Intro To The Distinctiveness Spectrum

INTRO TO NAMING THOUGHTS & STRATEGIES

THE PRODUCT NAMING DISTINCTIVENESS SPECTRUM

by Dave Dawsey

What is the Wobble Naming Distinctiveness Spectrum?

If you have read any of my book reviews you know that every product naming guru has their own name classification system ranging from as few as 4, as outlined in the book “Breakthrough Branding,” to as many as 29, as described in the book “Don’t Call it That.” Generally I consider them garbage. I have studied the guru’s and come to the conclusion that nothing beats the classic “distinctiveness spectrum” known to those in the trademark field, which includes the 5 categories of generic, descriptive, suggestive, arbitrary, and fanciful/coined (from least distinctive to most distinctive, as beautifully illustrated above).

Whether you like it or not, these are the categories used in the legal system when trying to protect your name and enforce your trademark rights, so it is best to embrace these legal categories and understand how they impact the strength, or weakness, of potential names. Here are some examples that should help you understand the distinctiveness spectrum.

Fanciful Marks

Fanciful marks consist of words constructed, or invented, for the sole purpose of functioning as a trademark and have no other meaning than acting as a mark. Fanciful marks are considered the strongest type of mark and should be considered when developing a new name. However fanciful marks are rarely the best option for anything other than new drugs because of the amount of advertising required to get consumers to associate the mark with the product or service.

Arbitrary Marks

Arbitrary marks include terms that have a dictionary definition before adoption as a trademark, but have a meaning that is unrelated to the associated product or service. In other words, an arbitrary term is one that exists in normal language but is used outside of its normal context. Like fanciful marks, arbitrary marks should be considered when developing a new name, but are rarely the best option.

Suggestive Marks

Suggestive marks are terms that, when applied to the associated goods or services, require imagination, thought, or perception to arrive at a determination of the nature of the goods or services. Suggestive marks tend to suggest an idea, quality, or characteristic of an idea, or is indicative of an idea. Some refer to this as a “mental leap” required to connect the term to the good or service being offered. Suggestive marks can creatively imply a quality or characteristic of the goods and services, which can be incredibly powerful. While not as strong from a purely legal perspective as fanciful or arbitrary marks, suggestive marks are extremely valuable “when done right” and I would argue are typically the best type of marks for new products and services. I say “when done right” because this is much easier said than done, and requires a delicate balance of creativity and brute force.

Descriptive Marks

Descriptive marks are those that merely describe an ingredient, quality, characteristic, function, feature, purpose or use of the goods or services. A descriptive mark cannot be registered as a trademark unless it has achieved secondary meaning showing that consumers are able to recognize the mark as an indicator of the source of the goods or services. New names should avoid being descriptive at all cost!

Generic Marks

Generic marks are not trademarks at all because they are simply common names for a good or service. Generic words or phrases cannot be trademarks because consumers would never think that the generic word is connected to a single supplier. The public policy perspective is that generic terms are simply too useful for identifying a particular good or service, and granting a single company a monopoly over a generic term would give that company an unfair advantage. Consider what you would call the unbranded version of an item, and that is probably a generic term. For instance the generic term for an iPad is a tablet. Trademarks can become generic over time and lose trademark protection, but that is a subject to address years down the road, after your product or service is a smashing success.

The Take-Away

Nothing beats the classic “distinctiveness spectrum” known to those in the trademark field and, whether you like it or not, it will be used by the legal system when trying to protect a new name and enforce trademark rights.

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