#1 NAMING & BRANDING FIRM on CLUTCH
Catchword is a naming and branding firm that has been helping industry-leading brands since 1998. From our offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, and Denver we help clients of every size and sector express who, what, and why they are. Well-known brands such as TikTok, Intel, Allergan, Boston Scientific, Starbucks, HBO, and VW look to us for naming and branding creativity and strategic insights.
Our client engagements range from quick-turnaround projects with startups to retainer relationships with multiple Fortune 500 clients. Whether you’re just getting off the ground or going through a full relaunch, our goal is always the same: to develop a timeless brand that resonates fully and authentically with your target audiences. We believe brands should be distinctive and memorable, but not different just for the sake of being different. The huge creative diversity of our portfolio reflects the many different cultures and business objectives of our clientele, versus a need to impose one creative style or philosophy on all.
Catchword has received more awards for naming work than any other agency, including Top Honors at the London International Awards (LIA), 3 Transform Awards, 1 Platinum Hermes Creative Award, 4 Gold Hermes Creative Awards, 3 Gold MarCom Awards, 2 Gold MUSE Creative Awards, and 3 Silver MUSE Creative Awards.

headquarters
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Multi-Product Naming for Diagnostics Company
the project
"They're able to make the naming process both, a creative and educational exercise all at once."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I’m the Vice President of Commercial Marketing for a global veterinary lab and diagnostics company where our goal is to elevate the pet-care industry through quality products and services that drive better patient outcomes.
For what projects/services did your company hire Catchword, and what were your goals?
In order to maintain our presence and reputation as a leading innovator in the industry, we always need to be looking ahead when it comes to the development of new diagnostic tools and applications. Given our fast-moving pipeline of multiple new offerings, we engaged Catchword to help us think strategically when it came to creating and selecting the names for these products.
How did you select this vendor?
After speaking to a few naming agencies we found primarily via online research, we selected Catchword based on their track record of naming experience and success across virtually every industry. During our intro calls, it was easy to see their energy and passion for what they do, and they truly bring that to every meeting.
Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.
Catchword has helped us with several brand naming projects. Each project included initial discovery to learn about the offering, competitors and market space in general. The discovery phase would conclude with the creation of a Naming Brief, which outlined all the jointly-agreed parameters for, including specific messaging to explore and avoid, name types, tonality, etc.
Based on that brief, Catchword would then create and present two rounds of pre-screened creative work, which gave us an opportunity, not only to see an incredibly broad selection of names ranging from more direct to the more metaphorical, but also to pivot and lean more heavily into the kinds of ideas that were resonating more strongly with our team.
After going through the two rounds, Catchword would then conduct some deeper-dive due diligence on our shortlisted names to ensure we wouldn’t be burdening our own legal counsel with anything that was clearly unavailable or problematic. The entire process, from start-to-finish, was incredibly smooth and well-managed.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
Mark (Partner) and Bruno (Director) were our primary contacts through all our naming projects. Mark and Bruno were in every call and meeting and were supported by a clearly talented team of creatives. They are a great duo to have on your project -- they bring so much enthusiasm and energy to their work.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
We're not completely finished with the engagement and some of the names (all great), haven't been revealed, so stay tuned for specifics. However, early feedback from customers and our internal teams has all been very positive -- people feel like the names fit perfectly with our well-established corporate brand, while also sending signals about what the product does.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
They were always positive and upbeat, and treated us as people, as opposed to just another client. They would consistently check in, they kept us updated on where we were in the process and what was expected of us to keep things moving, and they were flexible when something came up, when we needed to reschedule meetings, or even speed up certain aspects of the process. Their professionalism and personalities shone through at every interaction.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
They're able to make the naming process both, a creative and educational exercise all at once. They did a wonderful job of explaining the thinking behind the names they presented to us, and it was here that their passion for what they do really shone through as well, and it was clear that they love what they do. We also very much appreciated how they were able to bring some fun and levity to every meeting. It almost felt like a nice little break in the workday, all while getting done what we needed in order to keep moving forward while staying on schedule. I'll be sorry when we have nothing left to name!
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
No. Nothing. They were great -- in fact, we were so impressed, we expanded our engagement with the team substantially over what we initially had planned to do. And, we will use them for any naming work that comes up in the future -- can't imagine working with any other team!
Focus
Portfolio
Aetna, Allergan, Amazon, Corning, Dunkin’ Brands, Fitbit, GE Healthcare, Hitachi, The Home Depot, Indeed, Intel, McDonald’s, NBCU, PwC, Roku, Starbucks, Unilever, Volkswagon, Wells Fargo

Asana - Company and product platform naming
A software company formed by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and programming whiz Justin Rosenstein is clearly not ordinary. So, the company’s name also needed to stand out from the IT herd. Asana, a Sanskrit word conveying “yoga pose,” reflects the founders’ love of yoga and their quest for focus, flow, and clarity. It’s also an apt name for the company’s workplace productivity platform, which enables team members to manage complex projects smoothly. In 2015, Asana announced 100% year-on-year growth, with 140,000 companies using its platform to generate annual recurring revenue in the tens of millions. Namaste.

Fitbit -Naming wearable fitness trackers
The margin for error was slim with these wireless fitness trackers. Successful names would have to be short enough to fit on the small devices, and match the snappiness of the mother brand. In addition, the names would need to fit within a larger portfolio of related products and still telegraph each product’s distinguishing features.
For Fitbit’s entry-level device, Zip was in the zone, followed by One, which unifies data on exercise, calories burned, and sleep. Next came Flex, Fitbit’s first wristband, and finally Force, a fitness wristband to be reckoned with. All single syllable, all evocative, and all tied together by a common construction—a naming convention was born.

Atlas - Car naming for Volkswagen
Volkswagen has some of the auto industry’s most iconic (and distinctive) cars and car names, from the Beetle to the Touareg. So we were excited when they called on us to name their sturdy 7-seat SUV, codenamed “CrossBlue.” Working with VW’s US, German and Chinese marketing teams, Catchword explored a broad range of messaging themes, and developed over 2500 name candidates. The global nature of the project meant we also carried out linguistic and cultural screening in 19 different languages, including Min Nan and Kejia Chinese. Atlas, the name VW decided to adopt, reinforces the vehicle’s size and strength and implies a titan among SUVs.

Snap'd - Naming a new Cheez-It snack product
When Kellogg’s approached Catchword to name its exciting new Cheez-It snack food, we immediately requested samples. You know, for creative inspiration. Possessing the same wonderful crispiness of the original Cheez-It but with a new curvy form factor, this snack was just as munchable, bingeable, and delicious as we expected. We developed more than 1,600 names for the product, including Snapz. After determining that Snapz had a less than ideal trademark profile, Kellogg’s adopted a variation, Snap’d, retaining the same associations with a crunchy, crispy mouthfeel and establishing a new and distinctive name style for the Cheez-It brand.

TikTok Effect House - Naming an AR platform
TikTok, the world’s preeminent video-focused social network, allows users to create short-form music and other videos. Always striving to amplify engagement and enhance creator capabilities, TikTok developed an augmented-reality platform to allow for the creation of custom “effects” (considerably more sophisticated than tools offered by Snap and Meta). And when they needed a name for the platform, well, they called on yours truly.
Effect House, the name Catchword created, Tik’d all the boxes. While perfectly telegraphic of an effects platform, the name strongly implies an online destination—a digital dwelling and repository for creators’ cool creations. Moreover, the name reinforces the company’s focus on community, with House strongly signaling a familial, cooperative, and supportive creative environment.

Mochidoki – LIA Winner in Verbal Branding
Mochidoki – naming a premium confectionary product
Messaging directions and stylistic preferences are of course critical to developing a name for any product, but when it comes to foods and beverages there’s nothing more helpful than actually experiencing the new comestibles. And, when Catchword first sampled Gordon Dessert’s new line of mochi (a delectable combination of premium ice cream and other tasty ingredients wrapped in sticky rice dough), we knew we were naming a truly category re-defining confectionary. A clever play on okey-dokey, Mochidoki makes use of the product descriptor in a fun and playful way, all while recalling the product’s Asian roots and sounding bite-sized and delicious.

