Sanitized Proposal for a Consumer Goods company for a new product name.

1. Company X:
Name Development Proposal

2. About Us
Brand Acumen is a global brand naming agency based in New York that
specializes in innovative brand name development.
Brand Acumen operates in its Manhattan location where we infuse a
culture of innovation and creative inquiry into our process.
2

3. Overview
At Brand Acumen, name creation is our
form of artistic expression.
We redefine the
fundamentals of using art
and language
as a guide to developing
profound brand identities.
Bill Smith, CEO
Bill Smith was previously the founder and CEO
of Addison Whitney, which today is one of the
leading brand consulting firms in the world.
1200+ Names
800 Clients
27 Countries
Beginning in 1991 under Bill’s guidance, Addison
Whitney worked with over 800 clients in 27 countries.
3

4. Our Success: Name Creations
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Brand: Limon
Brand: Wildcat
Brand Name Creation Brand Name Creation
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5. Our Success: Name Creations
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Brand: Turning-leaf
Brands: Woodford Reserve
Brand Name Creation Brand Name Creation
6

6. Our Success: Name Creations
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Brand: Hi Dry
Brand:Blue light
Brand Name Creation Brand Name Creation
7

7. Our Success: Name Creations
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Brand: Breezer
Brand Name Creation
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Brand: Becherovka
BrandNameCreation/BrandPositioning
8

8. Our Creative Inspiration
Inspired by experimental literature and musical composition, we infuse
a culture of innovation and creative inquiry into our process. We
seek to redefine the fundamentals of using art and language as a
guide to develop profound brand identities. Names are just the
beginning…
The Science of Language
Our team of lexical engineers examines not just the sound, but the look
and feel of every letter in every word we create. We scrutinize each
word’s structure: from phoneme, to morpheme, to grapheme, to shape.
In the search for the perfect name, we leave no stone unturned.
At Brand Acumen,
name creation is our
form of artistic
expression.

9. A Global Network
763 Offices, 75 Countries
Europe:
351offices
Asia Pacific:
121offices
Middle East:
44offices
North America:
95offices
Latin America:
116offices
Africa:
36offices
Brand Acumen is an independent agency, but enjoys the relationship as a Havas Creative partner.
Havas offers a broad range of
communications services,
including digital, advertising,
direct marketing, media
planning and buying, corporate
communications, sales
promotion, multimedia
interactive communications,
and public relations. Havas
employs approximately 15,000
people – we are extremely well-
connected.

10. All IP Ceded To Clients
Brand Acumen will unconditionally guarantee to deliver a legally viable, aesthetic aligned and
linguistically sound brand name for every project.
Each and every name candidate presented to you will be legally screened prior to presenting
the creative name list iteration. This ensures that the your team will not “fall in love” with a
name candidate that they ultimately can not obtain due to legal conflicts.
Brand Acumen agrees to cede all intellectual property rights you for each and every name
presented during the project at no additional cost.
Unconditional Guarantee
All Names Presented are Legally Pre-Screened
Why Brand Acumen?

11. what
defines
great
names

12. whatcategoryperspective
definesgreatnames
.
authenticity
timeless
memorable
contextual
credibility
reflects provenance
linguistically sound
This objective is to generate an extensive
list of legally viable, linguistically sound,
name candidates (nomenclature) for a new
innovation in the U.S.

13. ™
defensibility analysis
legalperspective
.
Brand Acumen will review with The
Company X team specific criteria which
we will implement into the trademark
screening process. These names will be
telegraphic in nature and screened for
trademark availability.
risk aversion
search criteria
syntax requirements
whatdefinesgreatnames

14. PROJECT
TASK, SCOPE
& PROCESS

15. Project Task, Scope & Process
Via a three-phase process, Brand Acumen will deliver three lists of
name candidates for Company X for a total of 60 legally screened
names. These names will be telegraphic in nature and screened for
trademark availability.
Landscape Analysis Name Development
Legal/Linguistic
Name Review
No name will be
presented that has not
been thoroughly
vetted.
1
Phase
3
Phase
2
Phase

