Naming the High-end Watch
As you learn how to start a business, the importance of naming your company well is quickly apparent. A company’s name is its first and most significant point of customer contact, communicating a brand’s personality and philosophy before potential customers know anything else about you. Investigating the way that brand names have developed in a particular industry is one way to get inspiration for naming as you learn how to start a business. Let’s look at various naming strategies that have been used to define brands in the high-end watch industry.
Don’t Be Afraid to Buck Trends
The high-end watch industry has a legacy of naming watches after the illustrious watch designers who created them. This is especially true in Switzerland. These high-end names, like Breguet and Piaget, carry a connotation of old-school luxury. But for new brands, going with something a little more interesting can attract attention and suggest a different product experience. One watchmaker that has found great success called his company Maximillian Bűsser & Friends, or MB&F, despite the fact that people told him the name sounded silly when compared to the staid luxury brands.
Great Brand Names Tell a Story
Many of the most iconic names in the watchmaking industry are direct reflections of the time periods during which they were made. In the 1950s, watches celebrated science, embedding technical progress and mathematical precision in their products names — the Breitling Navitimer, the IWC Ingenieur, and the Omega Speedmaster. High-end watch names of the 1960s, like the Zenith El Primero, reflected a spirit of international cooperation. The 1980s saw watchmakers overtly referencing the luxurious lifestyles they wanted their products to connotate, like the Piaget Polo, which explicitly invoked exclusivity. In modern watch design, the Big Bang collection from Hublot simultaneously invokes tradition and cutting edge technological design.
Choosing a Brand Name for Your Company
The biggest lessons on how to start a business that can be learned from the high-end watch industry’s naming practices are about using your company name to convey a lifestyle and differentiate yourself from the competition. A unique name goes a long way toward suggesting that your product provides a special experience compared to its competition. Brands are always more successful when they can connect themselves to something bigger than a product, such as an aspirational lifestyle or an emotional value system. People should feel they are buying into something when they choose your product.
At A Hundred Monkeys, we know that new businesses need branding that connects with people on a human level, and that all starts with an evocative name. If you’re learning how to start a business and need branding consultants to help you come up with the perfect company name, say hello to A Hundred Monkeys.
