MONICA MAZZANTI
copywriting - text editing
Ink of words
Naming
And what's your name?
the importance of the right name
translation provided by Google
Remember the TV commercial in which a Sylvester Stallone, like Rambo, broke into a packed hall and saved bystanders from attack by a group of thugs? Having escaped the danger, a beautiful girl hastened to ask the hero: "What's your name?" "Bubi", Stallone replied ... breaking in that moment, amid the general mockery, all his seductive power. This is how the moral praised:
"What is certain is that the name has its importance ... the name makes the difference!"
God in Genesis creates and - immediately - names. It is with the name that the "thing" acquires life, becomes an identifiable and shared object.
“And he gave the name day to light and night to darkness […] he called the ground
land and the mass of sea water. "
The name carries with it all its history: it distinguishes, often describes, in any case evokes: it is the archetype of a behavior. What has no name is negligible, it is forgotten, it is omitted. It is not worthy of being remembered ... to be named. Ulysses in the Odyssey prank Polyphemus by denying him his name, saying his name is Nobody, and only in this way can he free himself and his companions from the monster's trap.
Who for me, noticed in a kennel what my dog would become just for his name, written on the slate outside the box. In fact, the dog was totally anaffective and spent his days curled up in the kennel without having any interaction with others. So much power had that name to change his life to Skipper… and mine to me.
Everything can evolve, the name cannot. You carry the name on you for life, it is a sort of stamp that distinguishes you. Some time ago the sentence of the Court of Appeal of the Court of Genoa which considered illegitimate the name Friday, chosen for the child by a couple of parents.
"... it is forbidden to impose ridiculous or shameful names on the child", and to avoid "discriminating situations and difficulties in integrating the person into the social context". ››
The surnames already do their part, let's defend ourselves at least from the names and… from the parents!
But here comes the Internet to help and redeem us from bad names. Heaps of nicknames to wear to hide, from time to time, behind the mask of the moment and, finally, we become characters of ourselves with the extreme authority to baptize ourselves as we like: PiskellettaStilosa, Minamoto Kobayashi, Karl Mirx, Toktokchisei and who he has more ...
... and instead, the nicknames that others give us? Sometimes flattering, sometimes, most of the time, no! Here we go again: victims or executioners, we find ourselves raging or undergoing a name. Generally taking a cue from some very peculiar individual characteristics, nicknames are, in fact, the real denominators of a person.
A spot on Fastweb spot , starring Valentino Rossi, was all centered on the play on words that originated from the ironic name Valentino, which automatically extended to the amulet turtle Va-lentina, as opposed to both Rossi's speed on the track and that of network navigation with optical fiber, however, marking tranquility and safety.
Brand name: starting on the right foot
When, instead of baptizing our child or our dog, we move on to naming a product, a service, a company, we enter the field of brand naming. The rules of practice are there but, as often happens, taking divergent paths can be a happy choice.
Product names should be short, no more than three syllables. But how many long names turned out to be successful! It is not true that they are difficult to memorize, as the most classic communication manuals understand. On the contrary, I find that more words together can be more intelligible, certainly more intriguing, capable of establishing a differently articulated marketing strategy and, as a slogan would do, acquire their own enthralling rhythm. Products such as 4 Salti in Pan, La Valle degli Orti, L'Antica Gelateria del Corso appear on supermarket counters: names capable of distinguishing themselves and being remembered with words.
Between the 19th and 20th centuries, as far as companies were concerned, the problem of finding the right name for the family business did not arise and the patronymic was used. In fact, it was common to give the company the name of its founder, which coincided precisely with that of the family. Just think of high-sounding names such as Barilla, Ferrari, Pirelli.
The acronyms also played a predominant role, I simply quote FIAT (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino), which has become the emblem of Italian industry.
Then there are descriptive names and, among them, there are entire categories afflicted by absolute gloom. In the field of publishing and IT, just to give a couple of examples, the list is endless: Brava Casa, Casaviva, Cose di casa, Casa Facile etc., not to mention the myriad of net, bits, info, data , which reigns supreme. Paradoxically, even the most famous advertising agencies hide behind brand names that are anything but creative, taking their name from their own founders: Armando Testa, Saatchi & Saacthi, Ogilvy, Young & Rubicam etc.
When an extra vibration is added to the descriptive name, it becomes more interesting and becomes worthy of being remembered, precisely because of the more or less happy associations that are created. Often these are suitcase words, that is to say, invented words containing two meanings in a single word: Vitasnella, Estathè, Orogel (gold and frost), Glicemille (glycerin and a thousand), Ciocorì (chocolate and rice), Swatch (Swiss and watch) etc.
At other times, one simply opts for an arbitrary or newly invented name, thus also bypassing unpleasant and, often looming, legal obstacles caused by homonyms. What does an apple (Apple) have to do with a computer or a penguin (Penguin) with a book? Or, just think of names that don't have a specific meaning like Kimbo, Sony, Imetec, Kodak.
