Freedom of—and from—choice

We live in a choice-mad world. Choice is part of personal expression. The way we customize, upgrade, and add-on tells people something about who we are. Our choices are badges—Mac or PC, dog or cat, Coke or Pepsi—and we can't help but feel more invested in something when we've picked it ourselves.

What about when you can't see the product for the names—when too much choice is actually hurting you in the market? When it comes to brands, the amount of choice they present has a powerful impact on the way people understand what they offer.

Limitless choice sounds like a beautiful concept until you're handed a 20-page spiral bound menu at a diner and asked to hurry up. Contrast that with a single-page tasting menu at a high-end restaurant. There might be no choice at that point. You're going to eat what the chef serves, but in all likelihood you made a choice to go to that restaurant for that very reason. The curation and the expertise behind the menu make the highly limited option the best one.

Of course there's no magic formula for deciding how much choice is right for customers in your category, but a naming system helps them sort through your offerings in a meaningful way. When like things are named in a like way, and grouped based on principles that are intuitive to the customer experience and authentic to the brand, it's easier for your audiences to zero in on exactly what they want. What a beautiful choice.

Developing a naming system for your brand is a challenge when you're crafting it from scratch. It's even more daunting when you're designing something for a long-standing portfolio (especially one that's picked up a few acquisitions along the way). We've summarized the top nine things to think about when coming up with your naming system at the right in All Systems Go.

This week's guest author, Caitlin Barrett, is Associate Director of Verbal Identity for Interbrand and the creative lead for Naming.

AVIAGE Systems, looking to position itself as “a global civil avionics leader,” turned to Interbrand to develop a new, cohesive global brand identity for the organization. AVIAGE Systems is a joint venture between GE Aviation and AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China ).

The company was unveiled in Zhuhai, Guandong China and will be headquartered in Shanghai, China with support sites in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA and Cheltenham, UK. AVIAGE Systems is working with clients on projects such as the COMAC C919, a new narrow-body commercial aircraft being built in China.

Nate Manning, General Manager of AVIAGE Systems, says of the logo, it conveys a “message of strength and optimism about the future.” The name AVIAGE Systems honors the joint venture between AVIC and GE and the Chinese name, 昂际, means “open to the future of aviation and soaringfreely without boundaries.”

"In approaching the design for AVIAGE Systems, we wanted to honor aviation, a market where design elements frequently celebrate and reinforce tradition, through the visual of the cock-pit,” said Mike Knaggs, Interbrand Creative Director. "At the same time we wanted to push the design further than what is typically seen in designs for brands in this space and convey flexibility and innovation. Through the wings, the logo conveys AVIAGE Systems' openness to customers' changing needs, expressing the business opportunity of open systems.”

“We wanted to create a symbol that would serve as a functional tool in both English and Mandarin and would visually capture the excitement for this unique venture's business opportunities," Knaggs notes.Manning adds, the logo symbolizes, “the improved flight experience and advanced operational environment brought by AVIAGE Systems’ open architecture and integrated avionics solutions.”

Rubén Galgo of brandemia says of the design, “Hoy nos hacemos eco del nacimiento de un nuevo gigante de la aeronáutica internacional.” (“Today we echo the birth of a new international aerospace giant.”) “Visualmente estamos ante una marca compuesta (símbolo + logotipo) o imagotipo, muy bien diferenciados. Hay gente que también verá en ella dos alas juntas o un avión en vista cenital… es como mirar a las nubes, cada uno ve una cosa diferente,” he adds. (“Visually this is a mark (symbol + logo) or very distinct imagotype. Some people also see in it two wings together or a plane overhead view ... it’s like looking at the clouds, everyone sees something different.”)

He concludes, “Para mi, un buen ejercicio.” (“For me, a good exercise.”)

Hurricane Sandy Meme by Todd Hale, toddhale.com

Do you know the inspiration for the National Weather Service to begin giving major storms personal names comes from a 1941 science fiction novel? The origin of this naming convention is George Stewart's Storm, starring a storm dubbed "Maria."

The alphabetical approach, naming hurricanes and tropical storms alphabetically throughout each calendar year, was formalized in 1950, and originally only female names were used. In the interest of fairness, the convention of only naming terrible storms after women ended in 1979, when male names for storms were introduced.

The brilliance of this naming convention is that meteorologists don't have to scramble for a name when a storm is brewing and there's consistency without competing names for new storms. (Although, certainly multiple nicknames for storms can emerge, case in point, "Frankentorm" and "Snor'eastercane" for "Hurricane Sandy.") Brand managers who oversee large portfolios could benefit from a similarly systematic approach -- what we'd call a naming or nomenclature system.

Building a naming system can help build buzz for upcoming products and allow brand managers to more effectively manage the transfer of equity between brands. Perhaps the biggest benefit of these systems is that they reduce the ambiguity and frustration that can accompany product naming, providing a road map to guide us in answering questions like, "What should we call the new version?" or "Who chooses the final name?"

As Sandy passes and the Northeast of the United States begins to assess its impact, product naming may be the furthest thing from our minds. Yet, the next time we run into a naming challenge, we can remember the hurricane naming system and how it simplifies the naming job for meteorologists. Just like us, they've got more important things to think about. And if another hurricane hits this year -- hopefully not! -- at least we know it'll have a name that George Stewart's Maria would have loved: "Tony."

Rob Meyerson is a Director of Verbal Identity for Interbrand San Francisco.