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Wordcraft: The Art of Turning Little Words into Big Business
"Five little words: BlackBerry, Accenture, Viagra, Cayenne, e-business. Two of the words are appropriated (BlackBerry and Cayenne); two are completely made up (Viagra and Accenture); and one (e-business) is a composite word made of a word and a letter that already exist. . . .These five words are the characters in this book."
Words shape and move the modern marketplace; they are at once ubiquitous and invisible. But where do words such as Saturn, PowerBook, and Tylenol originate? How did we come to "xerox" our paperwork and "have a cup of Starbucks"? Which names work, and why? For journalist Alex Frankel, what began as an exercise in curiosity--tracing the evolution of a handful of the most successful brand names from the marketplace to their places of origin--resulted in a year-long journey in which he gained access to a previously undiscovered world of forward-thinking creatives: professional namers, the unique group of marketers responsible for inventing words that ultimately become a part of our everyday vocabularies.
Wordcraft is Frankel's in-depth look at how companies name themselves and their products and, in the process of defining their business through words and language, develop narratives that define the way they present themselves to the outside world. His lively, fly-on-the-wall narrative takes us into the conference rooms of Lexicon, the world's largest professional naming firm, where we see how the highly successful email pager known as the BlackBerry got its name. We travel to Germany to learn how Porsche approached the naming of its controversial SUV, a car that challenged the company's famously sporty image. The creative team behind Viagra explains how they took a completely fabricated word and turned it into a powerful idea. We witness how IBM assumed ownership of the word and story of "e-business" and in so doing turned around its corporate mindset and returned to a dominant industry position.
The book is filled with stories about how things get their names, but it's not just tales of business meetings and product launches. We meet the characters who populate the naming world, "information age neologists" like freelance namer Andrea Michaels, who plays professional Scrabble and competes on TV game shows when not brainstorming for corporate clients. And we learn about the civic unrest that erupted in Denver when the naming rights for Mile High Stadium were sold. Frankel laces his narrative with cultural and historical references and quotations from thinkers as diverse as Marianne Moore and Lawrence Lessig, all of which add a layer of richness and depth to this book's multithreaded and engaging stories.
For anyone intrigued by the power of words and ideas in today's marketplace, Wordcraft is a captivating tour of a fascinating world.
From the Hardcover edition.
Words shape and move the modern marketplace; they are at once ubiquitous and invisible. But where do words such as Saturn, PowerBook, and Tylenol originate? How did we come to "xerox" our paperwork and "have a cup of Starbucks"? Which names work, and why? For journalist Alex Frankel, what began as an exercise in curiosity--tracing the evolution of a handful of the most successful brand names from the marketplace to their places of origin--resulted in a year-long journey in which he gained access to a previously undiscovered world of forward-thinking creatives: professional namers, the unique group of marketers responsible for inventing words that ultimately become a part of our everyday vocabularies.
Wordcraft is Frankel's in-depth look at how companies name themselves and their products and, in the process of defining their business through words and language, develop narratives that define the way they present themselves to the outside world. His lively, fly-on-the-wall narrative takes us into the conference rooms of Lexicon, the world's largest professional naming firm, where we see how the highly successful email pager known as the BlackBerry got its name. We travel to Germany to learn how Porsche approached the naming of its controversial SUV, a car that challenged the company's famously sporty image. The creative team behind Viagra explains how they took a completely fabricated word and turned it into a powerful idea. We witness how IBM assumed ownership of the word and story of "e-business" and in so doing turned around its corporate mindset and returned to a dominant industry position.
The book is filled with stories about how things get their names, but it's not just tales of business meetings and product launches. We meet the characters who populate the naming world, "information age neologists" like freelance namer Andrea Michaels, who plays professional Scrabble and competes on TV game shows when not brainstorming for corporate clients. And we learn about the civic unrest that erupted in Denver when the naming rights for Mile High Stadium were sold. Frankel laces his narrative with cultural and historical references and quotations from thinkers as diverse as Marianne Moore and Lawrence Lessig, all of which add a layer of richness and depth to this book's multithreaded and engaging stories.
For anyone intrigued by the power of words and ideas in today's marketplace, Wordcraft is a captivating tour of a fascinating world.
From the Hardcover edition.
