CatchThis Blog
The Washington Post sought Catchword’s expert input in its recent story on National Landing, the new neighborhood for Amazon’s HQ2a (or is it 2b?) in Northern Virginia. Co-founder Laurel Sutton was happy to oblige.
“When they come up with a name like National Landing, it is not to serve the needs of the people who live there, it’s to serve the needs of the developer,” said Laurel Sutton, one of the founders of Catchword, a California naming and branding consultant.
When a new name is based on something percolating up from actual residents, it can work beautifully. Sutton cited the emergence of SoHo as a Manhattan neighborhood name decades ago. It was descriptive (the area is south of Houston Street) and evocative (it recalled the chic London district of the same name). It made people feel good about living there.
Will people feel good about living in National Landing?
“National Landing, what does that even mean?” asked Sutton, who was doubtful the name would stick. “It’s so bland it doesn’t tell you anything about the area. What? It’s an airport?”
Read the full story, with more of Laurel’s insights, here.
And if you’re looking to name, or rename, your neighborhood, Catchword’s naming guide can help.
“When they come up with a name like National Landing, it is not to serve the needs of the people who live there, it’s to serve the needs of the developer.”
Higher education enrollment marketing services provider Campus Explorer has relaunched as Archer Education, a name developed by Catchword to highlight the company’s targeted approach.
The company uses outcome-focused, predictive modeling to help schools pinpoint more of the right prospects. Catchword developed Archer to suggest this precision as well as the overarching, full-lifecycle package of services.
Archer Education’s comprehensive rebrand, which includes an expanded portfolio of service offerings, reflects and elevates the company’s focus on unbundled enrollment marketing, recruitment, and retention solutions to help colleges and universities in the U.S. grow their online programs.
“We believe institutions should be able to focus on their core competencies instead of worrying about how to reach, enroll, and retain right-fit students,” said Executive Vice President Brad Gibbs in a release.
A past recipient of the Deloitte Fast 500, the company has used its unique combination of in-house technology, expertise, and partnership-focused approach to help reach today’s generation of learners since 2007.
Archer is a bull’s eye.
Many congratulations from the Catchword Team!
The company uses outcome-focused, predictive modeling to help schools pinpoint more of the right prospects. Catchword developed Archer to suggest this precision as well as the overarching, full-lifecycle package of services.
Catchword is very proud to announce that Soluna has been recognized with a 2018 Transform Award for Naming Strategy. Catchword developed the name earlier this year for the groundbreaking blockchain infrastructure firm, the first to be fully powered by its own renewable energy.
The Transform Awards Winners Book explained the win this way: “The judges liked the succinct storytelling, with one saying, ‘The success of this name stems from a strong strategy and widesweeping creative process.’”A coinage of sol and luna [“sun” and “moon” in Latin], Soluna tells a rich story of power, nature, and humanity’s most fundamental aspiration – looking up to the great light in the sky. (Read the full story behind the name.)
Transform, the global magazine for rebranding and brand development, honors and rewards the most innovative, creative, and successful brand work across the world each year. The awards recognize best practice in corporate, product, and global brand development work, with categories that focus on strategy, execution, content, and evaluation.
Thank you, Transform judges! And congratulations to the Soluna and Catchword teams!
“The judges liked the succinct storytelling, with one saying, ‘The success of this name stems from a strong strategy and widesweeping creative process.’”
Photo courtesy of Nissan
Nissan has introduced an affordable new crossover utility vehicle (that means somewhere between an SUV and a hatchback/wagon): the Kicks. The subcompact will be sold globally, replacing the Juke in the U.S.
Overall, reviews so far have been pretty good, particularly on the value-to-price metric.
But will the name drive traffic? I say it’s green lights all the way.
Like the iconic song, Kicks suggests driving fun and freedom. (To our younger readers: the R&B standard “Route 66” was a smash hit for Nat King Cole and included the refrain “Get your kicks on Route 66.” You may be more familiar with the song as performed by John Mayer, which appeared in Pixar’s Cars. That film’s setting was a small town on a highway based on Route 66.)
The name sells the light and playful yet very practical personality of the Kicks. It’s the car for kicking around town with family, friends, or other sidekicks. The elevated seats and roomy, premium-for-the price interior allow you to kick back in style.
Expressions like kickstart, kickoff, kick up your heels, and kicks meaning athletic shoes suggest fast, agile action, which may help customers overlook the car’s lack of pickup with only 125 hp. And, that the word has multiple positive associations means consumers can fill in the meaning that most appeals to them, which is a cool, and smart, way to build brand connections.
According to various auto media, Kicks is a vast improvement over its American predecessor, the Juke. As a name, the new model certainly kicks butt. It expresses all the agility and fun of Juke but with a far more familiar word. That’s particularly important for a global audience. (Plus for me, without the addition of joint or box, juke is a bit too close to jerk.)
The only problem I see with Kicks is that the plural form of the word can lead to somewhat awkward syntax. “The Kicks is in the driveway.” But as with the cereal Kix, consumer will adjust to treating the word as a singular.
It’s such a fitting car name, and a lexical English word to boot, I’m surprised Nissan was able to get the trademark.
Like the iconic song, Kicks suggests driving fun and freedom.
Laurel Sutton, a Catchword co-founder, was quoted in a MarketPlace article about the renaming of government agencies by the Trump Administration
President Donald Trump, who created a business out of licensing his name, recently tried his hand at branding something else: the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The United States, Canada and Mexico struck a deal earlier this month to form the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, which still bears many similarities to NAFTA. Even though USMCA may give American farmers greater access to Canada’s dairy market or it may require more of your car parts to be made in North America, critics say it’s largely the same deal. …
The Obama administration had changed what was then-called the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition in order to emphasize healthy eating. In line with its reversal of other Obama-era decisions, the Trump administration then flipped the words “fitness” and “sports” to emphasize the latter. Ivanka Trump wrote an op-ed for NBC News back in February stating that “we must break down barriers to youth sports participation.”
Laurel Sutton, a linguist who co-founded the brand naming agency Catchword, said placing “sports” first may be a nod to Trump’s voter base. (Sports viewers, in general, lean Republican, according to a study from National Media Inc.)
Word order also mattered in the naming of USMCA, with Mexico and Canada trailing after America.
“He [came] up with a name that promotes his own ideology: Which in this case is ‘America First.’ So if it’s going to be an agreement, he’s gotta put the U.S. first over and above everybody,” Sutton said. …
“Naming is a lot more complicated than people think. There’s the part of naming that’s just about labeling things, like calling something accurately what it is. But then there’s the strategic part of it, where you’re trying to change hearts and minds,” Catchword’s Sutton said.