Learnings from our ProductTank Munich #14 - Product & Brands

The ProductTank #14 was all about Product & Brands and Deloitte Digital supported us with an awesome venue. First, Tobias Tiefert told us about how to find the right name for your brand and where you can stumble upon.

These are Tobias’ five advices for naming your product:

1. Be distinctive - don’t follow trends
2. ‎Make it short - be remembered, 3 syllables or less
3. Choose an appropriate name - but don’t explain your product in detail
4. ‎Easy to spell & pronounce - don’t make people feel stupid
5. ‎Likeable – search for something intellectually stimulating / mouth feeling

But there is more than just these five party of advice; Tobias proposes a whole process for finding the best brand name. First, you should have a basic brand strategy containing values, mission and vision. Start easy and use methods like the 3h Brand Sprint or read Anne Miltenburg’s e-book “Brand the Chance”.

Building up on this, you should start brainstorming with an interdisciplinary team. He suggests to use creative techniques like Brain Writing or the 635 Method. And if you have a problem finding the right ideas, he recommends to start with thinking of random words and concentrate on how they sound. And lastly, be patient because you will get frustrated in the process anyway and need to take some time to find the perfect brand name for your product.

Everybody who wants to get more details about the naming process for products can refer to Tobias for further details: www.tobiastiefert.com

Karin: “How to use storytelling for products and brands”

In the second talk of the evening, Karin showed us how to tell your personal story by building pictures. Storytelling helps the customers understand and remember products and services and will provoke positive emotions whenever the customer thinks about the product and brand.

In the process, you can also follow five easy steps:

1. Have a hero – and ideally make yourself a hero
2. Define the problem / wish - this is crucial, without any real problem there is no story
3. The hero wants to solve the problem but fails
4. Find somebody or something that helps him succeed
5. And there will be a happy end

This seems like an easy plot but it is really important that you address all five senses within your story. Try to build pictures in the head of your audience and really go into details when describing these pictures. And at its best, tell a personal story by making yourself the hero.

Last but not least, we are happy about any feedback and we are always looking for speakers and sponsors. So, if you have any ideas, just comment, get into contact with us or join our Munich ProductTank community.