To provide a little inspiration, we’re profiling people with cool jobs. Got a great — and unusual — gig? Holler at us.
The way Stevie Belchak sees it, naming a new company is a lot like writing a poem.
Belchak is a senior naming manager at Catchword, and she’s branded major products for clients like Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and Intel.
She’s also a poet. And she points out that poets are trained in the art of capturing an image with unique wordplay — exactly what you want in a good brand name.
Plus: Poetic devices like assonance are what make names like Sweetgreen and Fitbit pop.
When a new client walks in the door, Belchak asks a few questions:
From there, she looks through lists of synonyms and reads magazines in that company’s industry. She glances at a database of idioms and Wordnik.
Once in a while, she says, the job requires “taking a step back and finding unlikely sources of creativity.” A popular ski trail might inspire the name of a beer.
When it’s all said and done, Belchak hands over anywhere from 100 to 2k possible names to her client.
Belchak says startups are loving straightforward English words — think Nest, Kayak, or Wallet.
But we also might be on the cusp of a new, COVID-fueled naming trend. Belchak pointed to the video-conference app Mmhmm as being ahead of the curve.
“We’re looking for things that bring us joy,” Belchak says, “and I think names can offer consumers the surprise and delight they are missing.”