In the latest episode of our PRIVATE VIEW(S) podcast we chat about one of the most transformative marketing tools of all time: the name.
LA copywriting studio Fonzie have created verbal branding for companies including A24, Netflix and Nike, and are at the forefront of a wave of new agencies bringing life back to the art of commercial language. It’s no stretch to say that their work with fashion label Reformation went on to become one of the most-referenced pieces of copywriting of recent years, spawning a host of copycats and fundamentally changing the way many brands thought about language. More recently, the agency has partnered with brands including Rhode, Kosas and Lulu and Georgia.
We sat down with their co-founder Arin Delaney to chat about what some might consider a niche creative skill: finding a brand or product the kind of name that’s going to make it famous.
Scroll down for some soundbites from the episode, and listen to the whole thing on SPOTIFY, SOUNDCLOUD and APPLE PODCASTS.
“You have to remember that a name is basically the handshake of your company. It's the first impression, it’s the thumbnail. Are you going to click it?”
“Names are an opportunity to create a personality to accompany the look of a brand, and there’s so much emphasis on how it looks. That’s really important, but it’s really all about differentiation and finding new opportunities. And it’s still the Wild West – you can create anything. So having a really thoughtful voice and personality that matches with your overall vision for what you’re doing is really exciting. It’s something people can read, and know it’s from you.”
“If we’re doing a company name, that’s when we sit with the founders and ask a lot of personal interview questions. We’ll ask about their lives, and what brought them to this place. Why are they doing this? What’s it for? What are they looking to put out in the world? A name has to capture that intangible essence of what they’re doing. We really get immersed in people’s stories – and from there, we try and dip into an almost ethereal place.”
“We’ve had experiences where we’re working on developing something proprietary, like a foam name for Nike, and that has to be something completely new – maybe it’s a word that doesn’t exist, and it’s combining other names or words. It’s really challenging, but it forces you to think about very textural or onomatopoeic words. You’re thinking about sounds, and feelings it evokes, and you’re combining words and changing spellings. So that can get really out there.”
“We’re seeing how naming is something that can really set you apart in the marketplace, particularly in the beauty and consumer product space. It’s really a marketing tool and an opportunity. And it’s worth pursuing, because we’ve seen the real effects of it. There’s the potential for refreshing entire categories; a name can feel like product innovation, even if it’s not.”
“Even though we talk about the feeling and the texture and the spirit of it, there are always strategic reasons. Is this the name of something I want someone to feel like they can’t live without? Is it tapping into a bigger, broader idea? Does it speak to a benefit in a way that makes me want to latch onto it?”
