SDForum Marketing Event: What's in a Name? November 10, 2008

Topic: What's In a Name?

Powerful Product Names - Cool Company Names. Marketing's role in building your trademark I/P portfolio. What makes a product name powerful? What makes a company name cool or great?

Mostly through examples of local businesses, this talk will examine strongly branded product families and companies. Then we will explore what it takes to get a registered trademark today, and how to promote and protect it - a function that falls squarely on marketing's shoulders. Your trademark portfolio might easily end up being more valuable than your patent portfolio.

Finally, in a fun, interactive mode, we will discuss why creative brainstorming seldom works today, then explore what tools and resources are available and how you can come up with unique names and check them quickly.

Presenter: Athol Foden is the president and founder of Brighter Naming, Silicon Valley's leading independent naming agency. Until he had serious naming problems while a technical marketing manager at Sony, names were just a hobby and a fascination. He has since founded two naming agencies and a Fortune Magazine editor nicknamed him a "Namiac" in an article that appeared in Business 2.0! Athol is a former software sales and marketing executive who has worked on four continents. He has two degrees in computer science and is the author of Brighter Branding and Brighter Names.

Free to members; $15.00 for Non-Members.

Official Website: http://www.sdforum.org/MarketingSIG