- GenresBusinessNonfiction
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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91 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 26, 2012
Naming agencies get huge amounts of money for coming up with names that, in many cases, just plain suck. A lot of their "process" ends up sounding like luck in this book, which often gets bogged down in uninteresting detail, and focuses on 5 names , half of which aren't interesting (Cayenne? who cares.... Accenture? again, who cares...) Viagra and BlackBerry, sure, those are appealing and interesting, but this book makes it sound like the naming business is hard to get into, populated with con artists and people who got lucky breaks, and largely a hit-or-miss proposition where each firm has its own techniques and "insiders" who get lucky enough often enough to keep their businesses going. If you've ever considered going into this field, this book will probably discourage you. If you've ever wondered how names get picked, a lot of it is luck, huge lists of crap, the use of focus groups, and selling techniques worthy of those into neurolinguistic programming. Not so much a book about linguistics, vocabulary, wordsmiths, or creativity as much as a book about a few lucky souls who have made obscene amounts of money in a business that's a lot more about "the sell" than a science.
September 10, 2017
WordCraft started off well with indepth and well crafted case studies of BlackBerry, Accenture, and Viagra, and derailed in the second half. The author had a promising book on the craft of words and language in branding, but tried too hard to give it an air of gravitas and zeitgeist when discussing IBMs e-business. Decent book overall, thought it suffers from lack of focus.
September 10, 2019
Solid book understanding a wider influence of the branding and naming processes. Full of good cases, instantly recognizable by those who have spent at least a few months investigating this industry.
November 30, 2011
[My review from Brand Building Magazine:]
In a transitional chapter of Wordcraft, Alex Frankel describes the genesis of the word ‘maverick’ and its meanings:
1 : an unbranded range animal; especially : a motherless calf
2 : an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party
Samuel Maverick was an American pioneer who did not brand his cattle. In time, Maverick’s neighbors and other cattlemen began to call any unbranded animal roaming the prairie a maverick, and from there the second, more metaphoric, meaning (above) evolved.
The name Maverick became so commonly known and understood that it took on meaning as a common noun and adjective. In the process of being transformed from a proper noun into a common noun, the word was imbued with a story. This is the key point for Frankel and the key point of each of his examples in the book – great names have great stories.
After a brief tenure as a naming consultant, Frankel set out to explore and understand the people and processes behind brand naming. Setting his sights on five brands – Accenture, BlackBerry, IBM e-business, Porsche Cayenne, Viagra – Frankel takes the reader along for the ride as he pursues each name’s story.
These names provide diverse examples of naming situations, drawing brands from a variety of industries. Wordcraft considers one of largest rebranding projects ever, a surprising endeavor from a classic brand, branding a business concept, and the creation of two new brands. Each naming situation also involves a different cast of characters, from the brand owners to the consultants.
One of the most valuable aspects of Wordcraft is that it shows the reader a number of approaches to the naming process. Naming consultancies are profiled in tandem with the brands they are working with. This rare look inside the methodology of different naming houses and business consultancies is insightful in trying to understand the relationship between the brand and the consultancy.
Another strength of Wordcraft is the approachability of the naming stories. Each narrative feels genuine and is entertaining. The book is rich with quotes from brand owners and the people who had hands-on roles in naming these brands. Frankel paints a complete picture of the naming process that is easy to understand and digest.
While BlackBerry represents the closest thing to the naming of a start-up brand, the one glaring omission from the book’s subject matter is the story of a small or mid-sized start-up brand. It was clearly necessary for Frankel to use identifiable international brands to help market the book and make it accessible to the greatest number of readers, but by only highlighting corporate brands, Frankel has neglected to show the process in scale. Each of the brand stories told in Wordcraft involves large companies with huge branding and marketing budgets.
Frankel has also been criticized for not being critical enough of his subjects. However, in a collection of best cases, such as this, less criticism is to be expected. In all, Wordcraft is an enlightening look at naming process as exemplified by some of the most successful branding efforts in recent years.
In a transitional chapter of Wordcraft, Alex Frankel describes the genesis of the word ‘maverick’ and its meanings:
1 : an unbranded range animal; especially : a motherless calf
2 : an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party
Samuel Maverick was an American pioneer who did not brand his cattle. In time, Maverick’s neighbors and other cattlemen began to call any unbranded animal roaming the prairie a maverick, and from there the second, more metaphoric, meaning (above) evolved.
The name Maverick became so commonly known and understood that it took on meaning as a common noun and adjective. In the process of being transformed from a proper noun into a common noun, the word was imbued with a story. This is the key point for Frankel and the key point of each of his examples in the book – great names have great stories.
After a brief tenure as a naming consultant, Frankel set out to explore and understand the people and processes behind brand naming. Setting his sights on five brands – Accenture, BlackBerry, IBM e-business, Porsche Cayenne, Viagra – Frankel takes the reader along for the ride as he pursues each name’s story.
These names provide diverse examples of naming situations, drawing brands from a variety of industries. Wordcraft considers one of largest rebranding projects ever, a surprising endeavor from a classic brand, branding a business concept, and the creation of two new brands. Each naming situation also involves a different cast of characters, from the brand owners to the consultants.
