The Word

Thoughts and news. All about the language of brands.

FEATURED POST

In the News: Scott Milano on The Trending Communicator Podcast

Tanj founder & managing director, Scott Milano, dives deep into the intricacies of naming brands with the...
March 5th, 2026

RECENT POSTS

Why Do AI-Generated Names Feel Similar?

Open any AI naming tool. Paste in a brief. Wait a few seconds.Then watch the same dozen words show up, rearranged in...
March 5th, 2026

How do you position when no category exists?

You're building something genuinely new. You know what it does. You know why it matters. But when someone asks...
March 4th, 2026

How Should We Name Products Within a Brand?

When names get chosen launch by launch, each one makes sense in the moment. But zoom out a couple years later and the...
March 2nd, 2026

Should Product Names Match the Company Name?

It's a fair question. And the answer is: it depends on what you're actually building.That might sound like...
February 27th, 2026

Scott Milano on the Power of Relationships in Business

Naming may be our craft, but relationships are the engine behind it.  In this Q&A with Leonard Chin of...
February 27th, 2026

How Much Does Brand Affect Valuation?

More than your CFO will admit. Less than your brand team hopes.The real answer lives somewhere in between, and the...
February 26th, 2026

Does a Company Name Affect Hiring?

Yes. And most companies don't realize it until the wrong people say yes while the right people say no.Your name...
February 25th, 2026

Is Your Brand Holding You Back?

Some companies grow into their name. Others grow past it. The difference matters more than most leaders want to...
February 24th, 2026

What actually makes a brand feel premium?

It's probably not what you think.Most people point to the logo. The typeface. The color palette. The photography...
February 23rd, 2026

How do you get leadership aligned on a brand name decision?

This may feel like a leadership alignment problem. But it's actually a process problem.When executives clash...
February 20th, 2026

Why do competitors feel stronger than us?

It goes something like this:You review a competitor's site and feel a drop in your stomach. Their name sounds...
February 19th, 2026

Why isn't our brand taken seriously?

It goes something like this:An investor leans back and says, "Interesting." A prospect asks if you're...
February 18th, 2026

How Your Brand Name Shapes Your Brand’s Future

BBC Science Focus recently published a fun article about how a person’s given name can affect their life: The...
February 17th, 2026

Why do we have to explain what we do all the time?

It starts as a small irritation.A prospect asks, "So... what is this exactly?" A board member says,...
February 16th, 2026

Why does our brand feel generic?

It goes something like this:A prospect confuses you with a competitor. A board member says, "You sound like...
February 13th, 2026

Is it bad to rename after funding or growth?

We get why people ask this. It can feel like an admission that something went wrong — that the original name wasn’t...
February 12th, 2026

How do you name a company in a crowded category?

You’re not just crowded because there are too many competitors. You also feel crowded because everything sounds the...
February 11th, 2026

What makes a brand name strong for B2B or enterprise?

In enterprise environments, naming is treated as much more than an aesthetic choice.From the start, leaders consider...
February 10th, 2026