A competitive analysis is an essential step in any naming process.
How are your competitors positioning themselves? What types of names are
common among them? Are their names projecting a similar attitude? Do their
similarities offer you a huge opportunity to stand out from the crowd?
How does your business or product differ from the competition? How can
a name help you define or redefine your brand? Can you change and own
the conversation in your industry? Should you?
Quantifying the tone and strength of competitive company names or product
names is an empowering foundation for any naming project. Creating such
a document helps your naming team decide where they need to go with the
positioning, branding and naming of your company or product. It also keeps
the naming process focused on creating a name that is a powerful marketing
asset, one that works overtime for your brand and against your competitors.
We display the results of a given sector of names in the form of taxonomy
charts. Here are some example name taxonomy charts, along with a blank
one for your own use. This format is also utilized at Igor to examine
taglines and language common to an industry.
Accounting and Business Services – As usual, and as you might expect, most
of the companies on this list have lower-level functional names.
Agency Names of Naming
Agencies – If you think that's a mouthful,
take a look at this chart of the company names that most of our competitors
in the naming and branding space chose for themselves.
Airlines –
Some major airline names classified by category and by level of engagement.
Biotech / Pharmaceutical – This is an extensive taxonomy of company
names in the biotech / pharmaceutical industries, classified by category
and by level of engagement. On this chart, note that nearly all of
the company names are heavily clustered in the lower levels of engagement.
Computer Port Technology – This chart compares the names of computer
peripheral device ports and the devices that love them.
Juice –
If you're looking for a juicy name taxonomy, you've come to the right
page. Here is our competitive analysis name taxonomy of juice brand
names. Fresh squeezed, and all the usual metaphors.
Margarines
– If you thought that margarines -- aka "butter substitutes"
-- existed in a parallel universe, you were right! Here is our competitive
analysis name taxonomy of margarine brand names. Eat your heart out.
Music and Media
Download Servicesy – AKA the iTunes space,
but here including movie as well as music download services, plus
tangential services such as NetFlix and TiVO that offer different
combinations of online, offline, broadband, cable or satellite delivery
of multimedia content.
Search Engine, Browser and
Web Portals – Here are some names you may
be familiar with in the Internet industry. Note how many search engines
went with Functional names that include the words "search"
or "crawler."
Social Networks – Social networks have existed on the web for some
time in the form of discussion groups, online communities, bulletin
boards, webrings and matchmaking services. This chart is confined
to rating the names of the new breed of social networks, those that
leverage many levels of relationships in the form of "a friend
of a friend." Included is the name Tickle,
which Igor created.
Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) – This chart compares the (mostly) rough-and-tumble
names of the behemoth cars many people either love or hate. Note the
prevalence of Western themes, both of the American and Spaghetti varieties.
Sweet Snack Food
– The names of snack foods are tough to rank in an unbiased
way. Our perceptions of snack food names are deeply influenced by
emotional connections to the products formed at an early age.
Toothpaste
– When you Reach for those Pearl Drops to give your mouth an
Ultra Bright Super Smile, is your Sure Choice based solely on what
will make you the most attractive Close-Up, or is it Ultrabright branding
that's taking Aim at you as if yours were the First Teeth to Crest
the tide of Oral-B(eauty)?
Your Name Taxonomy –
Here is a blank name taxonomy chart you can print. Try plotting your
competition's product or company names on this chart and see how they
sort out.