Upwork – company naming for oDesk and Elance
Upwork – company naming for oDesk and Elance
Elance and oDesk, the two largest online platforms for connecting clients and freelance workers, decided to merge to combine resources in a new, unified brand. They called on Catchword to develop a name that would capture their vision and inspire their global community of independent professionals and the businesses hiring them. The company's new name, Upwork, invites you to reimagine how work happens today and suggests that the best talent is always up to the task.
NOTE: Upwork was named one of Inc. Magazine's 10 best new company names of 2015! See here.

Vuity - naming a medication for Allergan
Presbyopia is a progressive condition that reduces the eye’s ability to focus on near objects, and nearly every adult over the age of 40 experiences it. That’s 128 million Americans (nearly half the US adult population).
Allergan, a world leader in eye care, developed an eye drop solution to treat this condition. The daily prescription eye drop improves near and intermediate vision without impacting distance vision in as little as 15 minutes and lasts up to 6 hours.
Catchword worked closely with the Allergan team to develop Vuity, a name that instantly conveys the solution’s ability to improve viewing acuity. The name is easy to spell and say (no small feat in pharmaceutical naming) and works equally well for English-speaking and international audiences. In addition to recalling the word view, the name’s smoothly voiced opening “V” suggests velocity, an idea reinforced by the word’s brevity. The name packs three syllables into a small, quickly spoken package, underscoring the product’s ability to deliver significant, lasting results.

Caribou - Renaming a leader in automotive financia
Tech-enabled auto refinancing company MotoRefi had been helping drivers find better rates and reduce their monthly car payments since 2016. Using the company’s secure, online platform, and from the comfort of their own homes, consumers quickly, confidently, and easily refinanced their loans, including paying off old lenders and even retitling their vehicles, without ever needing to visit the DMV. The company leadership knew they could offer more ways for consumers to save, like comparing auto insurance plans, but its now overly specific name was holding it back.
Caribou is delightfully unexpected, clearly standing out in an industry full of RateGurus and AutoWallets. Caribou conjures images of agile speed and graceful leaps, reinforcing the ideas of financial freedom and the independence gained from owning a car. And the name subtly recalls both car (visually) and care (aurally), underscoring its customer-centric approach. The final -bou sound is playful and friendly. And as a real English word used in a new way, it feels smart and contemporary.
Caribou took top honors at the 2022 Hermes Creative Competition, winning a platinum award for naming excellence.

Refreshers - Beverage platform naming for Starbuck
Made with green coffee extract and fruit juices, Starbucks’ line of sparkling cold beverages packs a natural, revitalizing punch. The name Refreshers conveys that, without veering into the high-octane territory of energy drinks. And it’s inclusive enough to encompass handcrafted in-store beverages, sparkling canned product, and VIA instant packets. Try some and find out what all the buzz is about.

PerSe - naming a line of sensing products
Semtech, a leading supplier of high-performance semiconductors, engaged Catchword to develop a name for its portfolio of sensing products. These sensors detect human proximity to mobile devices in order to regulate power savings, auto on/off capabilities, gesture controls, and more.
The project involved exploration of a variety of creative avenues, including extending the naming convention of one of Semtech’s most successful brands, LoRa (short for “Long Range”), chipsets that connect sensors to the cloud. The chosen name, PerSe, is derived from “Personal Sensing” and is a short and memorable two-syllable intercapping—just like LoRa, enhancing naming consistency across Semtech.
In addition to selecting PerSe for the umbrella brand, Semtech adopted Catchword’s recommended strategy for naming products within the portfolio, assigning the three descriptive names Connect, Connect Pro, and Control. These terms quickly telegraph the products’ end-benefits, while allowing the PerSe portfolio brand to stand out and accrue the most equity.

Otto - naming a 3D digital manufacturing platform
A leader in 3D printing, Shapeways has evolved from B2C solutions to enterprise-level B2B 3D manufacturing. Catchword was engaged to develop a name for its end-to-end digital manufacturing platform that addresses every phase of the process—from ordering and pricing to fulfillment and distribution. While the platform provides numerous performance benefits, it was digitizing and automating that stood out as the most important end-benefits.
OTTO, the name Catchword developed, is a homonym for “auto” and strongly alludes to the platform’s key benefit, automation. And because it’s a personification, the name evokes a manufacturing coordinator or facilitator to help expedite and support the process. The compact palindrome is also visually striking, consisting of just two letters and four characters, with bookended Os that underscore the platform’s full range of capabilities.

Vudu – naming a popular media streaming service
Vudu – naming a popular media streaming service
From the moment we heard about this online movie service, it had us under its spell. Users can instantly stream an almost infinite library of HD movies on demand—as well as new releases—directly to their Xbox 360®, PlayStation® 3, Blu-ray™ player, HDTV, iPad®, or computer. And the crispness of the definition and richness of the surround sound makesVudu little short of … well, voodoo.

WeStreet - Renaming an 80-year-old credit union
Since its founding in 1943, the Tulsa Federal Credit Union has grown from six to 56,000 members, expanded its service to areas outside of Tulsa, and opened up membership to non-governmental employees. Needless to say, the organization had outgrown its name in just about every way and needed a new, more inclusive name to better reflect its expanded service area and membership profile.
WeStreet, the name Catchword created and recommended, provides much greater flexibility and underscores the organization’s focus on local ties, collective values, and financial harmony—business objectives it will maintain no matter how large it becomes or where it does business. Lastly, and conveniently, the word “Street” evokes the streets that make up our neighborhoods, our financial Main Streets, and the shared paths that we all travel in life.

Soluna - naming a self-powered blockchain company
Blockchain mining needs huge amounts of energy, which has led to an increase in damaging fossil fuel consumption. Soluna seeks to solve this problem by creating the first blockchain company powered by its own private sustainable energy sources. A coinage of sol and luna (“sun” and “moon” in Latin), Soluna evokes human aspiration at its most fundamental – looking up at the great light in the sky. The name recalls “solution” as well as “una” (one), suggesting the company’s all-in-one energy production and computer processing solution.

Ursa - naming a music streaming service
While consumers have many options for streaming music nowadays, most subscription-based services are focused solely on delivering as much music as possible, and provide little opportunity for artists and fans to interact in truly meaningful ways. Ursa, the name Catchword developed for an exciting new music engagement “ecosystem,” speaks to a constellation of streaming services and connecting in countless ways (features, music, people, etc.). It also recalls the major and minor scales (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor), and evokes an otherworldly music streaming platform.

Elements - naming weather-resistant siding
Historically, Ply Gem has led the industry with its Mastic, Variform, and Performance Collection vinyl siding product lines. Looking to make waves in the composite siding space, the company approached Catchword to help name its breakthrough weather-resistant composite siding product line. Whereas most existing composite siding products use PVC, Ply Gem’s composite product is a mixture of sand and urethane, which provides countless benefits over traditional composite products, such as being all-season/weather appropriate and super light and easy to install.
Elements, the name Catchword developed for the brand, alludes to both the product’s ability to withstand the elements (rain, heat, snow) and its composite nature—that is, one composed of multiple elements. In addition, the name suggests easy, simple (elemental to install), and essential.

Artisan Chicken Sandwich – naming food & drinks
Artisan Chicken Sandwich – naming over 10 food & beverage items for McDonald's
Over the years, McDonald’s has engaged Catchword on a variety of naming-related initiatives. From McCafe naming strategy and architecture development to dressing up a burger with just the right name. On this occasion, one of Catchword’s names was selected for the Golden Arches’ new grilled chicken sandwich: a perfectly seasoned and seared filet lovingly prepared with a light vinaigrette and combined with McDonald’s new hand-crafted roll. A culinary work of art(isan).

Crazy8 – retail brand naming for Gymboree
Crazy8 – retail brand naming for Gymboree
Gymboree needed a naming company to help them launch their sweet new line of kids’ clothes and retail stores. Finally, an assignment that matched our maturity level. After going through umpteen domain name searches (actually, the number was a lot higher than umpteen) and domain name brokering, we landed on a brand name and URL that worked on every level.

