Catchword Branding

Catchword Branding
Private
Industry Branding, Naming, Corporate Identity
Founded 1998
Headquarters Oakland, California; USA
Key people
 Maria Cypher, Laurel Sutton, Mark Skoultchi
Website www.catchwordbranding.com

Catchword Branding is a naming firm that develops product and company names. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Catchword creates brand names, corporate names, and slogans for industries including technology, consumer products, financial services, and healthcare.[1]

Catchword's process for creating new brand names typically involves generating thousands of name candidates. From that list, several hundred names are selected for evaluation for trademark and domain name availability.[2] It conducts linguistic and market research to make sure that the names it creates are easy to say and don't have negative connotations in worldwide markets.[3]

Corporate history

Maria Cypher, Laurel Sutton, and Burt Alper founded Catchword Branding in 1998.[4] In 2000, the company moved its headquarters into Tribune Tower in downtown Oakland.[5] In 2001, Mark Skoultchi opened the New York office, and he became a partner of the firm in 2005.[6] Alper left Catchword in 2009.

Notable brand names include the media technology company Vudu,[7] the McBistro Chicken sandwich for McDonald's, and the soft drink Pepsi Blue created for PepsiCo.[8] The firm also worked with the American Red Cross to develop the "Do More Than Cross Your Fingers" campaign to encourage disaster preparedness.[9] Other clients include BlackBerry, Fitbit, Asana, Cisco Systems,[10] Palm,[11] Adobe Systems,[12] Gap, eBay, and Wells Fargo.

Notes

  1. ↑ Schellhorn, Eric (26 July 2004). "Firms play tough game to defend a good name". Christian Science Monitor.
  2. ↑ Elliott, Stuart (13 November 2007). "Next Project for eProject: A New Name". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Denham, Kristin; Anne Lobeck (2009). Linguistics for Everyone: An Introduction. Cengage Learning. p. 94. ISBN 1-4130-1589-1.
  4. ↑ http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2005/novdec/dept/onthejob.html
  5. ↑ Mitchell, Eve (4 July 2004). "Catchword strives to be a brand apart". Oakland Tribune.
  6. ↑ http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2005/novdec/dept/onthejob.html
  7. ↑ Quinn, Michelle (29 August 2007). "Dot-com names get dottier". The Los Angeles Times.
  8. ↑ De Marco, Donna (13 November 2003). "United Airlines Creates 'Ted' as Low-Cost Carrier". Washington Times.
  9. ↑ http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/2009/09/02/the-making-of-do-more-than-cross-your-fingers/
  10. ↑ http://www.winebusiness.com/wbm/?go=getArticle&dataId=24776
  11. ↑ http://www.mobilemag.com/2009/04/06/whats-in-a-name-understanding-the-origins-of-palm-pre/
  12. ↑ http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/08.09.01/cover/spirit-0132.html

External links