1. 4.01 BRANDING/NAMING YOUR BUSINESS

2. 2 Warm-up Monday, May 12 th What do you think goes into a company’s name? What about products names? Write a short summary (around 5 sentences) about your Shark Tank episode on Friday.

3. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 3 Ever wonder where businesses get their names Apple–For the favorite fruit of co-founder Steve Jobs and/or for the time he worked at an apple orchard, and to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by other computer companies at the time – which had names such as IBM l Mattel–a portmanteau of the founders names Harold "Matt" Matson and Elliot Handler. l Nike-named for the Greek goddess of victory

4. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 4 What is Branding? Branding is choosing a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of to identify products or a business Business and products have to be named (branded) Example: Proctor and Gamble in a business name and the business has named many of its products as well such as Crest, Gillette, Gain, Luvs, Pepto Bismol, Iams (*only manufacturers will have to name their products) The branding of your business is very important because it is the first image that your business projects to the public It is what customers will remember (good or bad) about your business that will either draw them to it or send them away Brand names should be easy to remember and pronounced

5. 5 Techniques to Naming a Business Acronyms/Abbreviations Make longer names more friendly and easier to remember Examples: IKEA (Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd), UPS (United States Parcel), MTV (Music Television) Conjoined/Combined Occurs when a brand name contains more than one word to form something new Sometimes the combined name gives two different meanings Examples: Microsoft, FedEx, PayPal, Coca-Cola Descriptive Generic, descriptive names make it easy for potential customers to work out what product or service your business provides. Descriptive names run a slight risk of not being able to “stand out from the crowd” and may have a harder time being trademarked Examples of descriptive business names: International Business Machines, Pizza Hut, British Airways, Proactive Design and Marketing http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224244

6. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 6 Techniques to Naming a Business Invented and Playful They can be playful, weird, catchy Harder to remember and less descriptive Examples: Google, Yahoo, Pepsi, Hulu Metaphorical A metaphor is a figure of speech that expresses an idea through the image of another object. Metaphors suggest the essence of the first object by identifying it with certain qualities of the second object. There is an element of intrigue in metaphorical names. Example: Kayak? What type of company is that? And here’s where it gets good… the follow up answer fits the name — an on line travel booking site that can move you along, help things flow, streamline your travel plans, get you on your way, keep things afloat, stay above water, etc. etc. Other examples: Monster, a huge job site with large numbers of listings, Jaguar highlights the luxury car’s speed, responsiveness and agility.

7. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 7 Techniques to Naming a Business Founder or Origin Creating a name around the owner(s) own name Easily trademarkable Examples: Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan, Charles Schwab, Adidas, Tommy Hilfiger Names of Businesses should be unique and legally available.

8. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 8 Registering a Business Name Registering your business name involves a process known as registering a “Doing Business As (DBA)” name or trade name. This process shouldn’t be confused with incorporation and it doesn’t provide trademark protection. Registering your “Doing Business As” name is simply the process of letting your state government know that you are doing business as a name other than your personal name or the legal name of your partnership or corporation. If you are operating under your own name, then you can skip the process.

9. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 9 Legal Considerations in Choosing a Business Name Even once you have chosen a business name, you need to keep in mind their might be some potential legal issues: For example: Is your business name available or is someone else using it? Can search the U.S. Patent and Trade Office database of registered trademarks, search the internet for the same or similar names of other businesses or search business name registers. The name must be legally available for use. Can your business name be trademarked? Any name can be trademarked if it is unique, descriptive and has not already been trademarked by another company If you plan on having a website, the domain name must be available

10. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 10 Test Question 1 One way a national business chain can make sure that customers will remember its name is to develop a brand name that is: Long and complicated Easy to read and pronounce Similar to those used by competitors Associated with a specific period of time

11. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 11 Test Question 2 Can any brand name be selected and used by business? No, the name must be legally available for use. Yes, brand names cannot be owned by a business. Yes, a business can use any name it wants to use. No, the name must be registered before it can be used.

12. Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved. 12 Test Question 3 When Kate selects a name and obtains a web address for her new catering business, she needs to make sure that the name of the business is: Unique and available Catchy and copyrighted Specific and patented Abstract and formal