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Catchword and GreyBox collaborated to create a new name and identity for DNAMx, an emerging leader in medical diagnostics. Using a unique, DNA-methylation approach to disease detection, the company’s innovative platform allows for early detection of disease in a single platform with a very high level of specificity and sensitivity. A variation of au delà (meaning “beyond”…) and a female name meaning “noble,” Adela underscores the company’s ability to test not just for cancer but for other diseases, and reflects the warmth and comfort that patients feel knowing the risks before they manifest.

Adobe Systems acquired a dramatic new application for creating web-based 3D worlds accessible in real time using any browser. They needed a brand name that fit in the Adobe family and performed globally while differentiating the product from the competition.

Catchword embarked on an extensive creative exploration and conducted trademark research and linguistic checks to verify that our recommended candidates would be appropriate in all key markets.

The final selection, Atmosphere, communicates the ethereal sensation experienced when using the software. The familiar English word fits perfectly in the Adobe naming system, in the tradition of names such as Illustrator and Acrobat, and pairs well with the corporate brand with its alliterative A.

How do you improve on a world-famous brand of photo-editing software? Adobe gave us the challenge of naming their smaller-lighter-friendlier version of Photoshop. It had to sound just as good as the classic app, while conveying that it was a product for non-professionals. The Elements name has since been extended to several other Adobe products, including Acrobat and Premiere.

Agari was founded by the thought leaders behind Cisco’s IronPort solution and co-founders of the DMARC standard for email authentication. Using predictive AI informed by global intelligence from about 2 trillion emails annually, the company protects organizations against phishing, account takeover, and other advanced email threats. Agari, meaning “rise” and “advance” in Japanese, suggests technical advances and the start of a bright new day in cybersecurity.

International food retailer Ahold (parent of Giant Food and Stop & Shop) wanted names for all of their U.S. supermarkets’ private-label sodas that cheekily recalled (and thus challenged) the brand establishment. We peppered Dr. Bob with a pinch of you-know-who, and made Quist sound as crisp as the lemon-lime behemoth. To date, we’ve created over 20 feisty challenger-brand names for Ahold.

Nothing creates atmosphere in a room so immediately and powerfully as a fragrance, and this product line from Enviroscent allows consumers to create personal scents for every room by combining ScentSticks™ of different fragrances. But what to call this scent-sational technology? The brand name AirCraft takes a familiar phrase and imbues it with new meaning. Because “the air is yours to craft.”

This industry trade association for companies that develop and supply life science, analytical, and diagnostic products and services was using the rather awkward initialism ALSSA (Analytical & Life Science Systems Association) and asked us to help them find a more memorable (and easier to say) name. The acronym ALDA (Analytical, Life Science & Diagnostics Association) was just what the diagnostician ordered.

Allstate is the second-largest personal lines insurer in the nation, and we’ve named many of their products, including auto and home, and life insurance, and now MarketSmart, a fixed annuity.

Allstate is the second-largest personal insurer in the nation, and we’ve named many of their products, including auto and home, and life insurance, and Whole Life Advantage, which offers lifetime guaranteed death benefit, cash accumulation and potential for excess credits as well as asset protection.

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Over the past two decades, Social Interest Solutions (SIS) has used its tech and policy expertise to help connect more than 25 million people across the country to critical health and human services. Catchword was delighted to help the Oakland-based nonprofit better express its mission: to eliminate the barriers between people in need and the community and governmental organizations created to support them. A fusion of all and illuminate, Alluma conveys the group’s ability to address all aspects of the complexity facing agencies and the people they serve, and to illuminate new solutions and possibilities through deep analysis.

How prepared are you for a real emergency? We thought so. The American Red Cross wanted a campaign that would get folks off their collective tush, without scolding or shaming them (rarely successful tactics). Like an emergency response team, we sprang into action, helping with communication architectures and creating hundreds of taglines for their campaign. This one became their rallying cry.

Ancestry.com (then MyFamily.com) asked us to review their portfolio of brand names, to see if any changes were in order. You might think that we’d just recommend renaming everything. But that’s not our style. Often we’ll recommend that a client adopt a naming strategy involving fewer brand names. Or, as in this case, we’ll recommend a stronger parent brand, which can do a lot of the heavy lifting.

By combining vast experience in the online educational space, unparalleled marketing intelligence, and a proprietary technology platform, Campus Explorer was able to attract and deliver to its clients the highest quality student leads, helping to optimize its clients’ recruitment efforts and marketing spend, and increase enrollment. However, its name was a poor platform for delivering those messages. Catchword developed the new company name, Archer, to suggest precise student lead generation, a focused technology solution, and speed of results.

A software company formed by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and programming whiz Justin Rosenstein was clearly not ordinary. It needed a name that stood out from the IT herd and transcended Silicon Valley startup tropes.

Tapping into a 10,000-year-old practice, Asana, the Sanskrit word conveying “yoga pose,” connected the founders’ love of yoga with the business world’s quest for focus, flow, and clarity. The result: a productivity platform enabling team members to manage complex projects smoothly with a category-defying name proven to stand the test of time.

After a decade of explosive growth, the company went public in 2020. It now serves customers in 190 countries at some of the best-known companies in the world (Google, Amazon, Uber, Spotify, Deloitte).

And Asana’s dedication to balance is not just a yoga pose—it’s made Inc.’s Best Workplaces list for four years in a row. Name-aste.

The Asian American Civic Association (AACA) went way beyond standard ESL services for immigrants. They offered job training, social services, even childcare. Their tagline needed to communicate all that, both internally and externally, and be understood by people with limited English. We consider taglines the haikus of marketing copy: short, sweet, and so satisfying when you get them right. This one was no exception.

French software company Quadratec needed a new name as it built its presence in North America. Despite consumer awareness of their flagship product, Time Navigator, they had little equity in their corporate name. Furthermore, they didn’t own the domain, so customers had difficulty finding the company online. The new name had to perform well in North America and Europe and incorporate the central message of Time Navigator (traveling back in time).

Borrowed from the musical lexicon, Atempo means “at normal speed” or “resuming normal speed.” The name offers a sophisticated execution of the product’s central message, and its Latinate origin makes the name meaningful in most European markets (particularly France). The company now owns the .com domain, as well as trademark rights in the U.S. and abroad.

Catchword was chartered with naming a new annual event created by Dwayne Johnson and business partner Dany Garcia, herself a competitive body builder. Influenced by the pair’s experiences at fitness and entertainment conventions, this transformative experience will combine athletics, wellness, and entertainment for people at all fitness levels. The name Athleticon—like its founders—is bold, direct, and impactful.

Volkswagen has some of the auto industry’s most iconic (and distinctive) cars and car names, from the Beetle to the Touareg. So we were excited when they called on us to name their sturdy 7-seat SUV, codenamed “CrossBlue.” Working with VW’s US, German and Chinese marketing teams, Catchword explored a broad range of messaging themes, and developed over 2500 name candidates. The global nature of the project meant we also carried out linguistic and cultural screening in 19 different languages, including Min Nan and Kejia Chinese. Atlas, the name VW decided to adopt, reinforces the vehicle’s size and strength and implies a titan among SUVs.

The Attain by Aetna app is a first-of-its-kind health experience designed in collaboration with Apple. It combines a member’s health history with their Apple Watch® activity to provide personalized goals, achievable actions, and big rewards—like an Apple Watch or gift cards from popular retailers. The name Attain, which is conveniently alliterative with “Aetna,” possesses a slightly techy tonality and speaks to reaching and realizing health goals.

Transform Award Winner – Best Naming Strategy

Hong Kong-based Nexstgo needed to name a new product line of consumer electronics designed to fit the modern lifestyle. Because these products help you explore and express your vibrant life, AVITA was a natural (vita means “life” in Latin).

Nexstgo originally planned to apply the new name to its American product line only, but they liked AVITA so well, they decided to use it for the entire lifestyle electronics sub-company, which currently produces laptops and smart devices for an international market. The company pursued the metaphor we created with its tagline, “Live it up.” And they also continued with the Latinate construction for their product names (Clarus, Liber, Imago, Modus). AVITA launched in Asia in 2017 and in the Americas in June 2018, with a Walmart distribution deal.

These days, companies can’t afford to be anti-social about social media. This new company’s software allowed marketers to connect and interact with their customers across all social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Skittlidaddliodoo, whatever). And to leverage those platforms to raise brand awareness. So when tasked with naming the company, we created a name that spoke directly to the software’s core benefit.

Christopher Michael Brands engaged Catchword to develop names for several of its new delicious adult beverages. The first was a hard soda made with a proprietary vodka, classically filtered with activated charcoal, mixed with carbonated water, fruit zest, and just enough cane sugar (only 1 gram) to wake up a smile. With no preservatives, artificial colors, or artificial sweeteners, this refresher is as light (only 100 calories!), fresh, and natural as a summer breeze. Beach St. is making waves. 