Clover Health – naming a health insurance company
Clover Health – naming a new health insurance company
This health insurance start-up told us that they knew what was wrong with healthcare and how to fix it. By using data models, applications, and operations software, Clover seeks to realign the insurers, patients, and providers into a more efficient system that leads to better health outcomes for the most vulnerable individuals, specifically elderly and lower income populations. The name Clover conveys the harmony and simplicity of a fully aligned healthcare system, and we feel lucky to have found it for them.

Nature's Promise – naming a family of products
Nature's Promise – naming a family of organic products for Ahold USA
Ahold’s U.S. supermarkets (including Giant Food and Stop & Shop) sold more than 500 natural and organic products ranging from chips and salsa to pasta sauce and peanut butter. They challenged us to create a distinctive name that would quickly communicate the health benefits and general deliciousness of the entire line. Ultimately, we landed on a name that let nature do all the heavy lifting.

Fibrance – naming optical technology for Corning
Fibrance – naming a revolutionary technology for Corning
Corning has engaged Catchword to name numerous technologies and businesses, including Fibrance, an innovative light-diffusing fiber that you can bend, curve, and wrap around almost anything, while maintaining bright, beautiful, and uniform light. It enables decorative lighting to be designed or embedded into tight or small places where other bulky lighting elements cannot fit. Fibrance, a coining of fiber and vibrance, quickly telegraphs the product's key attributes and benefits.

Shomi - naming a video on demand service
Shomi - naming a new video streaming service for Rogers and Shaw
When Rogers and Shaw Communications, two of Canada’s biggest media companies, decided to launch a video-on-demand service, they knew they had to outperform Netflix. So, they hired a team of directors, screenwriters, and festival programmers to complement their recommendation algorithm, with the aim of reducing the time consumers need to find the right content. They asked Catchword to create a name to match, and Shomi got the part. Shomiis inviting, memorable, and playful—as distinct from Netflix as can be—and the underscore in the wordmark suggests infinite possibilities, and an end to aimless browsing!

Sunbird – naming a DCIM company for Raritan
Sunbird – naming a DCIM company and B2B platform for Raritan
When Raritan decided to spin off its Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software business, the company’s executive team and Catchword agreed that the name should steer clear of the “edgy tech” sound of its competitors and instead convey approachable confidence. Sunbird, a brightly colored songbird, is friendly and warm, yet fits comfortably in the tech space. It's easy to remember and a great springboard for visual identity. The implication of a bird’s-eye view reinforces that Sunbird’s solutions provide remarkable insight and vision.

Optane – naming Intel's revolutionary technology
Optane – naming Intel's revolutionary technology
Intel’s innovations pretty much define modern computers, so when they asked us to name a technology that would revolutionize memory, we knew this wouldn’t be a routine software-update-naming-project. Deploying 3D XPoint technology, Intel’s next-generation memory combines the plasticity and speed of RAM with the resilience and dependability of hard-drive memory. The name Optane—coined fromoctane, obtain, and optimum—conjures acquisition of blazing fast speed and the optimization of hardware, from personal laptops to servers.

Home Depot - Naming scores of products
The Home Depot produces hundreds of new product styles every year from multiple in-house brands (Hampton Bay, TrafficMaster, and Home Decorators Collection to name a few). As the people most familiar with every new item, each product group independently handles naming, but with product turnover every season, there’s little time for creative name development or coordination with the dozens of other groups. How could the company ensure that these new item names weren’t already in use by The Home Depot or competitors, yet were evocative of the product style and, of course, easy to pronounce and spell?
Catchword worked closely with THD to develop names for numerous business groups, including Flooring & Tile, Lighting & Fans, Vanities, and Patio Furniture that would give the group teams ample names to choose from, confident that they would not create any marketplace conflicts. We created and vetted long lists of personal and place names with tonalities that matched the group’s styles.
Click here to see the names we’ve developed for The Home Depot that have already been adopted.

Javiva – naming a beverage line for Peet’s Coffee
Javiva – naming a blended beverage line for Peet’s Coffee
Unlike most leading blended iced coffee drinks, Peet’s Coffee’s new line would be hand-made with freshly brewed East African roasts. Peet’s and Catchword agreed the name should convey the premium quality, flavor, and exhilaration of these icy refreshments, as well as Peet’s unique personality and unwavering commitment to freshness. The name Javiva was made to order. Long live freshly brewed java!
The Javiva line launched in March 2015 to rave reviews. And by June of 2015, the beverage had outperformed Peet’s previous blended drink by 67 percent in sales.

Sam '76 - Naming a new American Tribute beer brand
Boston Beer approached Catchword to develop a name for a new, easy-drinking but high quality beer focused on social occasions such as time spent with friends, parties, and unwinding. A lager/ale hybrid sourced entirely from American grown ingredients, the new beer is lightly golden with a subtle citrus tropical aroma that is both refreshing and smooth. However, the name needed to speak less to the flavor profile and more to the strong American heritage for which the Samuel Adams brand has always been known. The name needed to serve as a tribute to the American spirit and focus on inclusivity, hard work, perseverance, and grit. After an extensive creative ideation, and among other ideas, Catchword presented ’76, a crisp salute to 1776 and our nation’s year of independence. Ultimately, Boston Beer added “Sam” to the name to tie it very closely to the Samuel Adams brand.

ARC - Naming Intel's new graphics solution
Long-time client Intel needed a name for its new line of high-end graphics cards, designed to compete with Nvidia and AMD offerings. The line delivers full-throttle gaming, immersive visuals, powerful multi-tasking, and seamless streaming, as ideal for engineers and artists as for professional gamers.
As a section of a circle, Arc elegantly conveys that these are components while also implying the geometry of design and the comprehensiveness of the solution. Like the trajectory of a project or game, an arc is the frictionless way to what’s next. The word is crisp yet lyrical, a springboard for rich imagery and copywriting.
Intel selected Arc not just for the cards but for its entire set of new graphics solutions (hardware, software, and services). The announcement in August 2021 generated huge industry buzz and highlighted another facet to the Arc metaphor: how, through gaming and creating, graphics “connects people across communities and cultures. Every game, gamer, and creator has a story, and every story has an Arc.”

Collectives - Naming an online customer platform
Every developer, coder, or technology professional is familiar with (and mostly likely a member of) Stack Overflow and its community of online Q&A forums that serve over 100 million people every month. Indeed, Stack Overflow is one of the 50 most popular websites in the world, and Catchword was thrilled to work with the company on a number of naming strategy and name-development initiatives, including naming its newest offering aimed at organizations seeking deeper interactions with potential users of their products.
Collectives, the name Catchword developed, is in keeping with the company’s other highly overt product names such as Teams, Jobs, and Talent, and underscores both the cooperative nature of the platform and the strong sense of community for which Stack Overflow is so well known.

ClearShift - Naming a sustainable products company
Specialty products manufacturer Advantage Midstream was helping clean up in the industrial sector by converting major pollution sources, including methane and industrial carbon dioxide, into pure, environmentally friendly everyday products such as mineral spirits, paints, and personal care products. But the company’s name didn’t express this tremendous contribution and the ethos behind it. Catchword was tapped to help rebrand with a new name. We worked closely with the client team to develop an ownable name that communicates all the company offers. ClearShift conveys not only the conversion of potentially harmful chemicals to cleaner products but the environmental shift in thinking behind everything the company does.

WomenLift - Naming a global health initiative
Stanford Global Health approached Catchword to name a new nonprofit, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, that will promote and support women in health-leadership positions across the planet. Women currently represent 70% of the health workforce but only 25% of executive positions. The new initiative will catalyze sustained change by investing particularly in mid-career women in lower-resourced regional settings to attain better health outcomes worldwide. With its double meaning, WomenLift Health elegantly communicates both the elevation of women to leadership and the elevation of health by women.

Adela - Renaming DNAMx, a diagnostics company
Catchword and GreyBox collaborated to create a new name and identity for DNAMx, an emerging leader in medical diagnostics. Using a unique, DNA-methylation approach to disease detection, the company’s innovative platform allows for early detection of disease in a single platform with a very high level of specificity and sensitivity. A variation of au delà (meaning “beyond”…) and a female name meaning “noble,” Adela underscores the company’s ability to test not just for cancer but for other diseases, and reflects the warmth and comfort that patients feel knowing the risks before they manifest.