16. ---------
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Landscape Analysis
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Project kickoff
Naming strategy development
Tactical competitive review
1
Phase

17. Project Kickoff
What immediate
connotations come
to mind when we
think about the
positioning
strategy?
connote
Adjectives only.
describe, describe,
describe.
describe
Taste fantasy. Who
fantasizes over the
taste?
Demographics,
profile, habits,
propensities,
idiosyncrasies of
the consumer.
taste
Are their any
inherent
relationships to
core or legacy
brands which must
be taken into
consideration?
legacy
Is this brand a
sustainable brand?
Does it need to be?
May it benefit from
‘brand phasing’?
duration
What types of
messages should
the variant name
or category
nomenclature
portray to each
customer group?
message
1
Phase

18. Project Kickoff
18
Evolutionary,
revolutionary or
disruptive. Which
do we want to
evoke in the name
identity?
ERD
How is Company X
brand nostalgia a
factor? Can we
borrow recognition
and recall utilizing
brand
transference?
nostalgia
Linguistic, language
considerations?
language
Regions and
regionalisms
defined? This
includes legal
defensibility.
location
Future strategy. Do
we consider the
potential for a
globalized name in
the future?
tomorrow
Is there an inherent
risk for Company X
brand cannibalization,
and if so, does it
matter based on the
forward thinking
strategy?
‘brannibal’
1
Phase

19. Naming Strategy Development
19
Let’s think in context. What does the name
sound like when we ask for it at a crowded
bar? Are you empowered by asking for it
by name? Scream it…whisper it. Can
you laugh with it?
When we approach a name to articulate
it’s sound, do we hesitate? Is it simple to
embrace? Are we comfortable with the
first time pronunciation?
Is the name alluring, suggestive and
inviting? And if you think this is not a
relevant feature, let’s discuss.
Provocation is intoxication and if the name
is intoxicating,..
Place the name in multiple contexts. Ask
for two, three, a dozen.
05Does the name grant permission to
indulge? Are you privileged? Is it a name
that defines you?
06 The name …Look at it. On your dining
room table; in conversation with your
boss, mother, lover, antagonist, dog
(cat?), doctor, bartender, barrista or
sommelier.
pronunciation
provocative
bar call plurality
empowering
contextualization
01
02
03
04
1
Phase

20. Naming Strategy Development
20
07Utter the name…does it make me more
relevant than before? Does it change
anything I may want changed?.
08Word structure…phonemes, morphemes,
graphetics…bottom line….does the name
look good and sound good?
09Shorter names are better, they test well,
but perceived shorter names are just as
potent.
10What images come to mind when you
create a word? Paint a picture in your
mind. The perfect location? And what will
you be doing there?
11What is you definition of escapation?
Where does your fantasy take you and
does the name bring you there? Who
comes along with you?
12Are you an Alpha or Beta? Early adopter
or always adopting? Do you run against
the pack?
syllabic balance
brevity
relevance imagery
escape
damn different
1
Phase

21. -----------------------------------------------
Name Development
At Brand Acumen, we believe that a single word can
hold incredible meaning and tell a powerful, vivid story. In
order for a name to do this successfully, it must be
structurally sound and intuitive to pronounce, interpret, and
recall.
Creative Process (Name Development)
Trademark Pre-Screening
Global Linguistic Evaluation
20
2
Phase

22. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naming Brief Final Candidate ListName Creation
Identify the framework for
developing the brand name
candidates, based on the insights
from the naming strategy.
Analyze the name candidates with regard
to regulatory compliance, structural analysis,
trademark, domain, and common law
availability.
Uncover naming candidates
through three separate
iterations of deep source
mining and ideation exercises.
The creative process is iterative. We will present three iterations of names and
engage with the key stakeholders to collect feedback and
refine and define future creative direction for subsequent lists.
These names will be telegraphic in nature and screened for trademark availability.
2
Phase

