Brand Naming with Lexicon's David Placek

Focus Lab's CEO Bill Kenney chats with David Placek, President and Founder of Lexicon Branding, about his career in naming some of the world's most recognized companies. Lexicon is behind brands you probably interact with daily: Febreze, Sonos, Blackberry, Swiffer, Dasani, Impossible Foods.

Bill asks David a few questions to find out challenges and successes in naming.

• When a company needs a new name, what is the pain point they're trying to solve?
• Is there a time when a brand doesn't need a new name?
• What is the most challenging part of the naming process?
• Is there a name from Lexicon's past you don't think aged well?
• After finalizing a name, what's the most satisfying part of handing that name off to a branding agency or the company?

Full Transcript:

[Bill Kenney]

What's up, everybody. I'm excited to share this video with you today. I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with David Plasik. He is the founder of Lexicon Branding, the masters in all things naming. Um, so a very seasoned 39 year old business naming giant organizations. Many of them, you know, such as BlackBerry, Sonos, Dasani, Swiffer.

The list is truly impressive. So today we talk about all things naming and yeah, I think you're gonna like it.

[Bill Kenney]

I've got six questions here and they're, they're all targeted in and around what you do. What do you think the biggest pain point is for like a CMO or a head of marketing when you're talking to them, right? They're thinking like, I got to rename. You know, what is usually the impetus for that? Like what's the pain point they're really trying to solve for?

[David Placek]

Well, it's a There's a range of pain points when it comes to i've got a i've got to rename something typically I think the most common factor is that they have outgrown the particular name that they have moved ahead. Their product has been refined. The marketplace has changed. You need to appeal to a usually a broader audience and they're picking up in broadening,

They're picking up typically a younger audience and, and they have a better story and the, the, the name usually very suggestive descriptive names just doesn't hold that water anymore. And so looking at that and the pain is, and this is really interesting because most clients come to us when they need to rebrand, rename, with some fear and trepidation, like, oh, this is going to be, I really don't want to do this, but I know I have to, and I know we're going to be better off.

But, and we really try to turn that around and say, you can be way better off. If you have the evidence that it's time to do this, your employees are going to feel better. You're going to have a message to your customers that says, Hey, look at us.

We've got more of what we want and we're considering what you need even more. So, so it can be really exciting. And that's what we try to do from the get go is like lose the fear.

[Bill Kenney]

Yeah. It's we run into the same thing, right? There's a big leap of faith. It's that feels like a really big change. Name being probably the biggest, right, the visuals and how they communicate and verbal identity and, and the expression of the brand, which is more of what we do probably even, um, less.

Less fearful to most people, but still there's fear there. There's a lot of coaching. There's a lot of comforting throughout the process to say like, this is, this is/

[David Placek]

Yeah, exactly. And, and work really well. We're right.

[Bill Kenney]

Yeah. Think about the opportunity. Yeah. So this is, this might be a bit of a softball, so maybe you can take the other side of the question, uh, which is, what do you think is the best reason to rename, or when do you ever have conversations where you tell someone, you know, what? I actually don't think you need to rename. Does that even happen on your side?

[David Placek]

Yes, it does. And we, we, so I think that is a good question.

And we, we, by our value in terms of being really first, very good consultants and very objective, we look at that very objectively. And I just had a conversation late last week where the, and this does happen, not frequently where, where their name is, partly because of design, by the way, people pronounce it and say it in many different ways.

[Bill Kenney]

Oh, right.

[David Placek]

And they said, basically, we're kind of tired of this, right? And I said, well, okay, but they've been in business seven or eight years. And I said, well, let's look at how it's affected your business. I said, well, it really hasn't. Our sales have doubled every year for seven years. So I said, well, that tells me the name isn't hurting you, right?

And then basically through a longer conversation and, and, and, and for me saying, listen, I'm not a designer, but I think you can remedy this, a really good design team working on this. Where it's the messaging that surrounds the brand that's wrong, that hasn't kept pace with what they're doing, but the name is perfectly acceptable.

[Bill Kenney]

I love that. Again, we try to follow a very similar line of thinking, right? In the beginning, it's all about consulting and trying to help the customer figure out what they actually need versus what they think they need. And we're not in the business of just selling stuff to sell it right. If they don't need it, we want to be honest and tell them, oh, you don't need this.

I think the thing that we see often too, is people will come and say, Hey, we need a new website and then talking through that, then we help them realize like, it's actually not a website problem. It starts, it's more upstream from that, right? It is like the purpose and the positioning and, you know, and all those things, which will then help inform the new website, such as making the website prettier.

