Why Brand Names Are Like Running Shoes: Poor Selection Can Cause Serious Injury

The Importance of Trademark Selection

Trademark SelectionDo not be one of those brand owners that learns the hard way. There is simply no reason to select brand names that are fundamentally incapable of winning the race. Recognizing that marks come in all different “shapes, colors and sizes” and, as a result, receive different levels of protection is a first step to building your brand name powerhouse. It can also be the difference between brand success and brand failure. Simply put, don’t fall victim to the “brand name trap.”

Selecting the wrong brand name for your product can result in a “false start,” which can inevitably disqualify you from the race before it begins. Just as the difference between winning and losing a horse race can be fractions of a second, the difference between selecting a winning or losing brand name is a fine line that if not understood can result in brand failure.

If you were training for a marathon would you aimlessly select running shoes that couldn’t withstand a long and grueling race? Of course you wouldn’t. Then why do so many brand owners succumb to the temptation of aimlessly selecting trademarks that haven’t got a chance of taking their products over the finish line?

Would you go out and purchase running shoes one week before a marathon? Hopefully you would purchase them well in advance so you have ample time to evaluate them, ensure they’re adequately comfortable and determine whether they’re the “right” shoes for running a successful race. The same holds true for your trademarks. Aimlessly selecting your brand names without appreciating their varying levels of quality – or their blend of legal and marketing strength – can spell disaster for you, your company and its brands.

Trademark Selection

Trademarks range from terms that describe certain aspects of products to terms that are coined, such as the marks Kodak® and Xerox®. The types of marks consist of terms that are descriptive, suggestive, arbitrary or coined when used in connection with their associated products. Terms that are considered generic for certain products, such as “The Wine Company” for a company that sells wines, can never be trademarks. The terms “trademarks” and “generic” are mutually exclusive. There is simply no such thing as a “generic trademark,” [updated: July 2, 2020: except, maybe, for Booking.com :)]

Understanding the different levels of legal protection afforded by each type of trademark is an important aspect of the trademark selection process. Another aspect of the trademark selection process is appreciating marketing strength.

When you combine the concepts of legal and marketing strength in your trademark selection process, you’ll be well on your way to adopting brand names that have the potential for running ahead of the pack.

Let us help you with your brand name selection and trademark registration process.

Ten Essential Rules for Internet Brand Names

1. Make sure that the .com domain name is available. Only select names that will correspond to a .com domain name. Consumers will head straight to the .com. Have you ever entered .net or .biz in a URL? I haven’t. And if I can’t find the web site on my first try, I jump to Google®. If the .com domain is not available, select a different name and don’t fall victim to the “hyphenated” domain name. Have you ever used – or thought of using – a hyphen in a domain name?

2. Keep it short and simple. With all of today’s advertising noise and clutter, keeping the name short and simple is critical. Difficult-to-remember domain names are likely to result in misspellings, which may result in the loss of revenues to “typo-squatters.” Typo-squatters will “steal” your misspelled domain name and divert Internet traffic from your web site while generating revenue in the process. Don’t let that happen to you. Some of the best short and easy-to-remember Internet brand names are Yahoo, Amazon, Yelp and Woot.

3. Select a name that is alliterative. Brand names that are alliterative are easy to remember. Dunkin Donuts, Kristy Kreme, Blackberry and Roto Rooter are all good examples.

4. Select a name that is speakable. A name that is speakable is also easy to remember. Speakable names tend to receive more word-of-mouth advertising. Speakable names include Sears, Colgate, Pepsi and AeroMotive. Unspeakable names include Tokico, PLP and Chipolte. Names that are difficult to pronounce are difficult to remember, which spells disaster.

5. Spellability. Be sure that your Internet brand name is easy to spell. Hard to spell domain names tend to lose Internet traffic for their owners. They also tend to be victims of Internet pirates a/k/a “typo-squatters.”

6. Suggestive names. Names that are suggestive of the product category will tend to attract customers and may even help build customer loyalty. A suggestive name helps customers identify the attributes of a product and what a brand represents. Suggestive names include Die Hard, Close Up and Block Buster.

7. Reserve other domain name extensions. Registering the .com domain name is critical. But don’t forget to make defensive registrations for other extensions, including .net, .biz and .mobi. Registering other domain name extensions is an inexpensive way to defend against third parties from registering your brand names with other extensions and then profiting from them.

8. Reserve domain names for commonly misspelled terms. If your name can be spelled in several different ways, be sure to register, at a minimum, the .com domain name for that common misspelling. Reserving common misspellings of your brand name is another inexpensive way to prevent Internet pirates from diverting Internet traffic from your site.

9. Don’t forget to renew your domain name. Failing to renew a domain name can result in its loss. Not good for an Internet company! If you can afford it, apply for the longest possible term, and then calendar the renewal date.

10. Don’t fall victim to domain name renewal scams. Don’t rely upon third party services to renew your domain name unless you have an existing relationship with that company. Unsolicited renewal invitations should be ignored. Some of those unsolicited renewal invitations are scams. Some of those companies will simply take your money and not pay the renewal resulting in the loss of your domain name. Internet companies that lose their domain names lose what may be their most valuable assets.