When a company’s main product has global star status, changing the company name to the product name can be a smart move. Research In Motion (RIM) was in just this position when we urged them to embrace BlackBerry as the mother brand. To leverage the BlackBerry brand even further and illuminate model distinctions, we also suggested that phones be labeled with a simple alphanumeric system. Ultimately we favored Q for smartphones with a QWERTY keyboard, and Z for the touch-display line. Taking BlackBerry through options for this complex architectural renovation was a satisfying challenge.

Synaxia was a great company name if you wanted to appeal to engineers. But the company was now ready to talk to the rest of the world. We focused on new names that highlighted the leap in performance their unified network storage systems enabled. Blue implies speed (think blue streak), and arc refers to the bridge between users, data, and computers in the network.

Mobillcash wanted to rename their company and their new product, which enabled consumers to make online payments with their cell phones. Most competitors’ names were boringly descriptive. We went looser, to stand out. Boku, coined from the French beaucoup (meaning “a lot”), got right to an emotional payoff: the feeling of abundance. The extreme shortness and easy spelling of Boku also paid dividends.

The strategy consultants who started The Bridgespan Group took a cut in pay to do so; they truly wanted to make the world a better place. Bridge spoke to their desire to serve as a bridge connecting nonprofits to the private sector, while span referred to their flexibility and breadth of services. This simple naming solution also lent itself to a powerful logo and identity.

Radisphere is a pioneer in leveraging technology to provide around-the-clock radiology coverage to hospitals and independent medical practices. When it decided to form a new company to serve other medical specialties, it called on Catchword to develop a naming strategy and name for the new company and its core software product. Candescent Health suggests the illumination of radiology as well as the insights necessary to effect real healthcare change.

Contextual Genomics is at the forefront of a shift in oncology toward more targeted diagnosis and treatment. The company developed a set of next–generation sequencing (NGS) liquid and tissue biopsy assays that detect mutations in cancer and provide an end-to-end testing and reporting solution to clinical laboratories and hospitals. Unfortunately, the company’s name was a drag on their success. In addition to its length and unwieldy pairing with the company’s product names, the name was often misunderstood or mispronounced (“Consensual” Genomics the most common mistake) and a bit of a head-scratcher given the company’s focus on diagnosing and treating disease.

Canexia Health more firmly positions the company in the cancer space and evokes next-generation sequencing. In addition, not only is Canexia less than half the length of its predecessor, its alternating consonant-vowel construction ensures it rolls off the tongue and is more easily pronounced in non-English languages.

Canon was developing a ground-breaking line of high-speed, Wi-Fi–enabled inkjet business printers for small offices that could handle printing from PCs, smartphones, tablets, and cloud services. Maxify says it all: Maximum access, maximum convenience, maximum Wi-Fi.

Most folks may be unaware that Clorox has sold healthcare products directly to hospitals for years. When this expertise inspired a top quality line of caregiving products available directly to consumers for use at home, the company wanted a name that spoke to nurturing and healing but also carried the gravitas of serious, hospital-grade service. That’s when Clorox CareConcepts was born—a gentle yet trustworthy name conveying the quality care of hospitals, now available at home.

Johnson & Johnson was developing a sub-brand for Carefree Pantiliners, designed for overnight protection (basically, peace of mind). The product name had to leverage the well-established Carefree brand name, clarify usage, and be distinctive. Borrowing from fashion to evoke the comfort and softness of a nighttime negligee, Sleepwear was just the name this brand needed to slip into.

Sometimes the best name is the more conventional name. Sure, we could’ve bucked the trend with a sexy, flashy name. But why? CareOne is an established-sounding name that aptly speaks to a leading and expansive family of healthcare products. Also, it sounds like a brand you can trust. Not a bad thing in healthcare.

Easterseals Bay Area, Easterseals Hawaii, and the Behavioral Health Provider Network realized that they could make a bigger impact by working together. The new umbrella foundation would provide local service organizations with innovative strategy, technology, operations, and fundraising solutions to help these organizations increase their capacity to care. As a catalyst for a new dawn in community service, Catalight is lighting the way.

When Kellogg’s approached Catchword to name its exciting new Cheez-It snack food, we immediately requested samples. You know, for creative inspiration. Possessing the same wonderful crispiness of the original Cheez-It but with a new curvy form factor, this snack was just as munchable, bingeable, and delicious as we expected. We developed more than 1,600 names for the product, including Snapz. After determining that Snapz had a less than ideal trademark profile, Kellogg’s adopted a variation, Snap’d, retaining the same associations with a crunchy, crispy mouthfeel and establishing a new and distinctive name style for the Cheez-It brand.  

When Malt-O-Meal asked us to name their new cinnamon-sugar whole grain cereal, we were tempted to accept payment in product (we love cereal!). The food name needed to suggest an economical alternative to their key competitor, General Mills’ Cinnamon Toast Crunch. With Cinnamon Toasters, we leveraged the Malt-O-Meal brand’s lovability, and communicated a warmer, friendlier, more accessible (read “affordable”) product.

Cisco is the global leader in networking. We worked with them for more than a decade on everything from naming architecture to company-wide standards for name development, and from trademark use to linguistic checks on product names. Catchword also consulted on naming and renaming with large acquisitions like Scientific Atlanta, Linksys, and WebEx. We named dozens of products, services, programs, events, and — believe it or not — even a bus.

Specialty products manufacturer Advantage Midstream was helping clean up in the industrial sector by converting major pollution sources, including methane and industrial carbon dioxide, into pure, environmentally friendly everyday products such as mineral spirits, paints, and personal care products. But the company’s name didn’t express this tremendous contribution and the ethos behind it. Catchword was tapped to help rebrand with a new name. We worked closely with the client team to develop an ownable name that communicates all the company offers. ClearShift conveys not only the conversion of potentially harmful chemicals to cleaner products but the environmental shift in thinking behind everything the company does.

This health insurance start-up told us that they knew what was wrong with healthcare and how to fix it. By using data models, applications, and operations software, Clover seeks to realign the insurers, patients, and providers into a more efficient system that leads to better health outcomes for the most vulnerable individuals, specifically elderly and lower-income populations. The name Clover conveys the harmony and simplicity of a fully aligned healthcare system. We feel lucky to have found it for them.

Cybersecurity company PhishMe decided to rebrand as part of its acquisition by a private equity consortium and to make clear that the company’s expertise ranges far beyond phishing. Its collective defense suite combines attack intelligence sourced from employees with automated response tech to stop attacks faster and stay ahead of breaches – a truly collaborative approach.

NIIT Technologies, the spun-off IT division of India-based global powerhouse NIIT Ltd, engaged Catchword to develop a new name for the company after several acquisitions. Coforge instantly expresses the brand’s position as a leading solutions builder as well as its close collaborations with clients that create lasting value.  

Every developer, coder, or technology professional is familiar with (and mostly likely a member of) Stack Overflow and its community of online Q&A forums that serve over 100 million people every month. Indeed, Stack Overflow is one of the 50 most popular websites in the world, and Catchword was thrilled to work with the company on a number of naming strategy and name-development initiatives, including naming its newest offering aimed at organizations seeking deeper interactions with potential users of their products.

Collectives, the name Catchword developed, is in keeping with the company’s other highly overt product names such as Teams, Jobs, and Talent, and underscores both the cooperative nature of the platform and the strong sense of community for which Stack Overflow is so well known.

There are few brands more iconic than Converse’s Chuck Taylor All Star. So, Catchword was of course honored to be engaged to help develop a strategy for naming the company’s historic update of the sneaker line. From Chuck– and All Star­–specific naming strategies to feature and end-benefit based, we explored every possible creative solution. The approach that made the most sense? The one as classic as the shoe itself: a simple, numeric modifier that kept the focus on the epic Chuck name and still strongly suggested an evolution of the brand.

CORA serves both as an acronym (Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse) and an innocuous-sounding personal name that can be used for discreet client communications.

Corning is known for the quality and performance of its innovative specialty glass and ceramics products. But with five business divisions and hundreds of products (including acquisitions), its product naming system had become fragmented. We analyzed Corning’s portfolio and recommended an architecture that was strong enough to unify all of Corning’s current product names, yet flexible enough to accommodate future growth. We also helped develop a naming protocol, as well as the forms now used by company divisions to conceptualize and initiate naming projects.

Long-time partner Corning asked Catchword to develop a name for its new glass substrate that enables higher pixel density, a necessity for producing brighter, faster, and more lifelike images in television and computer displays. To build displays that can meet tomorrow’s high-performance expectations (8K resolution!), panel makers need a glass that can remain stable during the high heat and pressure of manufacturing. Like the stars above us, Astra Glass (Astra is Latin for “stars”) is born of heat and pressure to radiate a pure, beautiful light.