[David Placek]

You know what? One of the, just one final comment on this, but one of the things that I think has made us successful and had this longevity in the marketplace is that and I tell everybody here that comes here. As part of our orientation is that our mission is to give our clients two things.

They come to us for ideas for names, right? So we're going to give them those ideas, but we're also part of our job is to give them new ways to think about the situation, right? To give them guidance, like, Hey, have you thought about doing this? Not that we see the marketplace differently than you. And that's where, you know, the light bulb goes on when clients go, Hey, I haven't thought about that way.

And that's where. You know, that outside looking in or that expression naivete is a special brand of expertise. I mean, I love that phrase and it's very helpful. So we try to lead every, every project with, okay, we gave you some ideas, but we gave you some new ways to think about what you're doing.

[Bill Kenney]

I love that. And I'm sure your clients and partners are super happy about that type of experience and working with you. Not just a business relationship always, right? Not just purely down to the dollars and the invoices. Yeah. Great. I'll be interested in what type of overlap you have here to this question with us, which is what is the most challenging part of the naming process when you're going through these projects?

Some of them, obviously we've got the names behind you, really large scale. What are the big hiccups?

[David Placek]

I have to say that there are several pain points or hiccups along the way, and they've always been there, but because of this digital economy that we live in. They're getting bigger and harder and more challenging.

So the first pain point is, uh, that most clients, and I say this with all due respect, most clients come to us with a very traditional view of naming, which goes back probably to the fifties, the sixties, the seventies, right? And they think, Hey, this could be fun. This is relatively easy. And they look at it as tactical, right?

Like it's kind of at the end of the project, we've done our positioning, we've done our name, we've got the package or at least the container. We're working on the design. We try to move them to look at this as a strategic communication device and a, and a strategic process or project that requires more senior help.

So we try to get, you know, up in the, in the organization to, to, to help that. And we also at that point, try to educate them that this is not going to be, it's not just brainstorming. And you give it to your lawyer and, and they get it. So, that's the first part getting, you know, simple terms, getting people to really listen to that story.

The second thing is getting the right people on the client side into the decision making process. We often start with, you know, really good, well trained, but relatively junior executives in the scheme of things. And it's often very painful when the senior people who are the decision makers aren't involved and then you get to the end and really we've had situations where we spent a lot of money and someone says, why are we doing this at all?

Well, that should have been in the beginning. So the final pain point is trademark clearance and evaluation.

[Bill Kenney]

Oh, good one. Yeah.

[David Placek]

And this, I compare this to. You know, trying to explain the ocean to someone who's never seen it. You know, it's, it's hard to imagine the ocean or personally, I will use the example.

I don't really want to listen to my accountant. I'll just say to him, his name is Ken and I'll say, Ken, just tell me what I need to do, right? Because he's going on to this law and that thing and this change will do this. And the same thing I think happens when you, when you start talking to people who aren't lawyers about trademark clearance.

But you know, this digital economy has changed everything. And I know that's an overused statement. But from a legal standpoint, the clutter in the marketplace is almost to the point of an inflection point where it's not impossible now, but it's getting to the point. We're looking at probably three to four years down the road where it's going to be almost impossible to clear a name.

So, and we're, and we're trying to work on that in terms of our legal process, our software to help with that, those kinds of things. So we want to get ahead of that, but it's a challenge.

[Bill Kenney]

Those are fantastic. Um, is the, is the challenge with the market being flooded that there just will be no names available? Is that kind of like what you're insinuating? Like everything will have been said or done or somehow protected?

[David Placek]

No, there's, there's, I'm glad, I'm glad you asked for clarification. So there's always going to be room to create names, right?

That's going to go on for the next thousand years. Okay. It's the question of the ability to get a name that meets a set of what we call a creative framework or a set of objectives. It's pronounceable across multiple languages, and it's clear. You know, not not too long ago, we had a had a client who started off saying, Listen, I want this to be completely, totally clear in these countries, and I want to own that.

I want you to give me only names. Or a name that is dot-com available that I can, and I said, I can do that for you right now. And I just went, cause I was at a presentation and I typed in about nine consonants in a row and then, and hit dot com. And I said, I said, yeah, we'll be available. Absolutely. And you can buy that probably for $25 today.

He said, I get your point. Yeah.

