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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.”

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

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.

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.

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).

TikTok, the world’s preeminent video-focused social network, allows users to create short-form music and other videos. Always striving to amplify engagement and enhance creator capabilities, TikTok developed an augmented-reality platform to allow for the creation of custom “effects” (considerably more sophisticated than tools offered by Snap and Meta). And when they needed a name for the platform, well, they called on yours truly.

Effect House, the name Catchword created, Tik’d all the boxes. While perfectly telegraphic of an effects platform, the name strongly implies an online destination—a digital dwelling and repository for creators’ cool creations. Moreover, the name reinforces the company’s focus on community, with House strongly signaling a familial, cooperative, and supportive creative environment.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.