In Part One and Part Two of this series I shared six tools that professional name developers use to turn words into business and product names. In this final installment I'll describe three more-advanced strategies. Don't worry: you don't need special training to use them. Just be aware that implementing them successfully is often trickier than you might think. Continue reading...

In Part One of this series, I talked about three common ways to create product and company names: from people's names, from connecting two words, and by creating a blend or portmanteau. As naming exercises go, those three techniques are among the most basic. In this installment we move into Intermediate Naming: techniques that require a bit more mastery of the workings of language but can reward you with distinctive, memorable names. Continue reading...

When you're naming a business or a product, you look at words through a different lens than the novelist or historian. They think in sentences, paragraphs, chapters, or even volumes; you must think in single-word nuggets of meaning. Your job is to distill the essence -- and even the unknown future -- of your product or company in one, or sometimes two, perfectly suited words. Continue reading...

I'm often approached by small businesses or organizations that can't afford professional name-development fees. And, frankly, a comprehensive name-development process, from creative brief through extensive legal review, may be more than they need. Entrepreneurs, mom-and-pop stores, and small nonprofit organizations often already have some name ideas. They just need some way to confirm that their hunches are on target. Continue reading...

A Visual Thesaurus subscriber's comment to an earlier column of hers inspired Nancy to write this piece. Thanks to both! -- Editor

I've shamelessly borrowed my title from David Ogilvy, who used it as a chapter title in his best-selling 1963 book, Confessions of an Advertising Man. Ogilvy founded one of the world's most successful ad agencies; his clients included Rolls-Royce, Shell Oil, and Sears. Many of his do's and don'ts are timeless: Select the right agency in the first place. Brief your agency very thoroughly indeed. Don't underspend. Tolerate genius.

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When we talk about writing style, we mean one of two things: a set of rules and conventions regarding words and punctuation (sometimes known as the "house style" of a given publication); or a distinctive, identifiable way of assembling words and punctuation (sometimes known as "tone" or "voice"). The first kind of style is all about standards: it's why newspaper writers spell out all numerals under ten and why New Yorker editors -- alone of all their tribe -- spell vendor as vender. The second kind of style is about deviations from the standard. It's what makes us recognize a passage of prose as indisputably Ernest Hemingway's or Joan Didion's or David Foster Wallace's or Maureen Dowd's. Continue reading...