XCELIS - Naming a performance liner hanger system
As the world’s largest oilfield service company, Schlumberger provides an enormous range of products and services to assist with reservoir characterization (e.g., seismic surveys and evaluations of rock formations), drilling, completion, production, and processing.
A critical piece of well completion is the liner hanger system, which is essentially the heart of the well. Schlumberger needed a name for its new high-performance system that combines critical data analyses to enhance efficiency and drilling precision.
XCELIS, Catchword’s name for the liner system, communicates a range of product and market benefits, including drilling excellence, efficiency (via an association with acceleration), capacity and scalability (the name sounds like “XL”), and the ability to excel in the most challenging well environments.

Harmony - Naming derived natural ingredients
Momentive, a global leader in quartz and silicone materials, tapped Catchword to name its new line of sustainable, derived natural ingredients. These materials would create the next generation of beauty products for planet-conscious consumers while improving performance, efficiency, application, and sensory appeal across a wide range of beauty industry categories. Harmony Derived Naturals by Momentive clearly expresses the balance and beauty of nature as well as the line’s ability to blend perfectly with a variety of products, and customers.

Indeed - Creating a naming strategy & architecture
Indeed, the world’s #1 job site, came to Catchword after years of explosive growth. They needed a way to simplify their portfolio of offerings, which had been named on the fly and were a mix of descriptive names (Indeed Resume), branded names (Indeed Prime), and suggestive names (Indeed JobSpotter). Additionally, the names needed to be understandable or translatable for jobseekers in more than 60 different countries, speaking 28 languages. Catchword helped implement a stronger masterbrand system that establishes a clear hierarchy and consistent naming guidelines, as well as provides greater consistency and a common set of tools for use across Indeed’s ecosystem. Through our retainer relationship, Catchword continues to assist Indeed with naming on a day-to-day basis.

Alluma - Renaming a leading nonprofit consultancy
Over the past two decades, Social Interest Solutions (SIS) has used its tech and policy expertise to help connect more than 25 million people across the country to critical health and human services. Catchword was delighted to help the Oakland-based nonprofit better express its mission: to eliminate the barriers between people in need and the community and governmental organizations created to support them. A fusion of all and illuminate, Alluma conveys the group’s ability to address all aspects of the complexity facing agencies and the people they serve, and to illuminate new solutions and possibilities through deep analysis.

Archer - Renaming Campus Explorer
By combining vast experience in the online educational space, unparalleled marketing intelligence, and a proprietary technology platform, Campus Explorer was able to attract and deliver to its clients the highest quality student leads, helping to optimize its clients’ recruitment efforts and marketing spend, and increase enrollment. However, its name was a poor platform for delivering those messages. Catchword developed the new company name, Archer, to suggest precise student lead generation, a focused technology solution, and speed of results.

Cofence - Renaming a cybersecurity company
Cybersecurity company PhishMe decided to rebrand as part of its acquisition by a private equity consortium and to make clear that the company’s expertise ranges far beyond phishing. Its collective defense suite combines attack intelligence sourced from employees with automated response tech to stop attacks faster and stay ahead of breaches – a truly collaborative approach.

Freeman - ongoing name strategy and development
Freeman, a global leader in event management, marketing, and design, engaged Catchword to develop organization logic and naming architecture for its large portfolio of existing and upcoming products. Customers were having trouble navigating the wide range of products to find what they needed. Catchword recommended grouping the products by customer role as well as product offering. We suggested a suggestive, real English word approach for names of featured products (which the company planned to trademark), with descriptive names for the remaining products and services. Single words would be easy to remember for end customers as well as event staff. Freeman rolled out its new strategy over two years, with eight new names from Catchword.

Glo Fiber - Naming Shentel's high speed internet
Shentel, a regional telecom company serving customers in six states, engaged Catchword to develop a name for its new high-speed fiber optic subsidiary. The new network would offer broadband internet, cable TV, and phone, focusing on residential markets underserved by the national telecoms. Founded in 1902, Shentel has a deep history of helping rural and small town Americans connect. In 1990, it was the first company in Virginia to offer cellular service to a rural area. Catchword recommended Glow for its human warmth as well as its suggestion of a luminous link to the world. The altered spelling of Glo adds distinction and approachable style.

Ikena - Renaming an innovator in cancer treatment
Kyn Therapeutics envisioned a world where every cancer patient has a cure. Such an expansive vision needed to be matched with an aspirational name, rather than one that references a particular treatment. (Kyn had been chosen to express the company’s initial breakthrough using the kynurenine-degrading enzyme Kynase.) Catchword recommended the beautiful, multi-layered Ikena, a Hawaiian word meaning “vista, perspective, knowledge.” The name also retains a light connection to Kynase.

Adaptix - Naming a software toolkit for Intel
Long-time client Intel asked Catchword to name its new set of tools for enhanced control of processor performance. Using machine learning algorithms and advanced power control settings, the kit dynamically adapts to the system environment, enabling OEMs and users to fine-tune and customize performance. Sometimes the simple name is best (and we rigorously explore many, many options to make sure). Adaptix clearly expresses that this toolkit can handle any situation.

Juniper Networks - Ongoing naming strategy work
Juniper Networks, a top provider of networking products and services, has many products. We help them make sure they can communicate clearly about these products to internal and external audiences. Over its nearly 25 years, Juniper has acquired (and continues to acquire) smaller companies, each with their own products and customers. And all these great products were named at different times by different people with different vocabulary and a different approach to naming. Catchword provides ongoing naming strategy and architecture consultation to help ensure that folks from Sales, Marketing, the Product Team, and every other department use names and descriptors logically, consistently, and in a way that customers can easily understand and that fits the Juniper brand now, and in the future.

Agari - Naming a transformative cybersecurity firm
Agari was founded by the thought leaders behind Cisco’s IronPort solution and co-founders of the DMARC standard for email authentication. Using predictive AI informed by global intelligence from about 2 trillion emails annually, the company protects organizations against phishing, account takeover, and other advanced email threats. Agari, meaning “rise” and “advance” in Japanese, suggests technical advances and the start of a bright new day in cybersecurity.

Relieva - Naming an eye drop formula for Allergan
Allergan engaged Catchword to name several new products, including a new formula for its Refresh line of eye drop products. This lubricant was specially developed to relieve the discomfort of dry, irritated eyes and prevent further irritation. Customers looking for relief from eye pain need to find the right product quickly. So its name should immediately communicate why this is the one. Relieva leaves no doubt.

Atempo - Renaming Quadratec
French software company Quadratec needed a new name as it built its presence in North America. Despite consumer awareness of their flagship product, Time Navigator, they had little equity in their corporate name. Furthermore, they didn’t own the domain, so customers had difficulty finding the company online. The new name had to perform well in North America and Europe and incorporate the central message of Time Navigator (traveling back in time).
Borrowed from the musical lexicon, Atempo means “at normal speed” or “resuming normal speed.” The name offers a sophisticated execution of the product’s central message, and its Latinate origin makes the name meaningful in most European markets (particularly France). The company now owns the .com domain, as well as trademark rights in the U.S. and abroad.

Avita - Naming an international electronics brand
Hong Kong-based Nexstgo needed to name a new product line of consumer electronics designed to fit the modern lifestyle. Because these products help you explore and express your vibrant life, AVITA was a natural (vita means “life” in Latin).
Nexstgo originally planned to apply the new name to its American product line only, but they liked AVITA so well, they decided to use it for the entire lifestyle electronics sub-company, which currently produces laptops and smart devices for an international market. The company pursued the metaphor we created with its tagline, “Live it up.” And they also continued with the Latinate construction for their product names (Clarus, Liber, Imago, Modus). AVITA launched in Asia in 2017 and in the Americas in June 2018, with a Walmart distribution deal.

Beach St. - Naming a line of hard sodas
Christopher Michael Brands engaged Catchword to develop names for several of its new delicious adult beverages. The first was a hard soda made with a proprietary vodka, classically filtered with activated charcoal, mixed with carbonated water, fruit zest, and just enough cane sugar (only 1 gram) to wake up a smile. With no preservatives, artificial colors, or artificial sweeteners, this refresher is as light (only 100 calories!), fresh, and natural as a summer breeze. Beach St. is making waves.

