Our Process

Nearly everyone who works with names and taglines has a process. Some companies will provide you fancy-looking charts to demonstrate that yes, they do operate BY PROCESS. Okay, so we've got one too. Are you going to hire us because we've got one? Probably not. Are you going to hire us because we name stuff and we do it well? That's our guess. But the process is what gives us consistently great names, so like it or not we're going to put the process in front of you and make it parade about so you can see its better qualities.

What's different about our process? Well, maybe the lack of just about anything resembling corporate-speak. Or the ability to blend with your internal departments and external partners to ensure a smooth launch, or the fact that when we're done with the process your team is absolutely confident in and prepared for the successful launch of your new brand. Our process gets you a real and compelling identity, not just a name, a tagline, or an elevator pitch.

Throw away all of those "success spirals" and "achievement vortices". No real human being talks that way.

You need stuff named. We name stuff.™

Now, here's how we do it:

1. Set Expectations

   Before we begin working on your new identity we make sure everyone involved understands what will be happening. We cover these critical issues:

   • Who must be involved
   • How many different levels of participation exist
   • Who will participate in the various groups
   • What is the process
   • What Stokefire delivers
   • What Stokefire doesn't do
   • Who will do the stuff that Stokefire doesn't do
   • How we measure performance
   • What risk factors may affect the project

   Why take the time to do this? Because it's the right thing to do. You're making a huge investment in your future - you have the right and responsibility to ensure you know what you're going to get for that investment and how you'll use what you get.

   Can you skip this step? Perhaps with another branding firm, but not with Stokefire. Skipping this step results in confusion, late projects, missed handoffs, and general disappointment. If you want to skip it we encourage you to contact any one our many competitors who bypass this stage completely.

2. Seek the Truth

   We often use surveys, interviews, and roundtable discussions to get to the answers we need. (see discussion of focus groups, below) We'll check into the names and taglines of your competitors and words used within your industry and related fields. We'll even review your internal and external communications to see how you speak, where you're headed, and how consistent your brand expressions are.

   For large-scale projects we'll talk to your staff, shareholders, membership, clients, prospects, and even your lost clients to figure out who you want to be and think you are versus who you are seen to be internally, and in the eyes of the marketplace. If you're undergoing a rebranding we'll find out what people expect from you down the line, and what they want out of a new identity. We'll check the brands of your competitors and those who offer alternative solutions to see how everyone else is wielding words to market themselves.

   If you're launching for the first time, we tweak our approach to focus more on your anticipated strategy since you're fortunate enough to not have any lost clients for us to interview.

3. Establish Goals

   Once we know what we're starting with, we sit down with you to figure out where you want to go. We review any existing strategic plans and ensure they're still applicable. We then determine what you need out of the new verbal brand. We'll work with you to prioritize what can often amount to dozens of goals, and we'll sniff out conflicts and inconsistencies that could otherwise throw us off course.

   It's okay if you don't know what you want the name to do for you. That's one of the benefits of working with us - we'll help you to figure out what you can achieve and then guide you in the selection of goals that complement your brand strategy.

4. We All Get Our Hands Dirty

   In what is perhaps the most memorable part of our process, we let your team wear our hats for a while - learn what it feels like to be namers. We'll teach you how to evaluate names, show you some of the more famous or notorious winners and losers, and then let you do what only you can do - give us the inside view of your company. Trust us, we have ways of making you talk. We've learned that the building blocks of an incredible new brand (not necessarily the words themselves, but the values and intentions and expectations that will lead us to the right words) are already there inside your team's heads. It's our job to get them out onto the table for everyone to see.

   Once we're done wringing you dry we'll go back home and do it again - this time with our linguists, poets, writers, and other creative yet precise types who know how to wield words like scalpels.

5. We Evaluate Everything

   Rather than hurl our huge list of names at you, we screen each name against pre-established categories - including the goals you've selected and a half-dozen general categories that are excellent indicators of a name's ability to support a brand. Over the course of a single project our team will typically develop as many as one thousand name candidates. You'll only see the very best - the top ten percent - and you'll see them with their basic strengths and weaknesses evaluated for easy comparison and selection.

6. We Help You Decide (x3)

   After delivery of the initial list we'll follow with two more rounds of ideas - each round containing between 25 and 75 new concepts. Each round will have scored lists including:

   • The new concepts
   • Client-approved concepts from previous rounds
   • Competitor identities
   • Existing client-owned identities

   You wouldn't buy your clothes with the lights turned out - and you shouldn't choose your brand that way either. We shine a light on not only your new identity, but also the world in which it will exist. No brand is an island. Or something like that.