Longtime client Corning asked Catchword to develop a name for its new Gorilla Glass solutions for automotive interior displays. This lightweight yet durable line of glass can brilliantly display driving info, navigation, or entertainment content while enabling touch control and safely standing up to traffic mishaps. It can even be curved or bent to accommodate the sleekest automotive designs.

Corning developed a revolutionary fiber-optic technology that maximizes flexibility, and they wanted a name that sounded friendly, without using literal words like fiber and flex. We explored hundreds of evocative and metaphoric names, as well as more descriptive names. Not only does this fairly intuitive name clearly evoke bending, it also calls to mind the clarity of glass and light.

Corning has engaged Catchword to name numerous technologies and businesses, including Fibrance, an innovative light-diffusing fiber that you can bend, curve, and wrap around almost anything, while maintaining bright, beautiful, and uniform light. It enables decorative lighting to be designed or embedded into tight or small places where other bulky lighting elements cannot fit. Fibrance, a coining of fiber and vibrance, quickly telegraphs the product’s key attributes and benefits.

For the covers of camera phones, video phones, and other handheld devices, you want a display glass as stable, clear, and pure as possible. Corning had perfected a glass that was extraordinary in these respects, and they wanted a name that showcased this triumph. The lotus flower, which roots itself in the muddy bottom of a river or pond while floating above in pristine beauty has long been used in Asian religions as a symbol of unchanging purity in a changing world. And its Asian provenance made it an especially appropriate name for a global product destined for Asian markets (among others).

When Corning developed a revolutionary container for the storage and delivery of drugs, they tapped Catchword to name it. Valor reduces contamination, enables faster filling operations, and resists damage and breakage – with 30 times more protection against cracks than conventional glass vials. This super glass container means more reliable access to essential medicines, with potentially life-saving results. Valor nobly expresses these heroic qualities.

Gymboree hired Catchword to help launch their new retail stores and fun line of kids’ clothes. The new name had to appeal to kids and their parents AND be available as an exact .com. After going through umpteen domain name searches (actually, the number was a lot higher) and domain name brokering, we landed on a brand name and URL that’s fun for the whole family. Crazy 8 fits every kind of kid, 8 days a week, even your own little wild card. In 2019, after 12 years with Gymboree, the brand was acquired by Children’s Place.

eProject was expanding beyond project management software to tools that helped companies grow and run more efficiently. The name Daptiv spoke directly to the way users could adapt the software to customize functionality, and stay agile in the marketplace. The name was also flexible enough to allow for the company’s continued evolution. The company needed the exact dot-com domain., so the truncated construction was both cool and practical.

This company’s GPS device for autos was truly different: it gave you real-time traffic data, a big deal at the time. But their brand name, CircumNav, was a snooze, and didn’t reflect how exciting their navigational product really was. Our new name, Dash, heralded a device that got you there (wherever “there” was) in a hurry. It also recalled the device’s dashboard location.

Rearden Commerce came to us with a big idea: a relevancy engine that could generate a personalized web experience based on user preferences and behavior. Like the original technology itself, the name Deem is smart and incisive and cuts through the clutter. The company later renamed itself Deem and focused on the business travel industry. With multiple software solutions, it has become a leading Commerce-as-a-Service provider in its sector. Because the name speaks to fundamental company attributes rather than services offered, it was able to evolve with the company.

For the makers of one of America’s most beloved casual wear brands, we’ve developed names for new lines of pants as well as various features. For instance, we named a line of Dockers trousers that’s comfortable yet slick enough for urban nightlife (Metro Pant); a men’s line designed for easy wear (GoKhaki); a line giving women’s basic black pants an aura of style (Mystique); a fabric that resists stains using nanotechnology (Stain Defender), and waistbands that acknowledge the fact that one size never fits all (Individual Fit and Innerflex).

International food retailer Ahold (parent of Giant Food and Stop & Shop) wanted names for all of their U.S. supermarkets’ private-label sodas that cheekily recalled (and thus challenged) the brand establishment. We peppered Dr. Bob with a pinch of you-know-who, and made Quist sound as crisp as the lemon-lime behemoth. To date, we’ve created over 20 feisty challenger-brand names for Ahold.

What do you call a super-creamy, super-premium ice cream with unique flavor combinations and a yum factor almost beyond description? That was the question put to us by Dreyer’s when we were tasked with naming their decadent new line of ice creams. Many names later, Dreyer’s had their answer. And ice cream lovers had their dream come true. We just wish the project had lasted long enough for some extended, um, field research.

Dunkin’ engaged Catchword to name several new food and drink menu items. The first was a flaky croissant with savory favorites like cheese and bacon baked right inside. Folks on the go don’t have time to guess what a menu item is, especially while rushing to work or school or looking for a satisfying snack. Croissant Stuffers immediately lets you know you’re in for some hot, savory goodness. Dunkin’ rolled out the sandwich in select markets in the South in late 2019, and we hear the Chicken, Bacon & Cheese is the fan favorite. 

Plantronics (now Poly) needed a name for its new mobile phone station designed for the mobile-first professional, with support for Microsoft Teams, chat, and online meetings. Elara, the name of a moon of Jupiter, suggests exploration as well as connection. This on-desk solution helps you launch your day’s activities and keeps your contacts in orbit with enhanced smartphone capabilities.

Historically, Ply Gem has led the industry with its Mastic, Variform, and Performance Collection vinyl siding product lines. Looking to make waves in the composite siding space, the company approached Catchword to help name its breakthrough weather-resistant composite siding product line. Whereas most existing composite siding products use PVC, Ply Gem’s composite product is a mixture of sand and urethane, which provides countless benefits over traditional composite products, such as being all-season/weather appropriate and super light and easy to install. Elements, the name Catchword developed for the brand, alludes to both the product’s ability to withstand the elements (rain, heat, snow) and its composite nature—that is, one composed of multiple elements. In addition, the name suggests easy, simple (elemental to install), and essential.

This innovative saddle company needed a name that would express its mission to use innovative engineering and testing to create harmony between horse and rider. Like the company’s approach, “EQ” is a powerful combination, suggesting empathy (emotional quotient) and balance (equalization) as well as horse (equine).

A secret: private label products are generally just as good as the name brands. In fact, you could say they’re equal. The supermarket chain Lucky/Albertsons needed to brand their line of over-the-counter health and beauty products, from shampoo to eye drops to vitamins. Our solution was Equaline: equal parts savvy shopper and high-quality product line.

Eaux Vives wanted a name for their bottled water that suggested purity and stood out from their French and Italian competitors. We went straight to the water’s source for inspiration: a stream filtered by a glacial esker in the northern reaches of Quebec. The coined Eska sounds crisp and refreshing, and also vaguely Scandinavian (with all the cool associations that implies).

Strategic investment firms Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners recognized that integrating six premier life science service providers would increase innovation, streamline services, and maximize the impact of new therapies. A blend of ever and sana (Latin for “healthy”), the name expresses the company’s long-term commitment to advance life sciences for a healthier world.

Unlike competitors’ products, the technology offered by Netforts could target flaws in network security before they caused problems. The company wanted a new name (and exact dot-com domain) that played to this prescient proactivity.

In a category where company names evoke checkpoints, shields, warfare, and fortifications, FireEye—stemming from the “Eye of the Fire,” an ancient Germanic rune that gave its goddess omniscience—pushes against expected cybersecurity motifs. A highly iconic name with an uncanny ability to evoke a bright yet eerie image and a deep connection to ancient lore, FireEye singes itself into memory.

The company has played a significant role in detecting high-profile vulnerabilities at Microsoft, Facebook, and other major corporations. As of 2020, FireEye had more than 10,000 customers across 103 countries, including more than 50% of the Forbes Global 2000.

Longtime client HP asked us to help them name their innovative system for the ultimate athletic shoe shopping experience. State-of-the-art 3D scanning and printing at their local store enables shoppers to buy individualized shoes that fit their gait, personality, and fitness goals perfectly. Now that’s putting the custom in customer.

Here’s a mod idea: match consumers with seasoned stylists who visit consumers in their home, organize their closet, provide personalized styling counsel, and make getting dressed easier everyday. Fitz, the name that Catchword developed for this service and company, speaks to styling that fits you and your lifestyle, and clothing that fits well. And, the personification reinforces the uniquely human nature of the service and its styling counsel.

Boston-based VC firm IDG Ventures wanted a more casual and compelling name that reflected their core competency: partnering with entrepreneurs to build exceptional companies. After generating 3,000+ names, we landed on Flybridge. The name refers to the area above a ship’s pilothouse with a duplicate set of steering controls. It spoke to the company’s commitment to helping to guide their portfolio firms in a complementary way.

