How to find the perfect name

In this episode of Lenny's Reads, David Placek of Lexicon Branding, via narration by Lenny, shares his expertise on brand naming, emphasizing its importance for new products and companies. He highlights the challenges of unprecedented competition, trademark congestion, attention scarcity, global digital commerce, institutional skepticism, and information overload. Placek introduces three pillars of effective naming: building for trust, communicating an original idea (not just describing), and ensuring accessibility. He uses case studies like Azure, Pentium, Swiffer, and Vercel to illustrate his points, and introduces the Diamond Framework, which includes asking four questions: what does winning look like, what do we have to win, what do we need to win, and what do we need to say. He also shares key process principles such as setting high standards, quantity breeds quality, and don't underestimate the power of sound. The episode ends with a teaser to become a paid subscriber to hear what not to do when naming a brand.