter Account

I was skeptical about a how-to book on naming products and brands. Alexandra Watkins convinced me otherwise. Her book is a fun read with lots of practical advice.

Patricia Roller, angel investor and former Co-CEO, Frog Design

Your company or product probably needs all the help it can get. Watkins helped me name my firm, and Im constantly told what a great name it is. Dont pick a name until youve read Watkinss bookyoull want to have a name that you love forever!

Charlene Li, founder of Altimeter Group, author of Open Leadership, and coauthor of Groundswell

The type of hands-on practical wisdom rarely found (but desperately needed) in the academic community.

Michael Webber, Dean of the School of Management, University of San Francisco

This is the perfect book for kick-starting entrepreneurs, brand managers, and practicing creatives.

Pat Hanlon, founder and CEO, Thinktopia, and author of Primal Branding

This book is packed full of practical, real-world advice you would never get from a regular textbook.

Dale J. Stephens, founder of UnCollege and author of Hacking Your Education

In the current crazy business climate, where standing out and being remembered are critical to success, your name had better be awesome. This is the best book on the subject.

Nell Merlino, founder and President, Count Me In for Womens Economic Independence, and creator of Take Our Daughters to Work Day

Weve got a terrible name. No one can spell it. No one can pronounce it. Dont make the same mistake we made. Read this book and let Alexandra Watkins guide you away from the we thought we were being clever with our name, but now we just look silly syndrome.

Matt Ruby, founder and CEO, Vooza

Hello, My Name Is
AWESOME

How to Create Brand Names That Stick

ALEXANDRA WATKINS

Copyright 2014 by Alexandra Watkins

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Ordering information for print editions

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First Edition
Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-62656-186-1
PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-62656-187-8
IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-62656-188-5

2014-1

Book producer and text designer: BookMatters, Berkeley, CA

Copyeditor: Tanya Grove

Proofreader: Nancy Evans

Indexer: Leonard Rosenbaum

Cover designer: Tracy Moon/StudioMoon Visual Identity

To my awesome mother, Joan Casale.

Thank you for being there
for every chapter of my life,
and every page of this book.

The meaning of life is to find your gift.
The purpose of life is to give it away.
Pablo Picasso

Whether people see it on your storefront, read it on your badge at a trade show, or see it on their caller ID, your brand name makes a critical first impression. Even more than your shoes.

I wrote this book to show how anyone, even the most non-creative person, can come up with awesome brand names and have fun doing it.

Creating names is not a science. Yet naming firms spout ridiculous jargon about verbal identity engineering, rigorous methodologies, computational linguistics, and scientific scrutiny applied to the unstructured and undisciplined process of brand name creation. Others try to invent names using math. They take a completely fine word, crunch it with another word, and get a name that doesnt compute. Or, they subtract a few letters from a perfectly good word and end up with a random name that looks like it was made from the miscellaneous Scrabble tiles left at the end of a game.

Does any of that sound even remotely creative?

Consumers dont fall in love with brand names created by scientific processes, linguistic voodoo, or mangling the alphabet. Those kinds of names dont resonate with us because they dont make emotional connections.

The most powerful brand names connect with people and move them to buy because they are based on familiar words and concepts that they understand and appreciate: Kryptonite locks, Mayday tech support, Obsession perfume, Leap Frog toys, Ninja blenderthese are the names that speak volumes.

As an advertising copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather, I learned the art of making emotional connections with words. Years later, I began creating names and discovered that, just as a clever print ad headline will turn heads, generate buzz, and spark sales, brand names can have those same magical powers.

I am going to give you my bag of tricks.

Hello, my name is Alexandra. Sounds simple enough. But people often butcher my name: Alexandria, Alexandrea, Alexia. And much to my annoyance, the 100 percent male version, Alexander.

What about your first and last names? Are they tricky to spell? Difficult to pronounce? Hard for people to remember? This trifecta of trouble is rampant among brand names: Sur La Table, Iams, Flickr, Saucony, Eukanuba, Xobni. Those are just a handful of head scratchers that consumers struggle with. But unlike the name you were born with, or married into, these easily bungled names were intentionally created by companies. At the time, these businesses may have thought they were being clever. But even after being in business for years, these brands still have to explain, spell, pronounce, and apologize for their names.