🍩 Learn from the Simpsons
💡 Your First Ideas Suck
🤬 Check Urban Dictionary
🛑 Decision by Committee
🍩 Learn from the Simpsons
Like most nineties kids, I was raised on The Simpsons. I watched it every Sunday. I watched every re-run. And I even have the first five seasons on DVD.
Poking around YouTube, I was looking for the perfect clip to add to an upcoming keynote. I found what I was looking for in three minutes, but I managed to kill another hour giggling away.
It dawned on me: The Simpsons can teach us a lot about brand naming.
💡 Your First Ideas Suck
In “Das Bus”, Homer starts his own internet business, Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net. It’s never revealed what the company actually does, but it does catch the attention of Bill Gates.
Watch how Homer generates names for his fledgling business. They are all obvious and cliché. This happens all too often. You rarely come up with a great idea in the first round of brainstorming. It takes time with a clear process.
In Brand New Name, my book on brand naming, I provide a proven, step-by-step process to name or rename anything.
One Stat to Watch
764-84377
That’s the telephone number for Moe’s Tavern. Notice it has one digit more than a usual North American phone number? It spells SMITHERS on your phone! 🤣
🤬 Check Urban Dictionary
The last thing you want is a name that means something… unfortunate. You also want to check that it doesn’t sound bad in another language.
For example, “Pee Cola” is a popular soft drink in Ghana. It means, “very good Cola.”
To my twelve year old brain, this makes me giggle.
🛑 Decision by Committee
Getting feedback is important, but don’t rely solely on customer input or allow a decision by committee.
To quote my grandfather, “Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one and most of them stink.”
In Brand New Name, I provide a set of tools and exercises to evaluate names so you can take the guesswork out of it.
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