What's in a Name?

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While colorful flavors, a low price, and cutesy 2-ounce-bottle packaging are mostly to blame, the term "spiking" was no doubt interpreted by the company and these activist groups in different ways. "One could argue that they achieved their goal too well," says Robert Sprung, chief executive of TippingSprung. There are currently no plans to reintroduce the brand to market.

What a brand is named is obviously a matter of some importance for graphic designers and those responsible for the product's packaging. It's no surprise that they tend to prefer names that are short and sweet—for one simple reason: "The shorter the name is, the bigger you can make it," says Michael Bierut, partner in the New York office of design firm Pentagram. In 2003, Bierut helped design the brand identity for Ted, United Airlines' (UAUA) low-fare carrier that now flies to 20 cities in the U.S. and Mexico. He's impressed with the name go!, which won in the category for "Best New Name for a Low-Cost Airline," because it can be presented in big letters so easy to read "a kindergartner can understand."

Fragrant Hits and Misses

Calvin Klein's fragrance CK in2u (Coty), the winner of the "Best New Fragrance Name" category, is a clever code meant to be decipherable only by its target audience of generation Y, with its text message– and instant message–influenced lexicon. "We had to find new ways of talking to them, and that meant embracing the media and communities they consume," says Lori Singer, vice-president of global marketing for Calvin Klein.

This brand teaches a good lesson in naming: Have a good idea of how long the name will be in use. "CK in2u is a faddish kind of name," says Landor's Shore. But it serves its purpose, he says, because "the nature of perfumes and fashion is transient."

The survey also poked fun at failure. Spanish fashion designer Paco Rabanne was panned for the incomprehensibly abstract title of his new fragrance, Ultraviolet Man Summer Pop. And the category's other names demonstrate just how hard it can be to market perfume to men: Intimately Beckham for Him, Perfect Man Alternative, I Love Marc, and 212 Men Splash all met with disapproval from survey participants. "It's a category that people tend to be more fanciful in," says Sprung—a tactic that can backfire.

No Winning Formula

Brand naming can be a complex process involving several steps of consensus-building and tens of thousands of dollars in consulting fees and market testing.

But one survey winner, Vermont ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry's, frequently forgoes these expenses when concocting and naming its new flavors. Two customers in Britain recently completed a form on the company's Web site to submit their idea for a new flavor: Bohemian Raspberry, a tribute to a Queen song and the winner of the survey's "Cleverest Ice-Cream Flavor." "The flavor name really strikes a chord as it fits in with our long history of rock tributes, such as Cherry Garcia and Phish Food," says company spokesperson Philippa Marshall.

But there's no silver bullet when it comes to getting the naming process right. As Brian Collins, chairman and chief creative officer of the Brand Integration Group at Ogilvy & Mather in New York: "Good survey data is always useful. But I'd use it to tell me what not to do. And not simply follow the herd." He argues that the naming problem was never successfully solved via consensus. "When you want to be a pioneer—a real pioneer—group consensus won't ever get you to new territory." For that, you need a smart, relevant idea, a heap of confidence and faith, or even, as in the case of Google, no spell-checker.

MacMillan is a reporter at BusinessWeek.com in New York.