Coforge - Naming a global IT solutions provider
NIIT Technologies, the spun-off IT division of India-based global powerhouse NIIT Ltd, engaged Catchword to develop a new name for the company after several acquisitions. Coforge instantly expresses the brand’s position as a leading solutions builder as well as its close collaborations with clients that create lasting value.

Astra Glass - Naming an display glass for Corning
Long-time partner Corning asked Catchword to develop a name for its new glass substrate that enables higher pixel density, a necessity for producing brighter, faster, and more lifelike images in television and computer displays. To build displays that can meet tomorrow’s high-performance expectations (8K resolution!), panel makers need a glass that can remain stable during the high heat and pressure of manufacturing. Like the stars above us, Astra Glass (Astra is Latin for “stars”) is born of heat and pressure to radiate a pure, beautiful light.

ClearCurve -Consumer technology naming for Corning
Corning developed a revolutionary fiber-optic technology that maximizes flexibility, and they wanted a name that sounded friendly, without using literal words like fiber and flex. We explored hundreds of evocative and metaphoric names, as well as more descriptive names. Not only does this fairly intuitive name clearly evoke bending, it also calls to mind the clarity of glass and light.

Valor Glass - Pharma glass naming for Corn
When Corning developed a revolutionary container for the storage and delivery of drugs, they tapped Catchword to name it. Valor reduces contamination, enables faster filling operations, and resists damage and breakage – with 30 times more protection against cracks than conventional glass vials. This super glass container means more reliable access to essential medicines, with potentially life-saving results. Valor nobly expresses these heroic qualities.

Deem -Technology naming for Rearden Commerce
Rearden Commerce came to us with a big idea: a relevancy engine that could generate a personalized web experience based on user preferences and behavior. Like the original technology itself, the name Deem is smart and incisive and cuts through the clutter. The company later renamed itself Deem and focused on the business travel industry. With multiple software solutions, it has become a leading Commerce-as-a-Service provider in its sector. Because the name speaks to fundamental company attributes rather than services offered, it was able to evolve with the company.

Dr. Bob, Ice Break, Main Street, Quist, Rally
International food retailer Ahold (parent of Giant Food and Stop & Shop) wanted names for all of their U.S. supermarkets’ private-label sodas that cheekily recalled (and thus challenged) the brand establishment. We peppered Dr. Bob with a pinch of you-know-who, and made Quist sound as crisp as the lemon-lime behemoth. To date, we’ve created over 20 feisty challenger-brand names for Ahold.

Croissant Stuffers -Sandwich naming for Dunkin'
Dunkin’ engaged Catchword to name several new food and drink menu items. The first was a flaky croissant with savory favorites like cheese and bacon baked right inside. Folks on the go don’t have time to guess what a menu item is, especially while rushing to work or school or looking for a satisfying snack. Croissant Stuffers immediately lets you know you’re in for some hot, savory goodness. Dunkin’ rolled out the sandwich in select markets in the South in late 2019, and we hear the Chicken, Bacon & Cheese is the fan favorite.

Elara - Naming a mobile phone station for Poly
Plantronics (now Poly) needed a name for its new mobile phone station designed for the mobile-first professional, with support for Microsoft Teams, chat, and online meetings. Elara, the name of a moon of Jupiter, suggests exploration as well as connection. This on-desk solution helps you launch your day’s activities and keeps your contacts in orbit with enhanced smartphone capabilities.

Eversana - Global life sciences merger naming
Strategic investment firms Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners recognized that integrating six premier life science service providers would increase innovation, streamline services, and maximize the impact of new therapies. A blend of ever and sana (Latin for “healthy”), the name expresses the company’s long-term commitment to advance life sciences for a healthier world.

GoMotion - Platform renaming for SportsEngine
SportsEngine, Inc., a division of NBC Sports Group, provides software solutions and mobile applications for 23,000 youth sports organizations and is used by 15 million athletes annually. The company needed a name for its all-in-one class-management software for studios providing such disciplines as gymnastics, dance, and martial arts. The new name needed to express the brand’s approachability and enthusiasm, and be instantly understood by studio owners, parents, and students. GoMotion makes it easy to manage activity classes, registration, payments, and more on the go.

Habitat - Naming an office environment solution
Though an open-office plan has its merits, quite often it can be stressful and distracting. Plantronics (now Poly) developed a solution: an innovative soundscaping platform that combines nature-inspired audio and visuals and responsive software to transform offices into peaceful spaces of focus and collaboration.
The multi-sensory, immersive “biophilic” experience—waterfall sculptures, sound design, digital windows and skylights, and virtual landscapes—lent itself to a name suggestive of an organic environment. Habitat was a natural. Readily connecting to the outdoors and alluding to comfort and home, Habitat asks us to reimagine our work environments as places fostering both productivity and well-being.
The system was among the first to offer biophilic design for offices and was adopted by forward-thinking brands such as Hewlett-Packard and customer data platform leader Segment.

Ionic - Medical device naming for Purigen
Purigen Bio approached Catchword to develop a name for its unique, and truly revolutionary, automated approach to prepping and purifying biological samples. The technology, Isotachophoresis (ITP), uses an electric current to not only separate the target molecules from the rest of the sample, but concentrate and focus them as well. The new name, Ionic, speaks to the process by which the technology moves the target molecules to an isolated location between the two sets of electrolytes, into what the company refers to as the ITP zone. Catchword also developed the company’s new tagline “Pure & Simple.” to highlight both the enhanced biological output and the system’s ease of use.

Keysight - Company naming for Agilent
When Agilent spun off its electronic test and measurement division into an independent company, they needed a name that would showcase the new company’s solution-driven approach. Keysight spoke to a key benefit: solutions that unlock the critical insights needed to understand the changing technology landscape and solve thorny engineering problems when designing and manufacturing electronic products and systems. And the name’s authoritative, no-nonsense tone suggests a company that helps you cut to the heart of the matter and get the job done. Fast.

Lumada - IoT platform naming for Hitachi
Hitachi Insights Group needed a name for the company’s powerful new IoT core platform, the foundation for all the company’s IoT solutions. The platform blended data orchestration, streaming analytics, content intelligence, simulation models, and other Hitachi software technologies—turning huge amounts of data into actionable insights and illuminating new ways to drive digital innovation. Lumada, a blend of illuminate and data, elegantly expresses this idea, and with its Latin base and consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel construction, the name is easy to say and understand for an international audience. Launched in 2016, Lumada was named the top IoT platform of that year. It continues to grow as part of the Hitachi subsidiary Vantara, which was also named by Catchword.

Mirvie - Renaming AknaDx medical screening
AknaDx had developed a simple blood test to predict a pregnant woman’s risk of giving birth prematurely, creating an affordable, non-invasive diagnostic for expectant mothers. But the techy name AknaDx lacked the warmth and humanity of the company’s reason for being—namely, removing uncertainty so mothers-to-be and their families can focus on the wonders of pregnancy. A coining of miracle and mira, Latin for “wonderful,” and vie, French for “life,” the compact coining Mirvie suggests the wonder and miracle of life.

PathWave - Naming a software platform for Keysight
Testing and measurement powerhouse Keysight (whom we named when it spun off Agilent in 2014) has developed the industry’s first software solution to integrate design, testing, measurement, and analysis. This platform provides users a fluid experience from concept through deployment, accelerating fresh ideas and product development. Pathwave clearly expresses this streamlined path to a new wave of innovation, while its compound construction pairs well with the company name.

Premise - Naming the largest worksite health Co.
Take Care Employer Solutions (a Walgreens subsidiary) and CHS Health Services, two of the largest worksite healthcare providers merged to create the leading worksite health provider, with approximately 500 health centers and more than 200 clients nationwide, including Google, Time Warner, and General Electric. Working with senior leadership and board members of both companies, Catchword developed the name Premise Health, which alludes to on-premises healthcare facilities and management, as well as a company setting the stage for a real impact on employee population health.

Allstate - Naming numerous financial products
Allstate is one of the nation's leading personal lines insurer and we’ve named many of their products, including auto and home, life insurance, and annuities. Just some of the brands we've created include GoodForLife Insurance, Allstate House & Home, RightFit Annuities, Your Choice Auto, Your Choice Home, Whole Life Advantage, and MarketSmart.

