CMO Survey Confirms the Increasing Challenge and Critical Nature of Brand Naming

Despite naming being cited as the most important element for success when bringing a new brand to market—and the most difficult to get right—85% of CMO’s surveyed by Lexicon in February 2019 are still willing to assign the task internally or to a design firm. Firms that lack the specialization, experience, and proven results.

According to David Placek, the Founder and President of Lexicon Branding, “It is clear that because of intense competition combined with distracted consumers, trademark clutter and the global nature of brands, companies have reached an inflection point as to how a brand name must now be viewed as a strategic challenge, not just a tactical element. Both the upgraded role a new name can play and the difficulty of creating an effective name.”

“Given the realities of the digital economy and the potential to develop a brand name that represents an asymmetric advantage,” Placekcontinued, “many Lexicon clients are abandoning the traditional name development methods and are using Lexicon’s far more comprehensive approach to brand name development to guarantee success.”

Lexicon Branding CMO Survey Report

CMO survey shows that developing effective brand names is getting harder and is more important in the digital economy.

Of 75 CMOs, 93% say naming is harder now than 5 years ago and nearly 50% expect it to be much more difficult in the next 5 years.
Of 8 marketing elements, none ranked higher in importance to success when bringing a new brand to market than naming.
An even greater percentage of CMO’s consider naming the most difficult to get right than any other marketing element.
Naming outranked positioning and advertising in importance to long term success.
Despite being the most important and most difficult to get right, 85% of CMOs are willing to assign the task of naming to a design or advertising firm.