Two Words Are Better Than One
December 2nd, 2006 by Chief NutThe Name Game Part Four!
The concept of “pig” and the concept of “latin” are both quite different than “pig latin”. Combining words creates new meaning and nuance that can’t be ignored. While evaluating taglines, we think one worders (eg “Rise”-United Airlines or “Invent”-Hewlett Packard) miss out on the opportunity of tapping into subtle meaning acquired by combining two or three words together.
From our last couple of exercises you have a pretty serious list of words and phrases … possibly hundreds. Start mixing, matching and mashing to take your name campaign to the next level.
When combining words be sure to take advantage of some of these strategies:
Aliteration: Words that begin with the same letter sound nice one after the other. So says Sally Sue … sometimes.
Rhyming: Can turn a phrase into a craze.
Kinda Like: It may not rhyme. It may not be a homonym. It may not even be spelled similarly. If one word is “kinda like” another, it can sometimes lead you to a very interesting and unexpected phrase.
The juxtaposition and crashing together of ideas, words and phrases is where real naming power comes from.