Maxify - Naming a line of printers for Canon
Canon was developing a ground-breaking line of high-speed, Wi-Fi–enabled inkjet business printers for small offices that could handle printing from PCs, smartphones, tablets, and cloud services. Maxify says it all: Maximum access, maximum convenience, maximum Wi-Fi.

CareConcepts - product line naming for Clorox
Most folks may be unaware that Clorox has sold healthcare products directly to hospitals for years. When this expertise inspired a top quality line of caregiving products available directly to consumers for use at home, the company wanted a name that spoke to nurturing and healing but also carried the gravitas of serious, hospital-grade service. That’s when Clorox CareConcepts was born—a gentle yet trustworthy name conveying the quality care of hospitals, now available at home.

AutoGrade Glass - Naming a new glass for Corning
Longtime client Corning asked Catchword to develop a name for its new Gorilla Glass solutions for automotive interior displays. This lightweight yet durable line of glass can brilliantly display driving info, navigation, or entertainment content while enabling touch control and safely standing up to traffic mishaps. It can even be curved or bent to accommodate the sleekest automotive designs.
Reviews
the project
Branding for Footwear & Apparel Company
"They were great, all around."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I’m a Manager for an international footwear and apparel company.
For what projects/services did your company hire Catchword, and what were your goals?
We engaged Catchword to assist with name development on two technology naming initiatives—one specific to apparel and one specific to footwear. Our goal was to identify a shortlist of powerful, trademarkable brand names for each technology that provides a springboard for storytelling about the technologies and fit comfortably within our existing (and extensive) portfolio of products.
How did you select this vendor?
Catchword was recommended by a colleague who had had a very positive experience working with the agency.
Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.
Catchword conducted a full naming program for both projects, including a deep discovery phase to understand the technologies, multiple rounds of name development and presentations of name candidates, and trademark prescreening.
In addition, and during the course of the projects, Catchword provided considerable naming strategy counsel not explicitly within the scope of the project but which we felt added enormous value as we endeavored to name these two technologies.
In particular, they took the time to really understand the complexities and nuances of our portfolio and provide thoughtful guidance and recommendations for how to approach the two initiatives. They didn’t just come up with great name candidates for the technologies, they really helped us think through the strategic challenges we were facing.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
We worked directly with Mark S., one of the agency’s partners, Bruno B., one of the agency’s Senior Strategists, and Jaclyn H., another Strategist with the agency.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
We’re extremely excited to have already made name decisions—a direct result of Catchword’s outstanding work on the project! In addition to the excellent strategic counsel their project team provided, their creative team nailed the name development, coming up with an enormous number of super creative, compelling names for both technologies. We honestly had a hard time narrowing down the list for trademark screening.
The originality of the names—ideas I feel certain we would not have thought to explore or imagined ourselves—really impressed us. All around, excellent work and a great outcome.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
In short, they were incredibly efficient, exceptionally responsive, highly collaborative, and fun to work with. They mostly use email for communication, Google Drive for file sharing, and Float for project timelines and management. In terms of personalities, they’re incredibly friendly, very easy-going, and client-focused.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
What stands out to me is the combination of serious strategic acumen and creative chops. Frankly, it can be difficult to find partners that have real strategic branding expertise AND great creative ideas. Often, partners have one but not the other.
Catchword, on the other hand, delivers both. The provide really smart, strategic branding guidance and creative solutions consistent with their recommendations, for implementation.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
I don’t think so. They were great, all around.
the project
Branding Services for Software Company
"Their responsiveness, attention to detail, and commitment to doing and getting it right really stood out."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am the CEO of a Canadian company specializing in business and industry intelligence tools.
For what projects/services did your company hire Catchword, and what were your goals?
When we started our work with Catchword, we were at an interesting inflection point in our business’ growth trajectory. We had good success with one of our nascent products and our employees culturally rallied around and embraced that product brand as their corporate brand. Given our industry and the premium we place on company culture and employee experience, we wanted to create an umbrella brand whose primary purpose was to serve as an employee brand to unify our employees and more accurately imbue and reflect our company culture.
We wanted the 'citizen' names and 'population' names to be part of the design process as part of the culture focus. We challenged Catchword to come up with a company name that had a smooth transition to the name of a single employee and also a natural name for the collective movement of employees.
How did you select this vendor?
A friend had heard of Catchword and I reached out because of that. We had a shortlist of 3 agencies and we liked Catchword's focus on naming and visual identity. The other agencies were trying to do too much other stuff. When we dug into Catchword's portfolio, we came to realize that there was this team of 15 to 20 people sitting in various offices coming up with a HUGE chunk of the big names out there in the business world. Our team was particularly impressed by the fact that Catchword renamed Elance to Upwork and also that they came up with eBay's Kijiji, which is household name across Canada.
Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.
We did a comprehensive branding project with Catchword, and they got immersed in the details immediately. They conducted a thorough review of numerous documents and videos we sent them which sought to capture the bootstrapped and builder aspects of our culture. They also spoke with ~30 team members to gain an understanding not just of how our business works, but the DNA behind it all that makes us who we are.
They sent us a detailed set of key learnings which informed their naming brief (also capturing our style, messaging and tone preferences) and their understanding of our business was demonstrated in the two rounds of names we reviewed with them. Each presentation had names with supporting rationale to help us better contextualize each name and envision it as our own.
Once we agreed on our shortlist of names, Catchword conducted a preliminary trademark analysis to help us knock out any obvious conflicts ahead of submitting a final shortlist to our counsel. Once we selected our final name, Catchword assembled a design brief (akin to the naming brief) which described our style preferences. They presented a dozen logo concepts, did a couple of rounds of refinement and conducted a colour exploratory, at which point we settled on our final logo.
They developed our full colour palette, sourced accompanying typography and assembled a style guide for us to help guide the activation of our brand moving forward. They also went the extra mile and created extra brand exhibits for us (and all their accompanying design files) which gave our rebrand a huge boost off the ground.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
We had three primary points of contact—account manager folk and strategists with whom we met regularly—and there were creative and design teams working in the background. One of the founders checked in regularly on the project.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
We now have a brand that completely reflects who we are as a company, what we stand for, what we’re committed to, and in which our team is passionately invested. The various employees that met with Catchword shared only the most positive of feedback, and we on the executive team always looked forward to our meetings with our Catchword account folk. I have already strongly recommended them to an industry colleague and would not hesitate to do so again. I recently told a long time customer about our new name before we revealed it to the world and she cried out "that is SOOO you guys."
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
Not only did Catchword deliver on time with every milestone, but they maintained a two-person coverage on our account at all times, so if there was a holiday in the US the non-US person would respond and be entirely in the know. It was a similar thing checking in with us regularly to ensure we knew where we were in the process and address any questions.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
They just really understand naming and have it down to as close to a science as it could be. We were thoroughly impressed by their subject matter expertise, as well as the way that they passionately immersed themselves in learning and understanding our business and culture. The range of creativity in their names and designs was also particularly noteworthy, as they took deep dives within the messaging and visual territories that resonated most with our business. TTheir responsiveness, attention to detail, and commitment to doing and getting it right really stood out. They’re also just really nice, good people so it was so easy to work with them!
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
The process was super smooth, the account management was excellent, and the deliverables were great. Any suggestions for improvement would be really nitpick-y. They went above and beyond to ensure our brand launch was a huge success and we were extremely happy with the engagement.
the project
Rebranding & Naming for Freight Brokers Financial Platform
“Their process and expertise were outstanding. They were masters of their space.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the head of marketing of Denim, a factoring service for freight brokers and intermediaries. We provide a financial platform to connect payments across the logistics industry. We’re a remote-first company, so we have employees all around the globe.
What challenge were you trying to address with Catchword?
We were going through a rebranding process, so we had to rename and redesign our website. We split up the project because we wanted to shorten our timeline. However, we wanted to make sure that we got our name right, so we wanted to find a great branding and naming agency.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Catchword was responsible for our naming, basic brand guidelines, and website domain. After a couple of rounds of brainstorming and work on their end, they delivered a short list of names. We worked with our lawyers to find the best solution according to our executives’ wish list and strategic goals to represent ourselves in the marketplace. They understood our shortened timeline and delivered in eight weeks.
A few weeks before our engagement, we did a series of interviews with 4–5 of our clients, and they got that raw footage. Also, they interviewed our internal team. Then, Catchword worked with us extensively on 5–6 rounds of creative development workshops. We did a lot of creative exercises, brainstorming sessions, points of view, and characterizations of our brand to get people to think deeply about how we wanted to position ourselves in the next year, in five years, and long term. They did two massive rounds of developing 500 names, whittling them down, presenting them, taking feedback, and going back. All those processes led to a full view of what we wanted out of the rebrand, giving us vital criteria on how to evaluate our name in the end.