Altre volte, si opta più semplicemente per un nome arbitrario o inventato ex-novo, aggirando così anche spiacevoli e, spesso incombenti, ostacoli legali causati da omonimie. Cosa ha a che fare una mela (Apple) con un computer o un pinguino (Penguin) con un libro? Oppure, basti a pensare a nomi che non hanno uno specifico significato come Kimbo, Sony, Imetec, Kodak.
In the field of cars, after reviewing acronyms and numbers for years and years, cars began to be baptized with names that necessarily ended with A, precisely because of that tacit combination that identifies the car with the woman. And here is the Panda, the Brava, the Croma, the Delta. With the arrival of foreign spirits like Clio, Twingo, Yaris, even the Italians open up to more daring names ... and go with Thesis, Phedra, QUBO etc.
In the '80s Ferrari (also with only numbers and acronyms equipped ... but we forgive her, she doesn't need a nice name anyway!) Has a happy twist and comes out with what - personally - I think is the most beautiful name ever given. to a car: testarossa. The crazy, the different, the whimsical. That name encompasses the whole brand.
When the success of a brand is such that it beats the market, it becomes so famous that it ends up becoming a common name identifiable with a specific product. When we want a tissue, we ask for a Kleenex; and what is the name of absorbent kitchen paper, if not Scottex? The adhesive tape is Scotch, an intimate pad a Tampax, an off-road vehicle a Jeep, and the ballpoint pen 2 , who would ever say: "Where is my ballpoint pen?"
Watch out for missteps!
So when we are faced with the dilemma of baptizing any product, service or company, what resources can we use?
First of all, we must ask ourselves some essential questions: what is it about? What is its target? What names have competitors already chosen? Will it also be sold abroad?
The name, in addition to being beautiful, must be able to differentiate the product on the market, it must be able to add that something more that the competing product does not have, perhaps identifying itself with its peculiar characteristic, capable of imparting a specific personality through it. first name.
In advertising agencies we move on to the crucial process of brainstorning, in which we give free rein to the imagination, getting rid of any kind of inhibition. Nothing is discarded: even the most futile input can give rise to the winning idea.
But beware of missteps, above all, if we enter an unknown terrain, that is, that of foreign markets, different from ours not only culturally but also linguistically!
In France, Toyota had to rename its MR2 model with Coupe MR, since that duex did not create a very happy assonance; Mitsubishi, on the other hand, has renamed Montero the off-road Pajero, a Spanish idiomatic term that means “he who masturbates”; Maalox is not exactly a good name for an upset stomach drug; Estée Lauder has created a foundation with the effervescent name Country Mist (country mist), which would be better not to produce any effervescence in Germany, where it means "manure"; in German-speaking Switzerland you can buy Sidroga herbal teas, which should certainly change their name in Italy; and what to say about Maerdifu underwear ...
The Red Cross, internationally, had become the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. In fact, the Islamic half moon was added to the emblem of the cross because the cross was considered outrageous in Arab countries, as it was recognized as a symbol of the Crusaders. Israel, for its part, was demanding the use of the Star of David. A sort of compromise was thus reached: the red crystal, a rhombus inside which local symbols or no symbols can be inserted.
Often the name of a brand becomes an understatement because the company expands and begins to produce other items as well. It happened to Calzedonia, which now also markets swimwear and underwear, as well as Perlana detergent, so much so that it had to promote campaigns with the slogan “not only for wool”. The Club Méditerrnée had to change its original name to the less identifiable Club Med, as its success crossed the borders of the Mediterranean.
We are what we buy!
The brand represents an identity. Snobs can't do without designer labels: what they buy is worth more for its symbolic value than for utility or beauty. The brand reassures, communicates an aspect of the personality, of how “life is understood”. It makes you feel fashionable or even iconographically represents us as sporty, refined, youthful, ecologically correct. Young people are the categories most affected by the brand, precisely because of their need to belong to a group. On the Internet, communities of aficionados to a particular brand are born.
The display of the logo becomes particularly evident in clothing. It all began in the distant 1930s, when tennis player René Lacoste launched a line of T-shirts embroidered with a small green crocodile. Since then, the brand name is no longer hidden inside the garment, but is identified with a logo or a simple emblem to be displayed more or less ostentatiously.
Sometimes, brand attachment involves more subtly emotional aspects. Particularly successful advertising campaigns act on hidden psychological mechanisms and, over time, acquire great depth and visibility. Barilla has never abandoned the very happy countryside which, since the 1970s, has seen it as the bearer of healthy domestic values. Under the slogan “Where Barilla is, there is home” or the Mulino Bianco brand, reassuring domestic stories flow through fairy-tale tones and pastel shades. The brand becomes more than just a name and acquires a readily intelligible identity.
