Anthony Shore: Who’s In A Name?

Anthony Shore is one of the few people in the world who makes a living at naming things like companies, brands, products or services. He joins Tim to talk about the magic in a name, and the work that goes into creating the right name so that the right brand identity can become a household name. Anthony is an expert in naming products, branding, services and organizations. For the past 30 years, he’s introduced more than 250 product and company names to the world. Many are well-known to this day.

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Most people don’t even think about it. Where did the name of that company or product they love so much come from?

Marketers and business owners know, however, that the right name can mean everything. It can mean the difference between success and failure. The wrong name can quickly put a company or a brand out of business.

Today, hundreds of thousands of businesses launch each month, and each one needs a name, not to mention names for certain products and services.

I’ve been involved in a few projects where we had to create the right name for an organization, a product or a service. While there is a process for that, the key is to start with a deep understanding of that product or service, the problems it solves, the solutions it provides, and most importantly, the emotional connection between your targeted audience and the problem itself.

Once you understand that, you can then start to consider the right language that communicates that, quickly, effectively, and almost instinctively.

That’s what I know. But I’m not the expert on naming. One of the leading experts on brand names is Anthony Shore.

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About this Episode’s Guest Anthony Shore

Anthony ShoreAnthony Shore is the Chief Operative of Operative Words. Over 30 years, he has introduced more than 250 product and company names to the world. Trained as a linguist at UC Santa Cruz, his BA thesis received the Chancellor’s Award and Linguistics degree Honors. As Global Director of Naming and Writing for Landor Associates, he led naming, nomenclature and brand strategy projects for Global 500 companies for 13 years. A year at Lexicon Branding and prior jobs as a photomechanical typesetter, software marketer, product manager, copywriter and door-to-door fundraiser have shaped his real-world and holistic perspective on brand naming. In 2009, he started his agency, Operative Words, to focus exclusively on what he’s good at: “Six words or fewer.”