What is the team composition?
We worked with a project director and a senior strategist. They led a team of 6–8 people.
How did you come to work with Catchword?
Someone who specialized in matching agencies referred them along with other companies. We also investigated internally, so we made a list of reference agencies from our internal employees, friends, and network. Ultimately, we chose Catchword over four other agencies that we’d whittled down from the extensive list of 30.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent a little over $70,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from May–September 2022.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
In just three months, they delivered a brand name that made us very happy. Overall, it was a successful project.
How did Catchword perform from a project management standpoint?
Project management was excellent. They were very responsive, especially over email. We also could schedule meetings any time we needed to. We used Google Meet for video calls, but everything else was on documents.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their process and expertise were outstanding. They were masters of their space.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, they were superb.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Engage and take their directions and exercises seriously. They have excellent insights, so trust the process.
the project
Product Trademarking for Professional Learning Community
"They worked with joy throughout, and you can’t always say that about vendors."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the chief impact officer for a K–12 non-profit organization that provides professional learning tools for educators in the form of books, magazines, blogs, and live and virtual digital professional development content.
What challenge were you trying to address with Catchword?
We’re building a brand-new digital content delivery platform for professional learning. It’s state of the art, and we wanted to be sure that we had a unique name so we could stand out in a very crowded market. The name had to communicate what the product would provide, as well as make sure we could stand above the noise within the market.
What was the scope of their involvement?
First, they engaged us to get an idea of the organization and learn exactly what we were looking to do. We spent a great deal of time on discovery, where we provided numerous documents about our business and different marketing analyses we’d done. After these initial conversations, they came back to us with a very strong SOW and included a deeper dive into our product itself. They also spent a great deal of time interviewing our different stakeholders to understand their perception of our market and product. Post these interviews, we all spent a lot of time on the documentation. They came back with guidelines for naming our product based on the interviews and research they did. We all reviewed the guidelines, and we edited them before they started the naming process.
They did a first round of name options for us to review, and we chose our favorites. The first round of names was about 1200 long, and they narrowed it down by about 50 after each screening. After analyzing our choices and seeing what they had in common, Catchword came back with a second round of insights. We took our top ten choices from rounds one and two each and then did a loose trademark screening. Catchword’s team provided us a lot of coaching along the way, which was great, as no one in our organization had a lot of experience naming products.
What is the team composition?
Mark (Principal) led a team of four people.
How did you come to work with Catchword?
I researched them online and read through some comments and reviews about them. Their available work online impressed me as well. When I reached out, they responded immediately and very personably. I didn’t even want to ask anyone else, as they were so impressive.
How much have you invested with them?
The total cost was around $40,000–$50,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from February–June 2022. We have several potential projects in the works for them, and we’ve already recommended them to some other organizations.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I rave about their team, including to their competitors. They were an absolute joy to work with. They exceeded our expectations in every area and made sure that we had fun while we were doing it. I couldn’t have been more pleased with their process or end product.
How did Catchword perform from a project management standpoint?
They met every deadline and communicated well. Catchword was very professional. We always knew what the plan was, what the timeline was, and what the deliverables were going to be.
We didn’t use any product management tools, as it was a pretty simple engagement. It didn’t require anything beyond limited tools. Since we were working in a small group we primarily communicated via email.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They were personable and listened to us throughout, hitting all our deadlines and communicating constantly. This was most probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with a vendor.
Their attention to detail and ability to proactively listen to us as the customer stood out the most. There are usually a lot of miscommunications when you work with vendors, but not with Catchword.
Also, I was very impressed with their credentials, portfolio, and level of creativity. They worked with joy throughout, and you can’t always say that about vendors.
Are there any areas they could improve?
For the limited engagement we had, I don’t believe there’s anything they could have done better.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
You need to be very clear about your expectations and completely communicate both things that you want and things you don’t want. Additionally, you have to meet their deadlines, as it will let them do their job better. Having tight timelines will help as well.
the project
Rebrand for Insurance Company
"I was impressed with the quality of deliverables and the processes they went through to help us get to the end result!"
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am the GM.
For what projects/services did your company hire Catchword, and what were your goals?
We renamed the company. The goals were to select a name and develop the logo and brand assets to go along with the new brand name.
How did you select this vendor?
We started with a list of 8 from a mix of recommendations and Google searches, narrowed down to those who fit our ask for this project, did deeper diligence with the final 3 and ultimately selected Catchword.
Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.
The project consisted of 4 phases:
- Discovery (interviews, company mission, competitive analysis, industry review, etc.)
- Positioning (development of brand pillars and brand story),
- Name Development (two rounds of names presented and reviewed),
- Visual Identity Development (logo, typography, colors, brand book/style guide).
At each phase there were meetings to present and deliverables were always packaged up in a very professional manner.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
2 - Both with the titles of Project Director and Senior Strategist
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
We selected a new name and trademark!
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
The timelines were all as we were told. It was clear what phase we were at and what the next steps were at each step. The deliverables often include presentations that do a fantastic job of summarizing the topic(s) covered. There is clearly a lot of branding expertise and processes that have been fully optimized through experience. They were pros!
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
I was impressed with the quality of deliverables and the processes they went through to help us get to the end result!
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
Mostly learnings for us on how we could have set expectations earlier to be more helpful. We went in open but in reality had certain things we wanted to avoid.
the project
Name Branding for Healthcare Business Solutions Company
"We would hire them again without reservation."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I’m Senior Vice President of a global 20+ year old healthcare business process solutions company. I have a wide range of responsibilities including business development and expansion, promoting operational efficiencies, and business strategy.
In this case, I was tasked with spearheading the naming of our business, after it spun off from a larger digital CX and BPO organization.
For what projects/services did your company hire Catchword, and what were your goals?
As mentioned, our business spun off from a larger organization and we needed a new business/company name. We engaged Catchword to develop the new company name.
How did you select this vendor?
Catchword came recommended by an existing client of Catchword. They have stellar reputation.
Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.
We’ve been working with Catchword since the start of 2022 preparing for and executing on a robust name development process including a deep dive into our business, extensive stakeholder interviews, the development of positioning themes for brand naming, iterative name ideation, presentations of work product to senior management, trademark and domain screening, and the creation of brand narratives for each of our three finalist names.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
e worked very closely with Mark Skoultchi, an agency Partner, and Beth Gerber, one of the firm’s Creative Directors. In addition, other strategists, namers, and screeners were involved. I believe the Catchword project team included seven or eight agency personnel.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
e’re currently in a great position, our attorneys having recently green-lighted three of our favorite names! We realize what an incredible outcome this is because clearing brand names in the healthcare and technology trademark classes is extremely hard. To have several name options all endorsed by counsel is a real triumph for both Catchword and our team.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
Mark and Beth were fantastic. I can’t stress enough how responsive, knowledgeable, creative, engaged, and genuinely interested in our project and the outcome they were. Things moved forward very smoothly, and they’re wonderful people to work with.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
From start to finish this was a really well run naming program and many aspects of the engagement impressed me, including the level of communication and expertise their team demonstrated, the quality of the name ideas they shared (some really creative, out of the box thinking), and their commitment to our success. We would hire them again without reservation.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
There's nothing they need to improve on.
the project
Multi-Product Naming for Diagnostics Company
"They're able to make the naming process both, a creative and educational exercise all at once."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I’m the Vice President of Commercial Marketing for a global veterinary lab and diagnostics company where our goal is to elevate the pet-care industry through quality products and services that drive better patient outcomes.
For what projects/services did your company hire Catchword, and what were your goals?
In order to maintain our presence and reputation as a leading innovator in the industry, we always need to be looking ahead when it comes to the development of new diagnostic tools and applications. Given our fast-moving pipeline of multiple new offerings, we engaged Catchword to help us think strategically when it came to creating and selecting the names for these products.
How did you select this vendor?