Freeman, a global leader in event management, marketing, and design, engaged Catchword to develop organization logic and naming architecture for its large portfolio of existing and upcoming products. Customers were having trouble navigating the wide range of products to find what they needed. Catchword recommended grouping the products by customer role as well as product offering. We suggested a suggestive, real English word approach for names of featured products (which the company planned to trademark), with descriptive names for the remaining products and services. Single words would be easy to remember for end customers as well as event staff. Freeman rolled out its new strategy over two years, with eight new names from Catchword.

Freeman, a global leader in event management, marketing, and design, engaged Catchword to name several of its new education and presentation solutions. Following the straightforward, single-word naming strategy Catchword had developed for Freeman’s portfolio, we recommended Orchestrate for the company’s web-based presentation application. This solution enables presenters to gather, manage, direct, and display presentation content harmoniously. Freeman’s second-screen platform already had a name, FXP | touch, but it didn’t fit the new more streamlined and intuitive naming approach. With this solution, audiences can view slides, respond to presenter polls, submit questions, and more—all in real time—right from their own phone or tablet. Sync clearly expresses how the application keeps attendees fully engaged and synchronized with the presenter.

Freeman, a global leader in event management, marketing, and design, engaged Catchword to name several of its new engagement solutions. Following the straightforward, single-word naming strategy Catchword had developed for Freeman’s portfolio, we recommended Explore for the company’s suite of experiential packages that help brands showcase their products, tell their story, and capture leads using augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), digital showcases, and more. Fluent expresses the smooth control offered by this powerful multi-channel chat and voice-powered solution for audience engagement before, during, and after the show. We recommended Luminate for Freeman’s platform that enables event organizers to beam the right information to the right audience at the right time, with wayfinding capability, digital signage, social walls, ePosters, and more.

Freeman, a global leader in event management, marketing, and design, engaged Catchword to name several of its new event planning solutions. Following the straightforward, single-word naming strategy Catchword had developed for Freeman’s portfolio, we recommended Blueprint for the company’s digital floor plan solution that provides everything event planners need to manage what goes where. Blueprint’s easy visualization of elements like booths, kiosks, and stages plus real-time sharing and editing save time and resources. Envision was the clear choice for Freeman’s web-based directory that lets you take 360-degree tours of top venues in North America.

Freeman, a global leader in event management, marketing, and design, engaged Catchword to name its open digital event technology platform—the industry’s first to create a seamless experience for event organizers and attendees. By connecting data across all points of the event ecosystem, it enables users to select the digital event solutions that work for them, all with the confidence that every application will work smoothly with every other. Following the straightforward, single-word naming strategy Catchword had developed for Freeman, Fuzion connected the dots. 

Video game developer THQ often consults with us when they need brand extension names for their awesome action games: always a thrill for us game geeks. We’ve named first-person shooter, racing, and strategy games—as well as THQ’s first ever single-player fantasy RPG title. One of the many sequel titles we’ve developed for them over the years is Frontlines: Fuel of War, a first-person shooter set in a futuristic global energy crisis and world war.

Group 1001 (formerly Delaware Life) needed help naming its innovative life insurance spinoff, which offers ordinary folks an online, streamlined path to financial security through annuities. The process, terms, and entire experience are designed to be straightforward and empowering for customers, a bridge to abundance and a bright future. In 2019, the new company, based in Indianapolis, became the presenting sponsor for the Indianapolis 500.

Shentel, a regional telecom company serving customers in six states, engaged Catchword to develop a name for its new high-speed fiber optic subsidiary. The new network would offer broadband internet, cable TV, and phone, focusing on residential markets underserved by the national telecoms. Founded in 1902, Shentel has a deep history of helping rural and small town Americans connect. In 1990, it was the first company in Virginia to offer cellular service to a rural area. Catchword recommended Glow for its human warmth as well as its suggestion of a luminous link to the world. The altered spelling of Glo adds distinction and approachable style. 

When Intel approached Catchword to name its revolutionary development platform for automated driving we shifted into ecstatic. There are few technological advancements more exciting than automated driving, and even fewer with the potential to change lives and societies in such positive ways. Fewer accidents, greater mobility, and infinitely more efficient traffic flow are just the most obvious and touted benefits of self-driving cars. The name GO suggests forward movement, both literally and figuratively, and speaks to an easily adopted, scalable and flexible platform for building automated driving solutions. A perfect, succinct way of reinforcing the platform’s key end benefit: movement forward, both on the road and in the lab.

SportsEngine, Inc., a division of NBC Sports Group, provides software solutions and mobile applications for 23,000 youth sports organizations and is used by 15 million athletes annually. The company needed a name for its all-in-one class-management software for studios providing such disciplines as gymnastics, dance, and martial arts. The new name needed to express the brand’s approachability and enthusiasm, and be instantly understood by studio owners, parents, and students. GoMotion makes it easy to manage activity classes, registration, payments, and more on the go.

Though an open-office plan has its merits, quite often it can be stressful and distracting. Plantronics (now Poly) developed a solution: an innovative soundscaping platform that combines nature-inspired audio and visuals and responsive software to transform offices into peaceful spaces of focus and collaboration.

The multi-sensory, immersive “biophilic” experience—waterfall sculptures, sound design, digital windows and skylights, and virtual landscapes—lent itself to a name suggestive of an organic environment. Habitat was a natural. Readily connecting to the outdoors and alluding to comfort and home, Habitat asks us to reimagine our work environments as places fostering both productivity and well-being.

The system was among the first to offer biophilic design for offices and was adopted by forward-thinking brands such as Hewlett-Packard and customer data platform leader Segment.

Momentive, a global leader in quartz and silicone materials, tapped Catchword to name its new line of sustainable, derived natural ingredients. These materials would create the next generation of beauty products for planet-conscious consumers while improving performance, efficiency, application, and sensory appeal across a wide range of beauty industry categories. Harmony Derived Naturals by Momentive clearly expresses the balance and beauty of nature as well as the line’s ability to blend perfectly with a variety of products, and customers.

A tagline gives you an opportunity to fill in messaging gaps a brand name might miss. HireRight’s old tagline, “Hire Safe. Hire Smart. HireRight.” simply echoed the message already inherent in their brand name. Our new tagline went further, conveying the company’s dynamism and thoughtfulness, as well as their key differentiator: superior background checks yielding accurate, actionable data.

The Home Depot produces hundreds of new product styles every year from multiple in-house brands (Hampton Bay, TrafficMaster, and Home Decorators Collection to name a few). As the people most familiar with every new item, each product group independently handles naming, but with product turnover every season, there’s little time for creative name development or coordination with the dozens of other groups. How could the company ensure that these new item names weren’t already in use by The Home Depot or competitors, yet were evocative of the product style and, of course, easy to pronounce and spell? 

Catchword worked closely with THD to develop names for numerous business groups, including Flooring & Tile, Lighting & Fans, Vanities, and Patio Furniture that would give the group teams ample names to choose from, confident that they would not create any marketplace conflicts. We created and vetted long lists of personal and place names with tonalities that matched the group’s styles. 

Click here to see the names we’ve developed for The Home Depot that have already been adopted.

Catchword was tasked with developing a private label name for Lucky/Albertsons. The name needed to encompass a broad range of household products (everything from batteries to coffee filters). Homelife did just that. It also dovetailed with the company’s tagline at the time, “Helping make your life easier.”

The very first instant-messaging company, ICQ had morphed into a one-stop shop for connecting people. Text messaging, video, voice, mobile phone: you name it, they did it. Their tagline needed to appeal to their youthful base, yet be simple enough for a global audience. This tagline had a powerful message that got right to the heart of the brand: limitless personal connections. “Everybody, everywhere.” Couldn’t get simpler.

Fox’s sci-fi comedy written and directed by Mike Judge about a dystopian future filled with happily moronic sheep has become a cult classic. The name? A no-brainer. (Ba dum-ching)

Kyn Therapeutics envisioned a world where every cancer patient has a cure. Such an expansive vision needed to be matched with an aspirational name, rather than one that references a particular treatment. (Kyn had been chosen to express the company’s initial breakthrough using the kynurenine-degrading enzyme Kynase.) Catchword recommended the beautiful, multi-layered Ikena, a Hawaiian word meaning “vista, perspective, knowledge.” The name also retains a light connection to Kynase.

Indeed, the world’s #1 job site, came to Catchword after years of explosive growth. They needed a way to simplify their portfolio of offerings, which had been named on the fly and were a mix of descriptive names (Indeed Resume), branded names (Indeed Prime), and suggestive names (Indeed JobSpotter). Additionally, the names needed to be understandable or translatable for jobseekers in more than 60 different countries, speaking 28 languages. Catchword helped implement a stronger masterbrand system that establishes a clear hierarchy and consistent naming guidelines, as well as provides greater consistency and a common set of tools for use across Indeed’s ecosystem. Through our retainer relationship, Catchword continues to assist Indeed with naming on a day-to-day basis.