[Bill Kenney]

I see now the digital world, bringing it, opening up the world and then putting so much more pressure on that word, that name to be able to be translated to different cultures, mean different things.

[David Placek]

And there's another thing with, I mean, what's behind trademarks, trademarks is it's, it's competition, it's products.

And so there is so much noise in the marketplace that, I mean, our goal is always to create a brand for a client, whether it's a, you know, a renaming or a new product that can cut through that noise and produce sound, produce a signal, right? And that's just getting harder and harder to do as you have more and more brands, right?

[Bill Kenney]

Yeah, right.

[David Placek]

In the marketplace, right? Yeah. So that's the chance. That's our, as a, as a company, the ability, our challenge is break through the noise, produce a signal with a registered trademark that works across usually our projects are between 7 and 15 languages. So it's, it's, it's difficult.

[Bill Kenney]

Yeah, it's, it's, it kind of reminds me of one of the challenges, the last one we spoke about here, it kind of reminds me of the thing that we do.

Will continue to be a harder and harder challenge for us, which is logo marks specifically, right? Let's be clear that a brand is not a logo and like, you know, we don't have to get into that But it is a part of the recipe so we make them and when we're doing that man is it hard to to continue to year over year make something that is simple?

Make something that is unique and hasn't been done before? Make something that has some sense of a meaning to what the underlying story is, but doesn't have to tell the whole story and get past the personal bias that the people that have to sign off on it to say, like, do you like it? And does that even matter if you like it? Quite the challenge.

[David Placek]

It's the same challenge. I mean, we're in communications, you know, it's the same and yours will get worse.

[Bill Kenney]

Yeah, and it has, we're still up for the fight, but it's certainly not easy. So I got, we're getting close here cause we don't want to go super long. We want people to be able to watch and digest these.

I got a little bit of a curve ball question here. And again, I don't want you to throw anybody into the rug, but 39 years of naming companies. Is there any name out there that stands out to you that you're like. Oh, that didn't really age well, or like that one's kind of funky now 39 years later, I can certainly think of work that we did 10 years ago that I'm like, yeah, it's probably doesn't hold up anymore.

I mean, it doesn't mean we're bad at what we do.

[David Placek]

You know, we've, we've completed somewhere around 3,700 projects, right? Somewhere around that area. I think the things that often go away, because not all those marks are out there in the marketplace are those ingredients, those feature names, those benefit names that particularly in a lot of technology brands that we do that would really seem out of place now.

So, and, and we've learned over the years to try and think about the future. I mean, one of the questions we always ask is, well, we, we tell clients first, we're going to name, create your name for the future. So when we talk, when we have our input studio or conversation, we're really going to focus on where you're going in the future and what the future looks like around you.

Right. So, and, and we've, so we've gotten better at things that are more timeless or that exist for a long period of time.

[Bill Kenney]

Yeah. I think BlackBerry is probably a great example of that. Right. I'm just thinking off the top of my head. If you, if you all had come up with a name that really pigeonholed them to a cellular device.

And now, even as we speak, they're trying to pivot completely to not be pigeonholed into that, they would have to then rename again.

[David Placek]

Yeah. And the orientation of most people, because we humans like comfort, right? And, and comfort comes from things that describe things. And that's, you know, going back to your pain point question.

One of the things that we have to really push on clients is to get them out of that, you know, a suggestive name, a descriptive name in most circumstances. Yeah. It won't work for you over the long, long haul. And in fact, most of the time, our rebrands are related to things that are too specific, being specific, being very descriptive.

Or prescriptive works when let's go back to the diehard battery. You know, they came out when batteries were pretty unreliable. So to say, Hey, look at us. We're diehard. Brilliant. Okay. But now to come out with something that says, Hey, diehard is a leader in this thing. We need to have something that says diehard in a different way.

That's imitation and very limited returns.

[Bill Kenney]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I'm glad I asked that question. That was great. So the last one is a little bit self serving to me and a lot of the design listeners I'm sure would be interested. I can't help but wonder. So we've had the ability to partner, I'll use that word loosely, but work with the same client, right?

So they go to you for naming, we end up taking the visual and verbal identity side of the project. And I'm always interested, like from, from your side, like, what's the most satisfying part of that process? Like you, you've obviously, like, it's kind of like, it's your baby in the beginning to maybe use a bad analogy.

I don't know, but you guys start with it. You name it, you do the research, you kind of like bring it, bring it to life in that way, and then you give it to an agency like ours. What is like the most, is it satisfying to see that at the end when it rolls out and you go like, Oh my God, I wouldn't have thought that it would have like visually turned out like that.