After speaking to a few naming agencies we found primarily via online research, we selected Catchword based on their track record of naming experience and success across virtually every industry. During our intro calls, it was easy to see their energy and passion for what they do, and they truly bring that to every meeting.
Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.
Catchword has helped us with several brand naming projects. Each project included initial discovery to learn about the offering, competitors and market space in general. The discovery phase would conclude with the creation of a Naming Brief, which outlined all the jointly-agreed parameters for, including specific messaging to explore and avoid, name types, tonality, etc.
Based on that brief, Catchword would then create and present two rounds of pre-screened creative work, which gave us an opportunity, not only to see an incredibly broad selection of names ranging from more direct to the more metaphorical, but also to pivot and lean more heavily into the kinds of ideas that were resonating more strongly with our team.
After going through the two rounds, Catchword would then conduct some deeper-dive due diligence on our shortlisted names to ensure we wouldn’t be burdening our own legal counsel with anything that was clearly unavailable or problematic. The entire process, from start-to-finish, was incredibly smooth and well-managed.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
Mark (Partner) and Bruno (Director) were our primary contacts through all our naming projects. Mark and Bruno were in every call and meeting and were supported by a clearly talented team of creatives. They are a great duo to have on your project -- they bring so much enthusiasm and energy to their work.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
We're not completely finished with the engagement and some of the names (all great), haven't been revealed, so stay tuned for specifics. However, early feedback from customers and our internal teams has all been very positive -- people feel like the names fit perfectly with our well-established corporate brand, while also sending signals about what the product does.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
They were always positive and upbeat, and treated us as people, as opposed to just another client. They would consistently check in, they kept us updated on where we were in the process and what was expected of us to keep things moving, and they were flexible when something came up, when we needed to reschedule meetings, or even speed up certain aspects of the process. Their professionalism and personalities shone through at every interaction.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
They're able to make the naming process both, a creative and educational exercise all at once. They did a wonderful job of explaining the thinking behind the names they presented to us, and it was here that their passion for what they do really shone through as well, and it was clear that they love what they do. We also very much appreciated how they were able to bring some fun and levity to every meeting. It almost felt like a nice little break in the workday, all while getting done what we needed in order to keep moving forward while staying on schedule. I'll be sorry when we have nothing left to name!
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
No. Nothing. They were great -- in fact, we were so impressed, we expanded our engagement with the team substantially over what we initially had planned to do. And, we will use them for any naming work that comes up in the future -- can't imagine working with any other team!
the project
Valuation Tool Branding for E-Commerce Technology Firm
"The outstanding creative name ideas they developed is what impressed me the most."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
We're an e-commerce technology company. I am the founder.
For what projects/services did your company hire Catchword, and what were your goals?
We have created a software tool for e-commerce companies and needed help developing the name and brand of the tool.
How did you select this vendor?
I've worked with other leading firms previously on other projects and have always wanted to try Catchword. I searched them online, did some research, and then had some intro calls.
Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.
Catchword provided strategic counsel related to brand naming and extensive name ideation. They served both a strategic and creative role in this brand development process. In addition, they provided trademark prescreening services including recommendations for names to pursue and names to eliminate from consideration.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
We worked directly with Mark, Partner, and Beth, Creative Director. However, there were other team members that contributed to the project, including other namers, strategists, and screeners.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Catchword did a fantastic job of imagining many truly exciting and compelling names for our new valuation tool. At this point, as difficult as it was, we’ve narrowed the choices to a few, trademark cleared names and are negotiating for the domains, after which we’ll make a final name selection.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
They are great. We would jump onto a Zoom meeting and discuss materials they provided prior to. Things moved very quickly.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Ultimately, the genuinely thoughtful consideration and thinking around our brand and what it should communicate, combined with the outstanding creative name ideas they developed is what impressed me the most.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
Nothing. We'll continue to use them again.
the project
Branding & Visual Design for Creative Agency
"Catchword is an incredibly well-oiled machine."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I’m the founder and President of GreyBox, an award-winning creative and design agency based in New York.
For what projects/services did your company hire Catchword, and what were your goals?
GreyBox and Catchword have collaborated on several company brand development projects in the last few years. Our first collaboration, and the primary focus of this review, involved the creation of a brand name and identity for a biotech company focused on cancer detection. Catchword developed the name and GreyBox developed the identity, though we worked hand-in-hand, very collaboratively, throughout the process. It was during this first collaboration that we got to really know each other, discover both a professional and personal synergy, and and establish a foundation for an ongoing agency partnership.
How did you select this vendor?
A few years ago, Catchword reached out to our team to discuss possible collaborations. They had discovered GreyBox online, appreciated our design work, and were looking to strike up a relationship with an agency like ours. We’re thrilled they did because the partnership has been incredible. There’s a genuine and mutual respect for each other’s process and deliverables, and a really strong cultural fit. We’re like-minded agencies placing an emphasis on doing outstanding work and everything we can to exceed client expectations. Even though the relationship is just a few years old, it feels like our teams have been working together forever.
Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.
Our combined agencies were responsible for developing a company brand name and visual identity for a shared biotech client. Catchword carried out a full brand naming program, including discovery work, multiple rounds of name development, and trademark vetting of client-preferred names. Our team participated in the naming process, providing input from a design perspective, and reciprocally, Catchword participated in and provided input during the design phase of the process.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
Catchword had a full team working on the name ideation, but our contact was most directly with Mark Skoultchi, one of the agency’s partners.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Now having completed several collaborations with Catchword, I can really understand why they’re the leader in brand name development. Their process is remarkably well honed and their name ideas really inspired, but more than that, they’re just super smart branding professionals and incredible people who place a real importance on doing amazing work and exceeding client expectations. We absolutely love working with them and we look forward to many more collaborations in the future.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
Catchword is an incredibly well-oiled machine. Their team has been through the process of company name development literally hundreds of times, so, project management is, as you would expect, extremely smooth and effective and most of our collaboration took place on Zoom.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Just about everything impresses us about Catchword. They’re very strategic thinkers and incredibly creative wordsmiths, highly responsive and client-oriented, extremely personable, fun people to work with, and true experts in their field. You won’t find a more impressive naming agency anywhere.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
Nope.
the project
Product Naming for Digital Consulting Firm
"They really care about getting to the bottom of what your product and brand are about."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I’m the platform strategist of a company of e-commerce, technology, and operational experts that build next-generation digital solutions and experiences online.
For what projects/services did your company hire Catchword, and what were your goals?
We had recently engaged Catchword for another brand naming project and had an excellent experience. We hired them again to help develop a name for a new online consumer experience brand, which was the focus of this project.
How did you select this vendor?
We were recommended by a friend.
Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.
Much like in our first engagement, the Catchword team provided strategic naming and branding counsel and creative name options for our new online brand. They’re currently conducting trademark screening on our preferred names.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
Their team includes a combination of brand and naming strategists, creative namers, and screening professionals. We know the team also includes positioning experts, linguists, and other professionals. We worked with two key stakeholders.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Once again, Catchword really delivered! I think if we had more time we would likely have opted for the more robust process, but it’s incredible how quickly they ramped up on this one, got to the core of the offering and what we want to express about it, and turned around so many incredible brand name options.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
They were very communicative, always quick to respond to any and all of our inquiries, and very helpful when doing so. We regularly met over Zoom which facilitated great conversation.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
First and foremost, the name ideas! They were really diverse, highly creative, and mapped extremely well to our messaging intentions for the brand. In addition, I was super impressed with how much they challenged us to really *think* about this new offering, how we want to talk about it in the market, and collaborated with us to develop an informal narrative and set of messaging directions to guide their naming work. They really care about getting to the bottom of what your product and brand are about. They pinpoint messaging that’s both relevant and distinctive in the market.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
No, they’re a great partner and we’ll likely be working with them again in the future.
Catchword kept a flexible, positive, and upbeat throughout their process. They consistently checked up on the client and updated them about their progress. The client claims that the project remained creative and educational for them, as shown by the team's passion for their industry.