Long-time client Intel asked Catchword to name its new set of tools for enhanced control of processor performance. Using machine learning algorithms and advanced power control settings, the kit dynamically adapts to the system environment, enabling OEMs and users to fine-tune and customize performance. Sometimes the simple name is best (and we rigorously explore many, many options to make sure). Adaptix clearly expresses that this toolkit can handle any situation. 

Long-time client Intel needed a name for its new line of high-end graphics cards, designed to compete with Nvidia and AMD offerings. The line delivers full-throttle gaming, immersive visuals, powerful multi-tasking, and seamless streaming, as ideal for engineers and artists as for professional gamers.

As a section of a circle, Arc elegantly conveys that these are components while also implying the geometry of design and the comprehensiveness of the solution. Like the trajectory of a project or game, an arc is the frictionless way to what’s next. The word is crisp yet lyrical, a springboard for rich imagery and copywriting.

Intel selected Arc not just for the cards but for its entire set of new graphics solutions (hardware, software, and services). The announcement in August 2021 generated huge industry buzz and highlighted another facet to the Arc metaphor: how, through gaming and creating, graphics “connects people across communities and cultures. Every game, gamer, and creator has a story, and every story has an Arc.”

Intel’s innovations pretty much define modern computers, so when they asked us to name a technology that would revolutionize memory, we knew this wouldn’t be a routine software-update-naming project. Deploying 3D XPoint technology, Intel’s next-generation memory combines the plasticity and speed of RAM with the resilience and dependability of hard-drive memory. The name Optane—coined from octane, obtain, and optimum—conjures acquisition of blazing fast speed and the optimization of hardware, from personal laptops to servers.

Purigen Bio approached Catchword to develop a name for its unique, and truly revolutionary, automated approach to prepping and purifying biological samples. The technology, Isotachophoresis (ITP), uses an electric current to not only separate the target molecules from the rest of the sample, but concentrate and focus them as well. The new name, Ionic, speaks to the process by which the technology moves the target molecules to an isolated location between the two sets of electrolytes, into what the company refers to as the ITP zone. Catchword also developed the company’s new tagline “Pure & Simple.” to highlight both the enhanced biological output and the system’s ease of use.

ZS Associates wanted to showcase their suite of software tools for salespeople. These were formidable products for streamlining, coordinating, and optimizing sales efforts. We wanted to create a product family name that was just as powerful and direct. Something that communicated cutting through confusion and red tape to help a sales force compete more effectively—and go the distance. And so, Javelin.

Unlike most of the leading blended iced coffee drinks, Peet’s Coffee’s new line would be hand-made with freshly brewed East African roasts. The company had spent a year conducting research and optimizing recipes, and Catchword set out to develop a name with equal rigor (though quite a bit faster). Peet’s and Catchword agreed the name should convey the premium quality, flavor, and exhilaration of these icy refreshments, as well as Peet’s unique personality and unwavering commitment to freshness. The name Javiva was made to order. Long live freshly brewed java!

The Javiva line launched in March 2015 to rave reviews. And by June of 2015, the beverage had outperformed Peet’s previous blended drink by 67 percent in sales.

Juniper Networks, a top provider of networking products and services, has many products. We help them make sure they can communicate clearly about these products to internal and external audiences. Over its nearly 25 years, Juniper has acquired (and continues to acquire) smaller companies, each with their own products and customers. And all these great products were named at different times by different people with different vocabulary and a different approach to naming. Catchword provides ongoing naming strategy and architecture consultation to help ensure that folks from Sales, Marketing, the Product Team, and every other department use names and descriptors logically, consistently, and in a way that customers can easily understand and that fits the Juniper brand now, and in the future. 

Sometimes a company’s location comes in handy. Aegon, the international insurance giant, wanted a name for their Scottish fund management arm that would distinguish it from the parent company. We suggested Kames Capital. The tower of Scotland’s Kames Castle dates back to the 14th century, and the main structure was built in the 18th century and has been inhabited ever since. As a symbol of stability and continuity, Kames Castle was a fitting image for a fund management company wishing to inspire confidence. Using a Scottish name also leveraged Scotland’s stellar reputation in financial services.

When Agilent spun off its electronic test and measurement division into an independent company, they needed a name that would showcase the new company’s solution-driven approach. Keysight spoke to a key benefit: solutions that unlock the critical insights needed to understand the changing technology landscape and solve thorny engineering problems when designing and manufacturing electronic products and systems. And the name’s authoritative, no-nonsense tone suggests a company that helps you cut to the heart of the matter and get the job done. Fast.

It’s not unusual for a name we create to have to be easy to pronounce and on-message in several languages. But 16 languages across 3 continents, with availability as a domain? eBay CEO Meg Whitman initially didn’t think it could be done. Good thing international naming is our superpower.

We created nearly 4,000 names in 12 languages, subjected hundreds to linguistic and cultural assessment, and screened for trademark and domain availability. Kijiji’s repetitive, consonant-vowel structure is easy to pronounce around the globe, it’s fun to say, and it’s visually intriguing. The word means “village” in Swahili. How cool is that for a site that creates community?

Kijiji continues to be the most popular classified service in Canada, beating out Craigslist.

When naming a family of new products, you want to unite them all, distinguish each one, and leave room for new additions. Tricky business. Of the many ideas we presented, Kyocera chose an architectural solution: ending each name with the letter “o.” QWERTY keyboard? Lingo. Fashionista design? Deco. Optimized for entertainment? Tempo. The family later swelled with new siblings. Neato.

Levi Strauss’ Signature jeans brand had caused quite a stir. But the company lacked a naming system for things like fit and features. After various explorations, we recommended straightforward terms like straight, slim, and low rise. And suggested that they always appear in the same order: body fit first, leg fit last. This type of architecture is sturdy but has enough stretch to last a long time. And it never goes out of style.

The Silicon Valley office of venture capital firm Weiss, Peck & Greer wanted a company name with less of a stodgy, law-firm tonality. Ideally, the name would sound “science-y” and suggest a fast-moving company that kept pace with Silicon Valley. The board was our toughest crowd initially, but they rallied around Lightspeed. The name differentiated them and put them light years ahead of the pack.

For those shoppers who like to stay on top of what’s hot (and what’s not), Payvment’s new social commerce platform is the ultimate shopping feast. Shoppers on the site can find out what’s trending across the social web, and shop for top-trending items from 175,000 different sellers on the spot. We wanted to create a fun name for the platform that conveyed the ease of the site, as well as its delights. Lish is both a reference to delicious and a blending of the words list and wish. You can almost hear shoppers licking their chops.

Anoto needed a name for its amazing smartpen, which could capture anything written by hand, as well as perform calculations, record audio, translate words, play music, and cook dinner. (Okay, everything but the dinner part.) The new name had to embrace all of these features, convey a next-generation writing implement, and also work as a company name. Livescribe hit the mark.

Hitachi Insights Group needed a name for the company’s powerful new IoT core platform, the foundation for all the company’s IoT solutions. The platform blended data orchestration, streaming analytics, content intelligence, simulation models, and other Hitachi software technologies—turning huge amounts of data into actionable insights and illuminating new ways to drive digital innovation. Lumada, a blend of illuminate and data, elegantly expresses this idea, and with its Latin base and consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel construction, the name is easy to say and understand for an international audience. Launched in 2016, Lumada was named the top IoT platform of that year. It continues to grow as part of the Hitachi subsidiary Vantara, which was also named by Catchword.

Magellan needed a name for their new line of GPS car devices. But these were not your typical GPS gadgets; they were beautifully designed, with crisp visual displays. They were also the first GPS devices to offer voice command. So, the product name needed to convey elegance as well as superb functionality. Maestro struck the right note, suggesting someone who guided you to your destination in style.

The idea was simple enough: an online service that matched customers with local businesses. Finding the right name — and the exact dot-com domain — wasn’t quite as simple, however. We paired up hundreds of real English words until we landed on Matchpoint. The intuitive name communicated a kind of destination or meeting place, and the idea of intense competition. Game, set, match.

McDonald’s needed a name for their new chicken sandwich (and a bunch of other cool menu items). The new name had to be upscale enough to suggest premium, casual enough to appeal to a wide audience, and distinctive enough to signal a truly new menu concept. Hundreds of visits to the Arches (and who knows how many fries) later, we served it up.

McDonald’s wanted to build on the success of their McCafé coffee (which had already taken a venti sip out of Starbucks’ and Dunkin’ Donuts’ market share), and they also wanted to expand the McCafé brand to include more beverage items. As such, they asked us to develop a strategy and a system for organizing all of their new beverage categories and names. We needed to be good and caffeinated for this one.

