Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries, Jack Trout

A new edition of the marketing classic, offering more information than ever. Deals with the problems of America's skeptical, media-bombarded public, describing a fresh approach to creating a position in the customer's mind. Shows how to choose the best product name, how strategize using the competition's weaknesses, and much more.

The Making of a Name: The Inside Story of the Brands by Steve Rivkin & Fraser Sutherland

How do brand names differ from other names, and what goes into making a good name great and a bad name ghastly? Knowing this can spell the difference between bankruptcy and marketplace triumph. In this indispensable guide, the authors share the secrets of successful brand names--how they've indelibly stamped cultures around the world; who makes them; why they're made; and how they're compiled, bought, sold, and protected. The book outlines what kind of names exist--the initialized, descriptive, allusive, and coined. How namers surf on brainwaves. The do's, don'ts, and nevers of naming, how the structure of names is built from the ground up and how their sounds are engineered. Why names symbolize benefits. Where in the world brands may be found, and what will become of them. Fast-paced, illustration-packed, gazing at the past and probing into the future, this is the definitive book on naming. The Making of A Name is the one book anyone interested in "owned words" must have.

Wordcraft: The Art of Turning Little Words into Big Business by Alex Frankel

Frankel has managed to crack open the world of professional namers, a highly guarded group of specialists who focus exclusively on coining brand names. A winning name is crucial to the success of any product, and large companies may spend half a million dollars or more for a cadre of wordsmiths to craft just the right one. A successful name--think of Viagra or FedEx--will leap beyond mere brand recognition to enter the public lexicon. Professional namers don't just sell a name, they craft a complete story to go with it, one that companies will expand on when marketing to the public. Frankel explores the details of the creation of five brand names: BlackBerry, Accenture, Viagra, the Porsche Cayenne, and IBM's e-business, revealing industry-level insight into the characteristics of a good name, and the difficulties involved in finding one that is catchy yet functional. Frankel, a business writer for magazines such as Forbes, Wired, and the New York Times Magazine, briefly worked as a namer himself. A mind-opening examination of image, perception, marketing, and manipulation. -- David Siegfried

The Name of the Beast: The Process and Perils of Naming Products, Companies and Brands by Neil Taylor

Creating the name for a company, product, or brand is simplified with the knowledge presented in this practical and inspiring guide. Beginning with advice on how to select a name that differentiates the company and product line from all others in the marketplace, this handbook covers the often overlooked legal and linguistic implications of a name, as well as how to market the brand and convince people both internally and in the outside world that the chosen name is the best choice. Current naming trends and the lessons learned from failed experiments are provided as experiences from which to draw inspiration.

Naming Your Business and Its Products and Services: How to Create Effective Trade Names, Trademarks, and Service Marks by Phil Williams

This humorously illustrated handbook presents facts, questions and problems-legal, aesthetic, and practical-in a crisply written presentation that informs and entertains readers at the same time. Major sections give an overview of commercial names, cover the creative process of naming, and discuss the legal aspects of choosing a name. Williams offers imaginative and practical exercises for choosing a name for a business, product, or service.