The Art and Strategy of Naming Brands

In this episode, naming expert David Placek shares his foundational principles that helped him create some of the world’s most iconic brands: BlackBerry, Azure, Sonos, and Impossible Foods, to name a few.

Whether you’re launching a new company or naming a product, this episode will sharpen how you think about brand strategy and help you avoid costly mistakes.

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In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why naming is the single highest-leverage brand decision you’ll make

• The 3 pillars of effective names

• How invented names outperform descriptive ones (and cost less to build)

• Why brainstorming rarely works - and what to do instead

• The story behind Intel’s Pentium and how one name changed the industry

• Why “Swiffer” made mopping fun

• How Vercel went from “Zeit” to a name built for momentum

• The 6 challenges every name must overcome in today’s AI-driven world

• What not to do: common naming traps that lead to forgettable brands

References:

• AMD: https://www.amd.com/

• Azure: https://azure.microsoft.com/

• BlackBerry: https://www.blackberry.com/

• Codeium: https://codeium.com/

• Dell: https://www.dell.com/

• HP: https://www.hp.com/

• Impossible Foods: https://impossiblefoods.com/

• Intel: https://www.intel.com/

• Lexicon Branding: https://www.lexiconbranding.com/

• Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/

• Navan: https://navan.com/

• Procter & Gamble: https://us.pg.com/

• Sonos: https://www.sonos.com/

• Subaru: https://www.subaru.com/

• Vercel: https://vercel.com/