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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.