The Importance of Brand Naming: Introduction
Brand naming or product naming is just as important as the selection of your business name. The tenants are the same, but branding your business, or creating and branding a product is more intensive than previously realized, and its impact on the success or failure of a business is paramount.
If you don't think choosing and marketing a brand or product name is important across both the private and public sectors, no matter what the 'product' or 'business,' think again. Branding takes place all of the time, in some very unusual places.
The US penal system houses some of the most violent criminal minds known to man, and, since the mid-1960's, gang members who entered the prison system from their gang-families on the outside, created the same gangs, or new gangs, upon entering the select prison.
When a new prisoner arrives, they are recruited by the different gangs, which are known as 'brands.' as they enter their new world. Each gang or 'brand' has a unique identity and a set of ideologies or a code that the 'brand' lives by. It's their calling card to persuade the new 'consumer' to go with their gang, over another.
Scott White, owner and CEO of "BIG"-Brand Identity Guru-a branding identity company in Boston, MA, writes in one of his posts for his BIG blog, "Gangs are what every brand aspires to be. A group of committed, loyal followers that will follow whatever the brand dictates. They tattoo themselves, wear logo'd clothing and live the lifestyle of the brand. They are the ultimate brand enthusiast."
"Gangs spread the word like no other company. They do this freely and with passion. When you join their club you become a brother, family. How many companies can say that? Now I'm obviously not approving the gang life (after all its criminal) but how they spread the word, and develop brand loyalty…well that's something to think about."
Branding is a no longer just an advertising or marketing campaign, with clever slogans, but proper branding represents it's truly the heart of the company and what it believes; it's also about conveying those core beliefs and tenants to a buying audience, through a product or brand.
The US is in the middle of one of the biggest branding decisions, which comes around every four years or so for the American people: the presidential election.
