THE FUTURE OF NAiMING?
Name consulting is a funny business. Some say it’s the most difficult job in branding. Why? Because clients need to be persuaded that the right name, as they say, “jumps off the table.” Truth be told, names rarely jump!
Picking a name for a business, product or service, brings into play both right and left-brain considerations. Both “I like it and it makes sense to me,” and “I need to know if it’s legally available to use.”
The evolution of naming consulting.
I’m old enough to remember walking into boardroom naming presentations lugging a slide carousel, projector, presentation boards, and a tripod easel.
Of course, PowerPoint decks upped the quality of naming presentations, making a better case for strategic thinking, and helping to show how a name might be branded and used. Seemingly, this would make the names presented more persuasive. Sometimes, this works. But then again, name selection is not always a rational science.
What needs to be rational (left-brained if you would) is the trademark, URL, and linguistic availability of a proposed name. This is a less romanced but major part of name consulting.
Perceived expertise in researching availability.
Branding firms are now expected to provide a reasonable POV on their name candidates’ availability. This involves searching various trademark databases and Google, and providing, short of a legal opinion, a POV if the name can be registered and without conflict. This analysis is critical, and rarely cut and dried. It’s not uncommon for the IP lawyer’s in-depth search to uncover additional risks. A naming consultant’s grasp of trademark law is a real plus. So, a name may seem to jump off the table, only to end up on the cutting room floor.
Also most often, there’s a timely need for the new name. For this reason, clients are generally urged to go forward with at least several name candidates, pending their attorney’s thumbs up or down.
The skill set to be creative, knowledgeable, persuasive, as well as thorough, is now what naming consulting is all about.
Is AI going to be the new naming consultant?
Naming consulting, just as with other creative fields, is facing a “value” threat from what artificial intelligence can provide. Does this portend the demise of professional naming consulting as we know it?
Perhaps not. Here’s what I found while posing this question to ChatGPT. Here’s a summary of the response.
ChatGPT can be very useful to:
Analyze vast amounts of data
Generate a wide range of names (long lists) based on given criteria
Produce names that are unique and relevant
ChatGPT may not be as effective to:
Understand how a name may impact a brand’s identity
Provide the human touch gained by interacting with a team of naming professionals
Grasp the emotional response to proposed names
That is, “while AI can significantly assist the process, replacing human brand naming consultants in the near future seems unlikely. There is still a need for the creative, empathetic, and strategic insights of human professionals.”
Where does this leave us (for now)?
I remember in the olden days of naming when a personal relationship with a client was key to getting and doing the work. In more recent times, this has diminished somewhat in favor of a more efficient and objective approach.
As to my original point, naming is a funny business, both emotional as well as rational. This dichotomy may preserve the need for person to person professional naming consulting as we know it.