Over the years, McDonald’s has engaged Catchword on a variety of naming related initiatives. From McCafé naming strategy and architecture development to dressing up a burger with just the right name. On this occasion, one of Catchword’s names was selected for the Golden Arches’ new grilled chicken sandwich: a perfectly seasoned and seared fillet lovingly prepared with a light vinaigrette and combined with McDonald’s new hand-crafted roll. A culinary work of art(isan).

AknaDx had developed a simple blood test to predict a pregnant woman’s risk of giving birth prematurely, creating an affordable, non-invasive diagnostic for expectant mothers. But the techy name AknaDx lacked the warmth and humanity of the company’s reason for being—namely, removing uncertainty so mothers-to-be and their families can focus on the wonders of pregnancy. A coining of miracle and mira, Latin for “wonderful,” and vie, French for “life,” the compact coining Mirvie suggests the wonder and miracle of life.

Messaging directions and stylistic preferences are of course critical to developing a name for any product, but when it comes to foods and beverages there’s nothing more helpful than actually experiencing the new comestibles. And, when Catchword first sampled Gordon Dessert’s new line of mochi (a delectable combination of premium ice cream and other tasty ingredients wrapped in sticky rice dough), we knew we were naming a truly category re-defining confectionary. A play on okey-dokey, Mochidoki makes use of the product descriptor in a fun and playful way, all while recalling the product’s Asian roots and sounding bite-sized and delicious.

We named this instand oatmeal for Malt-O-Meal (or MOM, as we called it). Later, Malt-O-Meal adopted MOM Brands as its company name and Malt-O-Meal became a sub-brand, while Mom’s Best Naturals expanded into a whole line of cereals.

J&J wanted us to name a new line of feminine care products that relieved itching, irritation, and chaffing. The product line was fairly diverse and condition-specific, but through our discovery process, we found a common benefit: all of them were about soothing care. Sometimes the best way to say something is to just say it. So we did.

Video game developer THQ has often consulted us when they need brand extension names for their awesome action games: always a thrill for us game geeks. We’ve named first-person shooter, racing, and strategy games—as well as THQ’s first ever single-player fantasy RPG title. One of the many sequel titles we’ve developed for them over the years is MX Unleashed, a thrilling all-terrain motocross race.

Allergan needed a name for its line of saline and silicone gel implants designed for breast enhancement, augmentation, and reconstruction. These products were designed to more closely resemble the breast’s natural look and feel, with a tear-drop shape and varying levels of firmness. Catchword provided the exact .com domain Natrelle to perfectly express this brand.

The Nature Conservancy already had a pretty good tagline: Saving the Last Great Places. But they needed something more specific. We explored variants, as well as new themes. Adding “on Earth” to the old tagline anchored it in the natural world, and gave it urgency and heft. We’ll typically develop many hundreds of taglines before we even think about selection. This project ran true to form.

Ahold’s U.S. supermarkets (including Giant Food and Stop & Shop) sold more than 500 natural and organic products ranging from chips and salsa to pasta sauce and peanut butter. They challenged us to create a distinctive name that would quickly communicate the health benefits and general deliciousness of the entire line. Ultimately, we landed on a name that let nature do all the heavy lifting.

EEI came to Catchword searching for a name for the new company whose platform not only connects financial data and the real world, but breaks down data barriers to create a universal standard. A term out of nautical history and mythology from many cultures, the Ninth Wave is a single, massive wave that is the last of a series of incrementally larger waves. The name naturally conveys the flow, integration, and power of the company’s new platform to sweep away obstructive complexity while avoiding the obvious “fin” and “tech” references of so many players in this sector.

Think product names that are all numbers are easier to create? Think again. Nokia’s business phones were no-nonsense, multi-functional devices, but their numbering system left you clueless about where each phone lived in the product family, or what features made it special. Our naming architecture organized Nokia’s numbering system and built a structure for all future Nokia business phones.

Houston-based Motus Data provides IoT solutions that change the way energy producers monitor, control, and optimize their wells, delivering real-time precision information and offsite control. They needed a new name to express their innovative technology in a short, easy-to-spell package. Catchword recommended Noven, which clearly expresses the idea of “novel energy” in a highly pronounceable consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel fashion.

This company makes software for hospitals and nursing homes that facilitates the logistics of hiring staff, scheduling shifts, and communicating with staff. They needed a company name that would be on point, and have a no-nonsense, get-it-done tonality in keeping with their mission. The name also had to be available as a domain. OnShift was just what the doctor ordered.

Data, data everywhere … but what do you make of it all? And more importantly, how do you make the most of it? OSIsoft’s PI system is the industry standard in enterprise infrastructure for managing real-time data and events. Its 2012 conference was designed to help the system’s users make the most of the technology, as this tagline made clear.

A leader in 3D printing, Shapeways has evolved from B2C solutions to enterprise-level B2B 3D manufacturing. Catchword was engaged to develop a name for its end-to-end digital manufacturing platform that addresses every phase of the process—from ordering and pricing to fulfillment and distribution. While the platform provides numerous performance benefits, it was digitizing and automating that stood out as the most important end-benefits.

OTTO, the name Catchword developed, is a homonym for “auto” and strongly alludes to the platform’s key benefit, automation. And because it’s a personification, the name evokes a manufacturing coordinator or facilitator to help expedite and support the process. The compact palindrome is also visually striking, consisting of just two letters and four characters, with bookended Os that underscore the platform’s full range of capabilities.

Palm needed a product name for their groundbreaking smartphone. The device could shift seamlessly between apps and had an uncanny ability to anticipate users’ needs. One might even call it prescient. The name had to complement the Palm brand name, and be short enough to work alongside it. More than 3,000 names later, these three little letters made the cut.

Testing and measurement powerhouse Keysight (whom we named when it spun off Agilent in 2014) has developed the industry’s first software solution to integrate design, testing, measurement, and analysis. This platform provides users a fluid experience from concept through deployment, accelerating fresh ideas and product development. Pathwave clearly expresses this streamlined path to a new wave of innovation, while its compound construction pairs well with the company name.

Semtech, a leading supplier of high-performance semiconductors, engaged Catchword to develop a name for its portfolio of sensing products. These sensors detect human proximity to mobile devices in order to regulate power savings, auto on/off capabilities, gesture controls, and more.

The project involved exploration of a variety of creative avenues, including extending the naming convention of one of Semtech’s most successful brands, LoRa (short for “Long Range”), chipsets that connect sensors to the cloud. The chosen name, PerSe, is derived from “Personal Sensing” and is a short and memorable two-syllable intercapping—just like LoRa, enhancing naming consistency across Semtech.

In addition to selecting PerSe for the umbrella brand, Semtech adopted Catchword’s recommended strategy for naming products within the portfolio, assigning the three descriptive names Connect, Connect Pro, and Control. These terms quickly telegraph the products’ end-benefits, while allowing the PerSe portfolio brand to stand out and accrue the most equity.

A pioneer in wearable audio technology, Plantronics had a growing portfolio of enterprise and consumer products, from office and gaming headsets to innovative software and mobile apps. But the wealth of branded product names was creating confusion. We helped Plantronics orchestrate a more harmonious arrangement, defining and streamlining their naming structure. The result was a strong masterbrand, with a few select sub-brands that spoke to target audiences loudly and clearly. Catchword continues to advise Plantronics on naming issues large and small.

Not so long ago, potato chips were always on a first-name basis with the deep fryer: a delicious but greasy and caloric affair. But in 2006—pop!—along came a new snack brand, offering consumers a healthy and tasty alternative: potatoes and corn heated in a pressurized chamber and quickly released to “pop” them out.

Catchword assisted partner branding agency Addis in developing the name Popchips, perfectly capturing the excitement and distinctiveness of this category-popping product. Since then, the company has won numerous food awards and was rated by Forbes as one of America’s top 20 most promising companies in 2011, with high-profile investor-endorsers such as Ashton Kutcher, Katy Perry, and Sean Combs. In 2019, the company was acquired by leading private-equity firm VMG Partners as the foundation for its new Velocity Snack Brands.

First-of-its-kind, Popchips ushered in a pack of popped-chip products, from Poppables to PopCorners, reflecting and facilitating America’s move toward “better-for-you” eating and evolving our favorite snack.

Turns out brains need workouts, too. This company came to us with a line of computer games, developed by pioneering neuroscientists, for those in need of brain fitness—basically anyone over 40. The company name had to work for consumers and brain experts alike. Posit (meaning “to put forward for study”) had a scientific feel, and was also rather positive. In the years since, PositScience created BrainHQ, one of only two brain training programs to be scientifically proven efficient by multiple studies.

Take Care Employer Solutions (a Walgreens subsidiary) and CHS Health Services, two of the largest worksite healthcare providers merged to create the leading worksite health provider, with approximately 500 health centers and more than 200 clients nationwide, including Google, Time Warner, and General Electric. Working with senior leadership and board members of both companies, Catchword developed the name Premise Health, which alludes to on-premises healthcare facilities and management, as well as a company setting the stage for a real impact on employee population health.

