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They’re in the Business of Naming Names Nuancing Group A business of Naming Businesses Elizabeth Goodgold and Loren Stocker listened to their own advice about naming when recently switching the title of their business to The Nuancing Group. Previously operating out of Chicago, Goodgold's former business name was Good as Gold Marketing. Goodgold said it was memorable and cute, but a little too cute and not overly professional. She said it also broke one of her biggest naming rules -- it wasn't specific enough in labeling what the business does, which is naming businesses. When Goodgold moved to San Diego with Stocker six months ago, the time was ripe for a makeover. Stocker was also ready to change his business name from Vanity International. They knew from experience they needed to avoid what Goodgold calls the pitfalls: Don't name by accident, on deadline or by a contest. But choosing a name isn't as simple as drawing from a hat. It's more like finding a needle in a haystack. Goodgold said 2.4 million trademarks exist for products in the United States. "No wonder it's so difficult to name by contest," Goodgold said. "Seventy percent of the names are already taken." Goodgold and Stocker, ages 37 and 45 respectively, created a list of strategic objectives, which Goodgold explains is what the name is intended to accomplish. Then they checked what's available on a trademark basis and as a Web domain and created a list of about 350 names. Candidates included Go Girls Marketing, Through the Looking Glass, Reality Marketing, Fresh Air and Pacesetter. The names were compared to a list of criteria. Goodgold said a business leader sets the criteria, such as limiting the name to three words, and consensus is usually reached by committee. "The team has to be comprised of people who are eventually going to sign off on that decision," she said. "We're really in there investigating, questioning and probing to find a name that would really work." During the process they may collect opinions in surveys of business prospects. Goodgold said a name should "resonate and be compelling." During Goodgold's search she narrowed the choices to five and conducted a personal phone interview of about a dozen people to question them about their likes and dislikes. Then she put the names to the test by asking voters which ones they remembered the next day. "This doesn't mean clients can name a business for you," Goodgold said. "But can you get feedback from the right consumers? Yes of course." Goodgold's plan called for identifying what is unique about the company. In Chicago, Goodgold's scope of operations covered diverse aspects of marketing and advertising. When she moved to San Diego with Stocker they become more specialized, finding names for businesses, along with taglines, personalized phone numbers and Web addresses. The key to naming any business is identifying what separates it from the pack, she said. Distinguishing features could just be subtle nuances, she said. "The future of marketing is in specialization," Goodgold said. "The more specific, the more successful." That's what led Goodgold and Stocker to select the winning name, The Nuancing Group. The two professionals said the name best reflects what they do -- finding unique, identifiable names for other businesses based on nuances that set them apart from competitors. Working from their Carmel Valley home, the couple take the naming game seriously. As chief nuancer of the home-based The Nuancing Group, Goodgold by herself has an eight-year track record of helping businesses avoid the pitfalls of bad naming. She helps them sidestep names without identity, like AMR, and the ABC Group. Goodgold said research shows letters are 30 percent less memorable than names. Similarly, she said copycat names inspired by technology words like "micro," "cyber," or "net" get confused with other businesses in the same field. Misnomers she describes include the name Pepsi Cola gave for its food division, called Tricon. It referred to three of Pepsi's food holdings, Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut. But when Pepsi included California Pizza Kitchen the Tricon name lost its meaning. Goodgold said Pepsi's trading stock name, yum, is less limiting and much more memorable. Another rule of thumb is avoiding foreign names with negative connotations. She said products by major companies that used " mist" in their names, which in Germany translates roughly into manure, were Estee Lauder's Garden Mist, Rolls-Royce's Silver Mist and Clairol's Mist Stick. Goodgold suggests the time to change a name is when it's too limiting, when it's not working for you, and when it doesn't look good or it has a derogatory meaning. For example, Ralph Lauren changed his last name from Lipshitz: early on in his career. Stocker, The Nuancing Group's chief numerancer, reinforces new business names with vanity phone numbers and Web addresses. For their own business, Stocker said they chose the phone number (800) GETRESULTS, which he said promotes the benefits of their services. But getting and keeping a personal number can be as taxing as selecting a name. He said 800 phone numbers are rarely available so businesses substitute with 888 and 877 numbers. But he said 877 numbers don't work from some pay phones, and people often misdial 888 because they're so familiar with 800 numbers. For example, he said Motorola ran a full page newspaper ad for its (888) STARTAC number, and for the next two months 4,000 calls were made in error to the corresponding 800 number at a hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Another big issue is securing Web addresses, which can be bought and sold. "There are people who make a living from securing numbers and addresses that have value," Stocker said. He said when Traveler's Insurance and Citibank announced their merger within the past six months they prematurely announced their combined name as "Citigroup." Two hours later the Citigroup Web address was taken by a cyber-squatter, he said. Citigroup was able to buy it back, but at a hefty price, he said. Stocker and Goodgold said they help their clients avoid naming mistakes by bundling together a package of names, including the phone number, Web address and tagline. Goodgold said taglines, a few descriptive words following a company name, help explain the position of a company or product, especially in cyberspace where a lot of the companies sound alike. Goodgold cites good taglines, such as Tyson Chicken's "We're chicken;" Gerber's "Shouldn't your baby be a Gerber baby?" and Netcom's "We put the net to work for you." The Nuancing Group's tagline is "Finding your identity." "If you have a brand name but not a complete contact strategy you're missing a huge avenue the consumer can relate to," Goodgold said. San Diego Business Journal, April 14, 1999. Reprinted with permission.
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