The first step when you start any naming project is to prepare a proper naming brief. The naming brief represents the foundation of any naming research. Unfortunately, many companies are skipping this essential step and are going right to the brainstorming. In many cases, without a naming brief, the process becomes longer and more frustrating. How may a suitable naming brief help you?

• It will clarify the main objectives of the new brand or product name. You will know what the name must share to the target audience
• It helps you define the most suitable naming directions. Naming becomes easier when you narrow down the infinity of brainstorming possibilities.
• It delivers you answers which you have never thought about regarding types of names, expectations of the target audience regarding the brand name, long term vision for the new brand etc.

In this article, we will share with you a small part from our standard naming brief. You will see here which are the minimum 10 key questions for a simple naming brief (in the case of a new brand):

1. Write down the entire list of products or services which will stand under the new brand on short, medium and long term.
2. What do you think are the main differences points for the new brand compared with your competitors?
3. Who will be the future main customer of the new brand? Make a full customer profile.
4. Which are the main markets where the new brand plans to enter? (It’s a very important information for the naming process. The markets are determining linguistic directions, cultural directions and trademark future screenings)
5. Can you tell me between 5 and 10 qualities which are describing the best the personality of the new brand?
6. Which are the main 3-5 competitors of your brand? What kind of brand names are they using? (More about this subject in this article)
7. What type of brand names do you think it will fit the best for our new brand? (Read more about types of names here)
8. Do we need a .com web domain? If yes, why do we need it? What other web domains extensions do we need? (More about .com web domains problems here)
9. Which is the main linguistic preference of our customers? English? Latin inspiration? Our countries main language? Why is that? (More about linguistic naming mistakes here)
10. Where do you see this new brand in 10 years from now? Do you think that it will serve the same type of products or services list written for the first question? (More about naming criteria here)

These are the most important 10 key questions for starting a proper naming project. If you will do your future naming project on your own, it will be wonderful to take these questions into consideration. You will see that the answers given by your marketing, branding and maybe production/engineering teams will help you to find the best naming solution in a small period.

If you are working with a naming agency, the naming brief is a lot more accurate and complex. Usually it contains around 100 questions. As a naming agency we are getting actively involved in this part of the project too. That means that we are coming with some suggestions regarding the questions from the brief, in order to clarify the best answers for you. After we are receiving the brief for you, we are making a conclusion document and a naming direction document which are containing the exact areas where we will be searching for your brand name.

If you want to start together your future naming project, write us more here about it!