Your name is the one thing that customers should never ever forget. Changing it later on can be costly and confusing, which is why it is worth it to get the name right from the start. During the development, many factors come into play. For example: what are the pros & cons of associative vs. descriptive names? How would potential names interact and harmonize with your other brand elements? Are there possible differences in perception between your target segments? Could they impact brand security by evoking unfavorable associations, having an unintended meaning in other cultural contexts and idiomatic spheres, or leading to protection and legal issues? What names would work well considering web domains, SEO, and social media?    

After taking many strategic aspects into account and using some fun brainstorming techniques, we can test promising candidates through questionnaires or experiments. The tricky thing though is that if you let data dictate decisions and try too hard to satisfy all stakeholders, you might arrive at a very bland name.

If the goal is to produce a stand-out, then often the way to go is a creative, “out of the box” solution that customers get used to over time through other marketing activities. For example, you might argue that “Apple” is a great name for a tech company. But is it really? Or is Apple just excellent in other areas of branding and has given the name meaning over time through all their world-class marketing activities?    

Most organizations and projects have mission and vision statements. Even though they are usually just a sentence or less, it can take effort to get them right.

The mission statement ideally never changes. It is the continuous raison d’etre that gets your team out of bed in the morning. A good mission statement legitimizes your organization or project internally and externally. The vision, on the other hand, does evolve over the years and is the desired future state of your company or project after a defined timeframe (usually 5-10 years, but sometimes also shorter).  

While a mission can serve communications and storytelling purposes, the vision must have strategic meaning (although it is rarely quantitatively measurable). Therefore, it usually is not necessary to communicate your vision externally.  

It can be a good approach to have separate internal and external mission statements. The external mission might be used as a brand element connected to your narrative and/or persona and targeted at customers. All the while the more meaningful internal mission provides direction for team members and acts as a “north star” for the formulation of objectives and goals (which is part of the corporate strategy process).                  

These two are confused even more often than mission and vision because their differences are nuanced and blurry. To keep it simple, we won’t get into which is what here and just call them both “catchphrases”. A catchphrase can have several purposes: it can describe what is unique about your value proposition, be a shorter version of the mission statement, connect with customers through emotional and personal appeals, or evoke desired associations.

Jet Blue has shown that a catchphrase can achieve several of these goals at once. The airline established the catchphrase “you above all”, brilliantly conveying a literal description of the product (flying), the USP (exceptional customer service for everyone), and an emotional appeal (if you fly with us, you’ll feel like a globetrotting jetsetter) in just three words.        

Catchphrases are often used to accompany an organization’s name and logo. Therefore, if you have a descriptive name, it can make sense to opt for an associative catchphrase and vice versa. Above are some of my fave missions, visions, and catchphrases.

For many people, the first element that comes to mind in the branding realm is the logo. However, its importance is, in my opinion, often overrated. Sure, there are some iconic logos that most people can recognize in seconds and sketch on a piece of paper by heart. But these tend to be from organizations that spent billions on marketing, branding, and advertising.

If you’re Hermès, then you can utilize your strong brand equity by charging a premium on nail polish graced by the famous logo. If you’re Audi, and run an abstract, emotional TV ad campaign then you’ll want to include the four circles prominently in the end, so that customers recognize who was behind the ad. Logos benefit from brand equity, but they do not increase it. Increasing brand equity, however, is what SMEs in a process of establishment and growth should be focusing on.  

You do not necessarily need a logo at all. It is another element your customers must remember and there are limited channels on which a logo can appear prominently and organically. Let’s make sure customers have your name stored safely and securely before worrying about logos. A middle-ground solution is to simply spell out your company’s name in your brand’s signature type. This will help customers remember your name and bridge a gap to your visual identity.  

Together, we will decide if a logo is needed and what kind makes sense. There is an increasing number of AI-powered tools that can generate logo designs within seconds. These can be a viable option if this brand element is of lesser importance in your context. But, because everybody can use them, they are unlikely to make you stand out. Is the investment deemed worth it? In that case, I can collaborate with a talented illustrator who will make you and (more importantly) your customers fall in love with a unique logo that captures the essence of your brand and is attractive yet distinctive.