AgileTV needed a product name for their voice-activated TV remote. We developed a couple thousand names (many forged from foreign words, Latin roots, and morphemes) before winnowing the list. The name Promptu could apply to voice prompts, yet its associations were also broad enough and layered enough (impromptu, speed) to allow the product to morph over time. Which is just what it did: it became the company’s name and now offers cutting-edge voice recognition software for everything from apps to automotive.

PSI Services, which has been delivering testing programs to help people achieve success for more than 70 years, asked Catchword to develop a company tagline as well as names for several new products. The tagline needed to express the company’s core business while resonating with the company’s varied customers: students, job seekers, academic institutions, and employers. PSI ultimately chose two of our candidates, one to be used as a traditional tagline with the company logo, and one as a site headline. The double meaning of “Testing Excellence” makes it clear that PSI both assesses qualifications and provides premium testing technology. “Where People Meet Potential” is a great summary of the company and now headlines the site’s About Us page.

PSI Services, which has been delivering testing programs to help people achieve success for more than 70 years, asked Catchword to develop a company tagline as well as names for several new products. The tagline needed to express the company’s core business while resonating with the company’s varied customers: students, job seekers, academic institutions, and employers. PSI ultimately chose two of our candidates, one to be used as a traditional tagline with the company logo, and one as a site headline. “Where People Meet Potential” (the headline on the company’s About page) expresses multiple meanings in one: PSI is the place where human resources and potential come together and where people are expected to, and enabled to, realize their potential.

Catchword was engaged to name a new vacation club offering champagne-bucket list travel experiences in the world’s most beautiful and sought-after destinations. Given the global reach, Catchword explored vocabulary that would be familiar to high-end, international customers, including the word quintessence (derived from quinta essentia— the “fifth essence,” or aether—which in medieval Europe was considered superior to earth, air, fire, and water). Catchword recommended Quintess for this quintessence of luxury hospitality. From its Q beginning to its soft, smooth finish, the name is as distinctly elegant as the company’s ultra-premium accommodations. 

Director Vicki Abeles wanted to ignite a national conversation with her documentary about the pressures faced by American schoolchildren, and their steep cost. She asked us to create a title and tagline that would get people talking. Sounding overly preachy or tragic would be a turnoff; the key was to suggest a gripping story. Our solution, Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture, got attention. The New York Times dubbed the film “a must-see,” and screenings around the country helped launch a grassroots movement.

When Safeway needed a name for its top-of-the-line beef, Addis Creson (a branding agency and frequent partner of ours) brought us in to help out. We liked the understated confidence and quiet authority of Rancher’s Reserve for this premium house brand. And its alliteration and propulsive rhythm made it very easy on the tongue. Not unlike the beef in question.

RBC Ventures engaged Catchword to develop a name for its new corporate accelerator program as well as several other initiatives. Created to expedite innovation and help new businesses achieve their goals, the accelerator would open the door for startups from around the world with investments, coaching, workspace, and more. With a little alliteration to help memorability, Reach says it all.

Allergan engaged Catchword to name several new products, including a new formula for its Refresh line of eye drop products. This lubricant was specially developed to relieve the discomfort of dry, irritated eyes and prevent further irritation. Customers looking for relief from eye pain need to find the right product quickly. So its name should immediately communicate why this is the one. Relieva leaves no doubt.

Ever seen a TV set display news at a café or gas station? ActiveMaps was taking this concept to a whole new level. Each TV’s location would be identified, so advertisers could customize information and target specific stores and demographics. Only problem: the name ActiveMaps implied car-related information. Ripple, on the other hand, could describe any kind of information spreading out in waves. Just like the ripple effect.

For more than 30 years, RMS has led the way in risk management solutions for clients worldwide. Catchword was brought in to consult on the name of its new platform, Risk Intelligence Platform, as well as the growing number of apps that work with it: ExposureIQ, SiteIQ, TreatyIQ, and Risk InvestorIQ. Working closely with RMS, Catchword continues to help develop naming strategies and names for software, solutions, and risk initiatives.

Roku, a leading streaming device company, knew it was time to move away from its numeric product naming system as it prepared to launch new offerings. In order to ensure consumers found the device that fit their needs and to support continued portfolio expansion, Roku came to Catchword for help developing family names that signaled the right level of tech and entertainment.

Boston Beer approached Catchword to develop a name for a new, easy-drinking but high quality beer focused on social occasions such as time spent with friends, parties, and unwinding. A lager/ale hybrid sourced entirely from American grown ingredients, the new beer is lightly golden with a subtle citrus tropical aroma that is both refreshing and smooth. However, the name needed to speak less to the flavor profile and more to the strong American heritage for which the Samuel Adams brand has always been known. The name needed to serve as a tribute to the American spirit and focus on inclusivity, hard work, perseverance, and grit. After an extensive creative ideation, and among other ideas, Catchword presented ’76, a crisp salute to 1776 and our nation’s year of independence. Ultimately, Boston Beer added “Sam” to the name to tie it very closely to the Samuel Adams brand.

Not all kids’ pajamas are created equal. If they’re flame retardant, they’re probably not very comfortable. And if they’re untreated, loose-fitting cotton, they’re probably not very safe. Securest (a leader in flame-retardant clothing and a brand name we created) had invented a technology that let fabrics be both comfortable and safe. Our tagline made that clear. Sweet dreams.

When Rogers and Shaw Communications, two of Canada’s biggest media companies, decided to launch a video-on-demand service, they knew they had to outperform Netflix. So, they hired a team of directors, screenwriters, and festival programmers to complement their recommendation algorithm, with the aim of reducing the time consumers need to find the right content. They asked Catchword to create a name to match, and after thousands of auditions, Shomi got the part. Shomi is inviting, memorable, and playful—as distinct from Netflix as can be—and the underscore in the wordmark suggests infinite possibilities, and an end to aimless browsing!

Fresh Mex chain Chipotle wanted to offer customers a new vegetarian filling for its burritos, tacos, and more. A savory combination of marinated tofu and chilies, this meat-free option would be muy sabroso. Catchword consulted with Chipotle on the new ingredient name and developed many hundreds of name options.

Blockchain mining needs huge amounts of energy, which has led to an increase in damaging fossil fuel consumption. Soluna seeks to solve this problem by creating the first blockchain company powered by its own private sustainable energy sources. A coinage of sol and luna (“sun” and “moon” in Latin), Soluna evokes human aspiration at its most fundamental—looking up at the great light in the sky. The name recalls “solution” as well as “una” (one), suggesting the company’s all-in-one energy production and computer processing solution. Soluna has been recognized with both a Transform Award and a Hermes Creative Award for Excellence in Brand Naming.

Spalding had invented an in-ball micro pump that kept balls inflated without changing their weight or balance. (How cool is that?) Rather than naming each type of sports ball, we suggested creating an ingredient brand name for the technology. After Infusion’s introduction, Spalding’s market share doubled and unit sales of Infusion balls topped one million in the first year alone. We were as pumped as Spalding.

Spalding asked us to develop a tagline for their company. Key to their positioning was the notion that Spalding products perform exactly as they should. Basketballs have the touch you’d expect. Soccer balls float like they should. Volleyballs do whatever volleyballs are supposed to do. In other words, Spalding creates products that are authentic and true to the game. Swish.

The tagline has been a huge success. It perfectly sums up the company’s ethos, and appears as a lockup with the brand name on the company’s sporting goods, athletic apparel, website, and more. It’s inspired site copy (“We were true to the game before the game was invented.”), campaigns (“#TrueBelievers Are True to the Game”), and even a sweepstakes name. Swish, indeed.

TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield winner Pi Charging needed a new company name to reflect its expanding vision and business. The new name had to be able to grow with the company, match the brand’s innovative spirit, and suggests the company’s vision of easy wireless power for everyone, everywhere. Spansive expansively satisfied all those criteria while shifting to a more aspirational and lyrical version of the infinite yet precise concept of Pi.

Video game developer THQ has often consulted us when they need brand extension names for their awesome action games: always a thrill for us game geeks. We’ve named first-person shooter, racing, and strategy games—as well as THQ’s first ever single-player fantasy RPG title. One of the many sequel titles we’ve developed for them over the years is Splashdown Rides Gone Wild, an epic jet ski race around the world.

Gap had a very cool idea for a totally new kind of customer rewards program: if the price dropped on an item after purchase, the customer’s account would automatically be credited the difference. And there would be other unexpected perks. It was a shopaholic’s dream (and we speak from experience). Kind of like a surprise and a prize rolled into one.

Made with green coffee extract and fruit juices, Starbucks’ line of sparkling cold beverages packs a natural, revitalizing punch. The name Refreshers conveys that, without veering into the high-octane territory of energy drinks. And it’s inclusive enough to encompass handcrafted in-store beverages, sparkling canned product, and VIA instant packets. Try some and find out what all the buzz is about.