Or yeah. I don't know. Like, what's that experience like for you, I guess, is the question.

[David Placek]

Yeah, again, super great question. So there's two things I really enjoy about that process. So for us, you know, I use the phrase here. When you name something, you give it power, right? Which is right. You, you, I mean, we do this with children, right?

You know, I have, I have two daughters, you, you name them, you, you, there's power in that identity, right? So what I really enjoy about briefing a design branding firm is when they sort of light up when we're, when we're explaining to them. Here's the journey we've been on and here's what this name, this, here's why this name is here.

And then we kind of really break it down and we break it down creatively and linguistically. And we even, you know, educate a little bit about trademark law and things like that. And then they come back along the way and you see this thing that often is so unexpected, the colors and the shapes and stuff.

And I, and we all go, Oh, that's great. They've taken the power and they brought it to life, right? Right. They've taken a little child and made it into an adult so they can really Because it's very hard and you know this because of your training and the business you're in. The more you do what you do, it's easier for you to conceptualize things right to say Okay, I I can see a little sketch.

I can see where that's going, right? And I never forget and I try to tell everyone here, you know, unless you do that, you know on a weekly basis, it's hard for people to come off of you know, they're in a meeting with accountants and they're going over numbers and they sit down and you can't expect him to look at a sketch or an idea of a name and say oh I can see where that can go, we have to take them there.

[Bill Kenney]

Yeah.

[David Placek]

And what you your firm does is You take clients there where they can say now I get it now now I feel good about this right because there's always that thing.

[Bill Kenney]

Always, always. Yeah. And sometimes it's right down to the wire until some final element just really tips the scale and everyone goes like, yes, it's interesting.

Like, you know, I'll speak from a designer voice when you do see down the road. Like I'm able to see. Oh, this thing's going to be, this is going to be magical. I already have the full thing painted in my mind, but I've only got these little bits to show. Right. So you're wanting the client to get excited about the little bits and they're not necessarily excited yet.

And you're like, Oh, they don't see it yet. They're not, they're not there with me, but that's fine. Like I'll be patient with them. They'll be patient with us and they will start to see it. Yeah. And then. We'll finally have that light bulb moment. Sometimes that comes in around two. Sometimes it comes in around eight and you can tell that moment has happened.

[David Placek]

Right. Right.

[Bill Kenney]

That's a really fulfilling moment.

[David Placek]

You're aware of that, that, that, and respect it, right. That unless you're doing this, it's hard to sort of take something and go. That's why great filmmakers can, can, can look at a couple of storyboards and say, I see where this is going. I see where I want that camera angle to be, because they've been there before.

But if they took me out and said, okay, here's. Here, you're going to shoot this today, David, and here's the storyboards. I would be going, okay, well, you know, what do I do exactly? Put the camera over there and start filming, but it's not the same.

[Bill Kenney]

Yeah. Yeah. Which again, that's why it's so important for companies like yours and ours to be really good shepherds, right?

It goes, and I preach this all the time internally in our company, it has to be more than the craft. It can't be just the craft. That's only one side of the coin. And I really mean that. The other side has to be the shepherding, the consulting, the, the, all the human aspects of a project, because those projects are not easy.

[David Placek]

No, I mean, the, the word that I love to use, and it's part of our values here is, and it has nothing to do with naming or creativity, it's stewardship. It's like we, they have entrusted us for a moment in time to do something. And let's, let's fulfill that trust, right? And, and, you know, one of the things that we look for in clients, is clients who want that stewardship, who, who wants some leadership.

Who look at us and say, well, if you've done these types of names, you know, whether it's impossible or Sonos or Pentium or anything like that, you, you must know something I don't know. And so therefore I want your leadership. Those are the best relationships.

[Bill Kenney]

Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I don't even, I couldn't high five you on that one anymore, or say it any better. Like that is so crucial to the success and the trust of a project. And that is also how we operate too.

Well, listen, we've got, I don't want to keep people too long. People got busy days. I do want to just say that I'm excited.

I know we've got two more projects that look like. You know, you're starting on the naming and then we'll take over on the other side. So I'm really excited about that. Thanks for your time. It was, it was absolutely a pleasure.

[David Placek]

Well, it was a pleasure on my side. Look forward to working with you in these projects that we're starting and in the years and months ahead.

Thank you so much.

[Bill Kenney]

Good times ahead. Thanks, David.