23. 23
Visual Analysis of Competitive Name Landscape
1
Phase

24. CreativeProcess
2
namecreation
Sample creative work product. This is the format used by Brand
Acumen to present the initial list of candidates.
Here we see
the name candidate,
‘Janage’
accompanied by a
linguistic analysis
and a brief narrative
The top scoring two
linguistic attributes
2
Phase

25. CreativeProcess
2
namecreation
Sample creative work product, continued.
Here, the name
‘Janage’ is analyzed
for Orthographic and
Phonological
conflicts with existing
products.
2
Phase

26. CreativeProcess
2
namecreation
Sample creative work product, continued.
Here, we construct a
nomenclature ‘style
guide’ which
examines intended
pronunciation,
etymology, and usage
examples.
Janage
2
Phase

27. A Rigorous Linguistic Analysis
From the perspectives of acoustic phonetics, phonology, and morphology in particular, our lexical
theorists pay extraordinary attention to all facets of linguistic nuance. Looking at the
phonemic structure, or the breakdown of distinct sounds in a given word, our team assesses the
acoustic and articulatory properties of all adjacent phones and consonant clusters.
Once we affirm that no harsh sounds are found at phonemic joints or intra-syllabically, we consider
the semantic qualities and evocations of all morphemes, or units of meaning.
Broken down even further, we specifically examine how our created words fare with regard to:
Scriptability
Aural Acuity
Pragmatic Scoring
Semantic Typology
Glue Semantics
Speech Synthesis
Speech Recognition
Parsing
Graphetics
Phonological Encoding in Language Production
3
Phase

28. Linguistic ScoreCard Analysis:
An Examination of Sound, Structure, & Meaning
Each of the 10-12 brand names created as finalists will be subjected to our ScoreCard* analysis,
based on the following categories:
Scriptability
Aural Comprehensibility Visual Aesthetics
Syllabic Balance
Durability & Longevity
Ease of Pronunciation
Gender Properties Phonemic
Simplicity
Our ScoreCard Analysis will
provide a quantitative “score” for
each of the created brand names.
An example of our ScoreCard
analysis can be found in the case
study on the following pages.
ScoreCard
Categories
Phonetic Viability
Evocative Semantics
3
Phase

29. Our exclusive Global ForwardScreenTM
Legal Search allows us quickly identify
potentially troublesome naming ideas
before they ever become a hindrance to
any trademark approval process.
Brand Acumen will carefully screen all
presented name candidates to avoid
conflicts with Company X preferred name
candidates.
ForwardScreenTM LegalPre-ScreeningofAllNameCandidates
ForwardScreenTM
3
Phase

30. TrademarkSearch
TrademarkSearch
CompuMark
WIPO
Web Common Law Sources
• (includes geo-specific Google
results and global web content)
Generic Top-Level Domain
Names (gTLDs)
Multiple trademark registers:
– Benelux
– Canada
– France
– Germany
– Italy
– Spain
– Switzerland
– United Kingdom
– United States
– International Register
(for WIPO country searches)
– Community Trademarks (for E.U.
country searches)
Expanded U.S. Search Detail:
– State Trademarks
– Business Names
Brand Acumen will search,
reference and analyze
all key databases and
search functions for
the final name candidates.
3
Phase

31. The AccuBrand™ Report will provide a stack ranking, from most
viable to least viable, of the final brand/category names candidates.
We will combine our Linguistic ScoreCard , Semantics Analysis and
Legal Review to develop our stack ranking of recommendations.
Occupational
Breakdown
9
Wall Street
Analysts/Influencers
31
Plastic Surgeons
18
Nurses
36
Surgeons
26
Hospital Procurement Executives
AccuBrandReport
31

33. 33
ProjectTimelines
Product ‘X’
Name Development
Phase I: Project Kick-off
July 08
Phase II: Name Development,1st Iteration
July 11
Phase II: Name Development, 2nd Iteration
July 12
Phase II: Name Development, 3rd Iteration
July 13
Phase III: Final List of 60 legally screened names
July 14

34. Brand Acumen 19 Leonard St.
NY, NY 10013
Bill Smith, CEO
william.smith@brandacumenstudios.c
om