On the way to Brazil in October 2004, I read a book called Word Craft by Alex Frankel . The subject of the book is "naming", topic I have always been interested in. Frankel did a good job of getting behind the scenes at some of the top consulting companies that focus exclusively on coining brand names. A winning name often makes the difference between success or failure of a product. Frankel says it is not unheard of for large companies to spend as much as half a million dollars to come up with the perfect name. Wordcraft describes the entire process including marketing campaigns and public relations activities that surround a product name. Some of the examples he discusses include FedEx, BlackBerry, Accenture, Viagra, and IBM’s e-business. The book is a quick and interesting read.

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