One of the most valuable aspects of Wordcraft is that it shows the reader a number of approaches to the naming process. Naming consultancies are profiled in tandem with the brands they are working with. This rare look inside the methodology of different naming houses and business consultancies is insightful in trying to understand the relationship between the brand and the consultancy.
Another strength of Wordcraft is the approachability of the naming stories. Each narrative feels genuine and is entertaining. The book is rich with quotes from brand owners and the people who had hands-on roles in naming these brands. Frankel paints a complete picture of the naming process that is easy to understand and digest.
While BlackBerry represents the closest thing to the naming of a start-up brand, the one glaring omission from the book’s subject matter is the story of a small or mid-sized start-up brand. It was clearly necessary for Frankel to use identifiable international brands to help market the book and make it accessible to the greatest number of readers, but by only highlighting corporate brands, Frankel has neglected to show the process in scale. Each of the brand stories told in Wordcraft involves large companies with huge branding and marketing budgets.
Frankel has also been criticized for not being critical enough of his subjects. However, in a collection of best cases, such as this, less criticism is to be expected. In all, Wordcraft is an enlightening look at naming process as exemplified by some of the most successful branding efforts in recent years.
August 6, 2015
- Frankel has written the "On Language" column for the New York Times Magazine and reported on business culture for Wired, Fast Company, and Outside Magazines. His interests in synthetic languages led him to launch his own product naming firm...
- from the jacket - "Five Little Words: Blackberry, Accenture, Viagra, Cayenne, and e-business. Two of the words are appropriated (Blackberry and Cayenne), two are completely made up (Viagra and Accenture) and one (e-business) is a composite word made of a word and a letter that already existed...The five words are the main characters in this book on product naming and marketing."
- Frankel gives the history of dozens of product names: Pentium, Tylenol, Starbucks, Saturn, Fedex, Advil, Chapstick, Kool-Aid, etc...
- product-naming is a strange, interesting, multi-million-dollar-a-year business
- from the jacket - "Five Little Words: Blackberry, Accenture, Viagra, Cayenne, and e-business. Two of the words are appropriated (Blackberry and Cayenne), two are completely made up (Viagra and Accenture) and one (e-business) is a composite word made of a word and a letter that already existed...The five words are the main characters in this book on product naming and marketing."
- Frankel gives the history of dozens of product names: Pentium, Tylenol, Starbucks, Saturn, Fedex, Advil, Chapstick, Kool-Aid, etc...
- product-naming is a strange, interesting, multi-million-dollar-a-year business
June 13, 2008
Although I read this and the other branding books on here as research for a new article I was writing, I found this book to be very interesting. It is the nonfiction account of how a journalist became a corporate namer, and then talks about tricks of the naming trade and some case studies.
I referenced it in interviewing some namers for my article and they were impressed I had read it - but noted that it turned the author into a total persona non grata in the naming industry center of the SF Bay area.
If you like words and are fascinated by the stories of how decisions get made - good and bad - you'll be entertained.
I referenced it in interviewing some namers for my article and they were impressed I had read it - but noted that it turned the author into a total persona non grata in the naming industry center of the SF Bay area.
If you like words and are fascinated by the stories of how decisions get made - good and bad - you'll be entertained.
October 9, 2014
If you think the idea of people naming businesses and products is the coolest thing ever, you will be on the same wavelength as the author and might be able to enjoy this book. For me personally, it's not that exciting. I was interested in the subject for practical reasons. But I simply couldn't read this book... normally I like the style of writing that accompanies in depth journalism, but in this case it didn't succeed in making a fairly bland subject exciting or intriguing at all, and instead it meant that it seemed to endlessly circle around the topic rather than actually focusing on it.
October 24, 2008
I have this one from the library but I have to take it back cuz we're moving and I don't want it to get lost. I did take time to read the author's notes and the table of contents and I can tell this is gonna be a good one. :-)
August 11, 2011
An excellent into the process and power of naming products. Anyone interested in the marketing should read this!! Would the Blackberry have been as popular if it had came out with a name such as the cumquat or the dingle berry?
November 16, 2012
Quite a good book that tells stories on how some of the big companies like Porsche, RIM, and even my previous company before, Accenture. When Shakespeare said that "What's in a name?", I am really sure he doesn't know how powerful brand's name will be :)
July 3, 2007
It was interesting to learn the origin of some words (Accenture and Blackberry) and how the "naming" industry works. But it was not cativating and pretty dry.
August 8, 2010
Not what I was expecting. About the practice of naming products. From an investigative case study approach. Very anecdotal.
March 30, 2013
An optional-read book on branding for the knowledge worker, manager, executive, or entrepreneur.
April 9, 2009
just wonderful- great if your a fan of words and marketing ideas and thinking outside the box
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews