How to name a coffee brand?

One of the most received question at Namzya is the following one:
“Are you specialized in naming on our niche? (cosmectics, home appliances, consumer goods and so on)
Our answer is that being a naming agency, not an advertising one, not a branding one means that we have already chosen a niche. We are a naming agency, we are creating names and that’s all. We are one of the few specialized naming agencies worldwide and that makes us already a niche.
Our knowledge may be applied on many fields and of course, we know a lot of tips and tricks that are available on different areas. That is why, in the following weeks, we will share with you some of our naming experience, knowledge and professional advice for some of the fields that we know best.
For today, we have prepared an article about how to name a coffee brand. Why coffee?
- Our previous branding & naming experience on this field is pretty large. We have worked a lot with many coffee brands around the world and we think that our expertise may help you.
- Is one of the most difficult “naming” fields. Because it has to deal with some important myths and maybe “curses”.
- At Namzya we are two founders. Girls, to be more specific:) So, yes…we love coffee:)
Do you own a coffee business? Or do you work in the marketing & branding department for a coffee business? We are sure that until now you’ve already met the dilemma of naming a new coffee product or maybe a product range from your portfolio. Another situation is finding the perfect name for a new coffee brand. In this article you will find some important tips & tricks about how to deal with a new name for a coffee product or brand:
- The “Coffee” word “curse”.
One of the most chosen words for defining a coffee brand is the word…”coffee”. Maybe it seems like a silly joke, but it’s like humans would have names like: “John Human”, “Mary Girl”, “Peter Man”. You have to understand that if you will choose a good name and you will empower it with a suitable brand strategy, it’s completely redundant to attach the word “coffee” just because you are unsure if people will understand what your brand does. The name matters a lot, but a brand is more than a name. It means a strong market positioning, a fantastic packaging design, a remarkable storyline and many other things. Don’t even imagine that if you say “Coffee”, people will start a war between each other just to catch a cup of your drink. You just look…common. And that’s all. “Coffee” is just a magic drink. Not a magic word in your industry.
- “It does not sound like coffee. Lavazza sounds me like coffee. It has to be something similar.”
This is one of the biggest myths in the coffee naming industry. Many people have the wrong opinion about different popular coffee brands that they simply sound like “coffee”. In our discussions with clients from the coffee industry, we have received name examples like: Lavazza and Illy. But how many of you know the fact that Lavazza and Illy actually have the founder’s name? So, it’s like you put your own name as the name of your coffee brand and of course, you feel that it sounds just terrible. But that’s how Lavazza and Illy have started. You can read more about this subject in the following article: https://www.namzya.com/blog/branding/7-brands-named-after-their-founders.html.
Of couse, we can not deny the fact that due to the Italian coffee heritage, an Italian name is able to make a better impression as a brand coffee name than a Russian one, for example. But that does not mean that any Italian name sounds like coffee just because is Italian.
You will make your brand name to sound like coffee. In time.
- Brand positioning. Product positioning. And potential product range extension.
The most important advice that we can share with you regarding coffee brand names is the following: Take care of the focus on the brand positioning. We all love a good coffee but we buy only the coffee that fits the best with our state of mind. The taste is important, but the feeling is essential. So, the first questions to start with are:
How will my customers feel when they wish to drink my coffee? How will they feel when they will drink my coffee? And after they have finished a cup?
The answers are pretty different. Your coffee can be defined by different words and feelings like: energy, power, social time, quiet, enjoy, delight, delicious, making memories, strong aroma, light, after party, before a meeting, work, pleasure, business, friends, travelling, mornings, late nights and so many more. It’s mandatory to define how will you position your coffee in the consumer’s eyes. And the name must start an inception in the mind of the customer just from the first call.
The second advice regarding the brand positioning is about potential product range extension. If your business strategy involves developing more products with similar brand positionings but not the same, maybe you should take into consideration to find a name that allows you to extend them with different words in the future. And of course, the name of the product range is essential to be compatible with other extensions.
We love coffee naming projects and we hope that this article brings you a good start in naming your coffee product or brand. If you need more professional advice from us or you have a naming project in this field, we would be more than happy to discuss more about it. Just drop us a line here and let’s find together the next famous “coffee” brand without mentioning the word “coffee”:)
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