Naming

Naming can be the centerpiece of a brand strategy. RainCastle names companies, products and services and consults on brand architecture.

Brand Architecture is the structure a company employs that establishes the naming conventions. When starting a company or naming a new product, companies often resort to internal naming contests to save time and money. Because simplicity is the hardest thing to achieve, descriptive names are difficult to trademark and the name game often overlooks long-term planning, these exercises don't always yield the desired result. RainCastle includes Naming as a core brand strategy capability.

In general, we employ a multi-step naming process that applies to most naming assignments:

• By utilizing our initial research, we begin generating an unfiltered list of name candidates in our internal brainstorming process. We will make the initial cuts based upon agreed-upon criteria we've established.
• We present a selection of our first-cut name choices and collaborate with the client team to narrow these down to a core group of 6-8 names that both parties agree could work.
• Our client's attorney will then conduct a thorough trademark search from which we will cull down the selection to a "short-list" of possible candidate names. We rely on the attorney's opinion regarding safe implementation of client's brand name.
• To bring the name to life, we will visualize the shortlisted names to help our client see the possibilities with each finalist name for brand development and launch.
• In cases where name has an international presence, each candidate name will be evaluated by native-speaking marketing professionals for each language. The evaluators will provide data relating to the viability of each name based on translation, localization, cultural context, semantics, pronunciation and "sounds like" characteristics.
• Once the final name candidate has been determined and approved by client, RainCastle moves into the corporate identity/brand identity and design phase of work.
• Upon completion of a successful linguistic evaluation, a client's trademark attorney can register the trademarks.

In some cases, a client may wish to consider qualitative research in the form of focus group testing of the brand name, competitive positioning, and brand messaging. In such cases, RainCastle collaborates with one of our market research partners in the design and execution of the focus groups, which can be done in the US and internationally.

This research can be particularly important to ensure that the positioning, messaging, and creative translations are compelling, relevant, and appropriate for all of the target audiences in diverse markets and cultures.

Bioprocessors

SimCell System

Tyco Electronics

BeOn (Tyco)