Science also supports this thesis. Neuromarketing studies have proven how advertising and marketing can influence our tastes. During a clinical trial at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, the brains of both Coca Cola and Pepsi users were subjected to functional magnetic resonance imaging. When the two drinks were offered without labels, there was no substantial preference for either brand. When, on the other hand, both were drunk, but labeled exclusively as Coca Cola, more intense brain activity was recorded not in the area of taste, but in that of the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, parts of the brain that condition behavior based on to emotions. In the long-standing "Coca or Pepsi?" Diatribe, there was proof that Coca Cola is more loved and more sold than its direct competitor.
Abracadabra: the evocative power of sounds
As in magic formulas, intertwining syllables and words give life to the spells of advertising. The sounds of words are very powerful means to be exploited to obtain particular results.
Their evocative power is enormous and must be carefully evaluated. Thus we enter the field of psycholinguistics, a real branch of communication.
The repetitive structures, especially syllabic ones, often propose a derogatory language: sucker, cicisbeo, quacquaraquà, braggart, etc.
Among the repetitive structures, the vowel / consonant alternation suggests the idea of iterative movements: zigzagging, doodling, lullaby, ping pong etc. In advertising, just think of Tic Tac, Spic & Span or Kit Kat.
If the same words are repeated, we will have an intensification of the message. Often this type of language is used in fairy tales or in children's language: far away, lemme lemme, hush hush, never, never, etc.
The adverb is another great reinforcer. In an expression such as "categorically deny", the very length of the adverb strengthens the determination; in the well-known Alfierian motto “I wanted, always wanted, very strongly I wanted” adverbs create a real crescendo.
The abbreviation, on the other hand, takes away bombast and adds a touch of familiarity and simplicity. In fact, the psychological distance between the speaker and his interlocutor is also shortened. We enter, for example, into the realm of abbreviations of proper names: Franci> Fancesco, Ale> Alessandra, Bob> Robert etc.
In English, many commonly used words derive from the abbreviation of the common name: biz> business, gym> gymnasium, pub> public house, hi-fi> high fidelty etc.
In Italian, just think of the monosyllabic imperatives: give, go, stay, etc. which, precisely because of their imperative character, nullify verbosity and imply the arrogance of command.
In the advertising field, I simply cite two examples of fairly distant abbreviations, which are placed on the two extreme sides of the family denotation: Pomì and OP (the rhyme is completely coincidental). Pomì (O so. O Pomì.) Is a name that wants to add a nice touch of familiarity, as if to suggest how easy it is to use it in the kitchen; the sought-after OP (Oro Pilla brandy. Confidentially OP) shortens the distances, but opens a high-sounding door, from which to let the user enter with great fanfare, as if to indulge in exclusivity; it is in fact a brandy not of tomato paste.
Then there are the onomatopoeias, which have enormous evocative power. Schweppes - and hear the sound of effervescence; Crunchy: and it is as if you are munching on crunchy cereals; Frio: how cold it is!
We recognize foreign words for the typical sounds of the language they belong to: the English are always of great appeal as a synonym of modernity, immediacy, practicality; the French, on the other hand, have an aura of charm and seductive power and, for example, are well suited to cosmetic products, just think of perfumes such as J'adore, Poison, Égoïst.
And what about the mystical Sanskrit om sound of Eastern religions. In addition to the intrinsic meaning, it summarizes in a single syllable the evocative power of meditation, with real vibrations capable of intersecting the mind.
And the rosary, as it was said at vespers, is it not also a mantra?
In addition to syllabic associations, the letters themselves have already inherent suggestive powers.
Among the vowels, the A is that which, thanks to the maximum opening of the mouth and the relaxation of the tongue, evokes strength or calm. Not surprisingly it's the sound of laughter, hahaha. The O is round and playful; a word like donut, for example, gives the precise idea of the round shape. The U is mournful, the mouth shrivels all up, as in howl or darkness. The I and E are carefree and lively, just think of jingling and elementary.
Among the consonants, the stops B / P, D / T and G / K express strength and hardness precisely because they explode - example of a curse: whore; the fricatives F, V, S are all vibrations, and the words seem to go fast or even slip; the nasals M and N have a reassuring and maternal tone, it is not by chance that we find them in words like mom, grandmother, sleep.
He wanted to do more than just read: he wanted to shrink and crawl into the words, move among the letters, dig for secrets in the attic of an A, climb the branches of a Y and listen to its dreams, slide on an S towards the its fiery and secret source, enter an O and savor the mad luster and bright madness of its core [...] 3
Glossary
Brand = what identifies a company in a broad sense.
Emblema = the visual, allusive or arbitrary symbol, which can accompany the logo.
Logo = the writing, the name of the brand in graphic form, with particular characters and colors. It gives a very special visibility and thus allows immediate identification of the product. May contain the emblem. Therefore, not to be confused with the same.
Brand = the set of qualities that define the product (or company); it can be the LOGO or the EMBLEM
Trademark = legal connotation, confers legal protection and guarantees exclusive ownership.
2 Named after its inventor, the Hungarian Lásló József Bíró.
3 Examples taken from Fernando Dogana, The Words of Enchantment, Milan, Franco Angeli, 1990.
4 Carolina De Robertis, The child born twice, Garzanti, MI, 2010: 406.