   You'll get up to three chances to direct or redirect our team in the creative process as we focus in on your new identity. In the end you'll select (with our help and facilitation) a hand-full of the most promising candidates and we'll begin our intensive analysis.

7. We Cover Your Bottom

   Line. We Cover Your Bottom Line. And the other thing too, of course. During the initial rounds of names, we evaluated each one for ten qualities. (we're always refining the process so don't take any of these numbers too literally. It might be nine qualities in the early rounds, or eleven.) Those days are over now. Once the favorites are identified we bring out the microscope. Over fifty unique qualities are examined. A quick sampling:

   • Ease of spelling from audible encounter
   • Ease of correct pronunciation from visual encounter
   • Word-shape Appeal
   • URL availability
   • Likelihood of trademark challenge
   • Industry Differentiation
   • Strategic Fidelity
   • Marketing Depth

   Every single quality we examine contributes to the overall viability of the brand identity. But instead of presenting you with an exhaustive Matrix of numbers and charts we deliver our exclusive, easy-to-read "Matchbook" that tells the story of each finalist candidate. One client told us "it's like reading a book written a decade in the future that tells us how successful we were with each identity we might have chosen." We do more than just turn a "Marketing Depth" score into words. We develop the potential marketing concepts for your use, we explore potential taglines, we find potential land-mines (like an instance where the name of a murderous dictator was among the top candidates for a multi-million dollar hospitality product. How would you have liked to find that one out the day after your press release?) We even give your attorneys a leg up - checking with the US Patent and Trade Office (and other national and international resources) to find potential conflicts and providing you with the list before anyone has the chance to draft a single Cease and Desist letter.

8. You Get To Play Favorites

   You've already brought your list down to a select few. At this point, you don't choose just one - because you need to have a fallback if there's a legal problem with your favorite. So we'll provide facilitation to help you use the analysis we've provided to select your first choice and one or two others with potential. Once you have your final ordered list there's typically only a legal review standing between you and your new name. We'll have you run the name by your own legal team (or we can arrange to have you work with expert trademark attorneys we conveniently happen to know.)

9. We Get You to the Starting Line

   We know what most people do with manuals, but ours is different. We give you the directions you need to successfully complete the naming process. This manual can actually save you time, effort, and even money. In it you'll typically find:

   • Executive Talking Points
   • List of "Gotcha" questions you'll need to be prepared for
   • Statement of known risks
   • Article blurbs and media pitches (for use in PR activities)
   • Detailed identity launch plan for activities leading up to the big day - and then for the following months or years as you work to reinforce the brand.
   • Pre-drafted letters to project participants, staff, shareholders, members, clients, and prospects announcing the change and/or acknowledging their role in the work
   • Directions for each follow-on activity by role - including
     • Graphic Design
     • Executive Team
     • Marketing
     • Advertising
     • Public Relations
     • Human Resources
     • Member Relations

   We can even come to your offices again and walk your team through the document - giving your executives a mock interview, talking with follow-on specialists, and helping your team craft responses to the most common "Gotchas" that require your insight to answer correctly.

10. We Give You Momentum

    Once the wraps are off your new identity (or perhaps as the wraps come off) we'll help you gain traction and positive attention. Among the many "extras" that Stokefire can provide are:

    • A joint press release with quotes from key project participants or senior leaders at your organization.
    • A link and feature story on The Thingnamer blog - Stokefire's ongoing commentary on the naming industry.
    • An additional outlet for ongoing positive web coverage via the Thingnamer Blog and Stokefire's newsletters. When you achieve something noteworthy we'll be there to help you note it.
    • A link from Stokefire's client page - averaging over 100 views per day.
    • A short case study showcasing the transition you've made and your new identity.
    • Opportunities for articles in industry magazines and mass media about your new identity or the process you underwent to get there.
    • Submission of your name and identity for applicable national and international awards.

11. You Know Where to Find Us

    We're here if you need us. And we'll touch base with you to ensure everything is going smoothly Even after the name and brand are launched we're always available to help you tweak aspects of your brand, name new products, respond to clients or press, or generally just offer our ongoing support. It's your baby. We're just the ones that delivered it.