FoxNext / Fogbank Entertainment created an interactive, role-playing video game series, where every choice you make transforms your story, and turned to Catchword to name the series and three of its lead titles. For the series, we recommended Storyscape, which suggests the expansive, immersive nature of each narrative adventure. For the story of an ancient city of power-hungry factions, magic, and secrets, we recommended Eternal City, which evokes continuous play and a mystic, age-old metropolis. For the romantic comedy in which you chuck it all and start over with a new city, new job, and new lovers, we recommended Life 2.0. The sci-fi epic survival story needed a name that conveyed the desperate hope of post-apocalyptic humanity on the Edge of Extinction.

Bluefly, Net-A-Porter.com, Like.com, clear the runway. There’s a new shopping website in town and its name is StyleFind. Boasting a crazy-sexy search engine and curated ever so carefully so customers always find exactly what they’re looking for, this fashion-forward shopping site is dressed to kill the competition. Of course, InStyle tried on lots of names, but the one that fit best was StyleFind: a punchy, highly communicative, composite name that speaks directly to the core feature and end benefit of the site—finding the right style. It doesn’t hurt that it also recalls its parent brand.

When Raritan decided to spin off its Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software business, the company and Catchword agreed the name should steer clear of the “edgy tech” sound of its competitors and instead convey approachable confidence. The name should tell customers they’ve found a partner, not just a software company.

Sunbird, a brightly colored variety of songbird, is friendly and warm, yet fits comfortably in the tech space. Because it evokes clear, vivid imagery, 
it’s easy to remember and a great springboard for visual identity. The implication of a comprehensive, bird’s-eye view reinforces that Sunbird’s solutions provide remarkable vision into data center workings.

Healthline needed a new name for its Healthcare Information Technology group, which allows clinicians to extract simple, accurate insights from messy, free-form data—and thereby give patients the best possible care. Catchword developed the name Talix, coined from italics, to convey this idea of emphasizing and drawing attention to what’s important, and unlocking the power of unstructured data.

For computer security company Trend Micro, we serve as an all-around naming resource and consultant. Our mission includes guiding Trend Micro’s team in the naming of new products and services, as well as keeping Trend Micro’s entire naming architecture in order. Some of the new products we’ve helped launch include Online Guardian, SafeSync, DirectPass, and Deep Discovery.

Trimble provides end-to-end field service solutions. From service portals with advanced scheduling and optimization tools to customizable mobile applications and workflows, Trimble streamlines efficiencies from the back office to the technicians out in the field. Pulse, the name Catchword developed for the company’s core software platform, communicates always in the know–having your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the field.

In 2014, Elance and oDesk, the two largest online platforms for connecting clients and freelance workers, decided to merge to better provide international services with their combined resources. They realized they could maximize impact by developing a new, unified brand. They called on Catchword to develop a new name that would capture their vision and inspire their global community of millions of independent professionals and the businesses hiring them.

Upwork is as innovative and impactful as the company itself, which has grown to more than 10 million registered freelancers worldwide and been named the #1 freelance platform. The name positions Upwork as more than a gig marketplace, but a place that reimagines and elevates independent work, and where workers and businesses alike can up their game.

While consumers have many options for streaming music nowadays, most subscription-based services are focused solely on delivering as much music as possible, and provide little opportunity for artists and fans to interact in truly meaningful ways. Ursa, the name Catchword developed for an exciting new music engagement “ecosystem,” speaks to a constellation of streaming services and connecting in countless ways (features, music, people, etc.). It also recalls the major and minor scales (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor), and evokes an otherworldly music streaming platform.

Tech giant Hitachi saw a tremendous opportunity to create value for customers by merging existing subsidiaries into a new business dedicated to data-driven solutions. The new company would combine the expertise of Hitachi Data Systems (data center infrastructure), Hitachi Insights Group (internet of things), and Pentaho (analytics). Although Hitachi had a history of descriptive naming, Catchword recommended a suggestive name to signal a departure from the past. Vantara recalls the advantage offered to customers, as well as the company’s unique vantage point on data. Since its launch in 2017, the company has seen exceptional growth, with more than 80% of Fortune Global 100s turning to Vantara solutions.

Toyo needed a name for their new line of premium all-season touring tires. The tires were designed for a variety of luxury vehicles, with comfort, performance, and noise reduction in mind. Versado is the Portuguese word for “well-versed,” and it also recalls the English word versatile. The name sounds quiet and smooth, just like the ride you might expect from a set of these tires.

Over the years, Catchword has had the pleasure of partnering with Corning to name many innovative products, including Fibrance, the highly flexible, light-diffusing fiber (vibrance of color and light + fiber + radiance). When Corning decided to spin-off a new company to develop smart, integrated products and solutions using Fibrance, they asked us to create something that complements the product name while conveying the elegant versatility of this new light technology. Versalume was the clear choice.

From the moment we heard about this online video service, it had us under its spell. The company needed a blockbuster name to capture the magic of this new way to watch: streaming video. Enabling users to instantly stream an enormous library of movies and television shows at home or on the go, Vudu ushered in a new type of at-home entertainment and the era of cord-cutting.

Vudu became the first on-demand service to offer HD movies for download, in 2009. The company was then acquired by Walmart, after the behemoth failed to master the streaming space with its own offering. In 2020, NBCUniversal subsidiary Fandango purchased the brand, which now offers more than 10,000 free movies and TV episodes to more than 100 million customers. With a whole lot of tech know-how, and a little bit of pixie dust, Vudu has charmed users and wholly reshaped how we view the at-home cinematic experience, making it little short of … well, voodoo.

WebEx’s portfolio had grown like kudzu through innovation and acquisition. Now they needed an architectural naming strategy to make sense of all of it on their website. We brought our pruning shears and a fresh perspective, recommending they lose fanciful names and use functional descriptions for navigation, like web meetings and marketing and events. Our naming architecture was a perfect fit when WebEx was acquired by Cisco.

Wells Fargo’s launch of this secure online storage service was a big deal, and the product name needed to have impact. It also needed to be reasonably transparent. So how did we infuse this vault-like product (not the sexiest of images) with some life? vSafe (for virtual safe) was not only descriptive; it also sounded like “be safe.” A fitting rallying cry.

Catchword was engaged by CBRE to develop a name for one of the commercial real estate investment firm’s newest ventures: a highly flexible, WeWork-style workspace, including configurable team suites, on-demand meeting rooms, and co-working spaces. Once CBRE had landed on a name for the new workspace (Hana), they asked us to imagine a catchy tagline for the brand. Suggesting wonderful working environments and imaginatively designed spaces, as well as productivity and business growth, we proposed Work Wonders, a compact, clever, and pleasantly alliteratively double-entendre.

As the world’s largest oilfield service company, Schlumberger provides an enormous range of products and services to assist with reservoir characterization (e.g., seismic surveys and evaluations of rock formations), drilling, completion, production, and processing.

A critical piece of well completion is the liner hanger system, which is essentially the heart of the well. Schlumberger needed a name for its new high-performance system that combines critical data analyses to enhance efficiency and drilling precision.

XCELIS, Catchword’s name for the liner system, communicates a range of product and market benefits, including drilling excellence, efficiency (via an association with acceleration), capacity and scalability (the name sounds like “XL”), and the ability to excel in the most challenging well environments.

Catchword was engaged by Greatland to develop a naming strategy for the company’s family of web-based and software tax management, filing and reporting products. Once a strategy was in place, Catchword was tasked with actually naming the family and product brands. Yearli, the name we gave to the family brand, is both authoritative and friendly sounding, and clearly speaks to a set of annual use products. The descriptors, Core, Desktop, and Performance, either allude or speak directly to the basic, desktop, and more robust filing solutions, and help keep equity at the family brand level.

After we named Zillio, a new type of math game for kids that was as fun as it was educational, we needed a tagline in the same playful spirit. Besides being engaging, the game was incredibly versatile; it helped kids learn everything from multiplication to algebra. The tagline, which played off the product name and reinforced it, was a natural.

We’ve named tons of educational games for LeapFrog over the years, and it always brings out the kid in us. No exception here. This high-energy learning system, co-branded with Disney, was designed for preschoolers, and used full-body movement (dancing, hopping, jumping, playing) to drive learning. The product name needed to be lively, suggest movement, and appeal to little ones. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, what a wonderful name!

Meeting the FDA’s myriad requirements for pharmaceutical naming (while retaining a milligram of marketing appeal) is always tough. That’s why most pharmaceutical names resemble Slavic gods (like Ipabog or Krsnik). For Merck’s shingles vaccine, we loved Zostavax (from vaccine and herpes zoster, the name for shingles). It was meaningful, easy to say, and—hold on to your pill fob—had only one set of adjacent consonants.