Why Marketing Hates your Proposed Trademark

I have worked with countless marketing companies that advised their clients to “be descriptive” when selecting the name of a company or product. The theory is, having a name that describes an aspect of the product or service makes it easier to market that product -- you don’t have to spend as much on consumer education or advertising.

Yet as we discussed, a truly descriptive mark will not be registerable as a trademark – and does not stand out in the marketplace. It may be a pain to spell B-E-R-K-E-L-H-A-M-M-E-R all day long, but once people see it, they remember it. By contrast, there are literally five Mike or Michael Millers in my address book, and I never know which one is calling me when I see the name pop up on my phone.

The legal department thinks your trademark should be a Donna Berkelhammer and not a Mike Miller.

I recommend fanciful or arbitrary marks, because it is almost impossible to predict whether the trademark office will consider your trademark as suggestive or descriptive.

Examples of “suggestive” marks are:

· CITIBANK for financial services

· GREYHOUND for bus lines

· JAGUAR for automobiles

· PLAYBOY for publishing/magazines

· M