Groovehoppers and Earscapades: Adventures in Audio Naming
Know-How: B2B | B2C | Brand Copywriting | Naming | Research | Verbal Brand Strategy
Going on endless adventures with a portable sound system that can play curated playlists everywhere you go is enticing to any travel and music enthusiast.
This project playlist emphasizes wanderlust and traveling to faraway lands.
Just a Peek
Eat My Words has an ongoing naming challenge open to any professional who thinks they have what it takes. I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge, so I decided to throw my pen in the ring.
The Skinny
I’m a long-time fan of Eat My Words and their fun, accessible approach to naming, which has influenced my own style. This project was a personal dare and possible opportunity to collaborate with a naming powerhouse.
My task was to develop “20 [conceptual] names for a sleek new portable speaker that fits in the palm of your hand.” The speaker is “small, powerful, wireless, and comes in a range of groovy colors. You can take it to the beach, to the office, or anywhere you want to play your music.”
Uncovering Inspiration
I frequently work with music playing in the background, primarily instrumental and non-English lyrics, because English vocals interfere with my thinking and writing. And also because I love to sing and will end up belting out tunes instead of getting work done.
The soundtrack for this project was an exception because I used song lyrics to generate ideas.
In the Mood
Music wasn’t my only inspiration for this project; I needed to immerse myself in travel destinations that consumers might visit with this speaker in tow. Here are some of the exquisite images that juiced my creativity:
Bare Essentials
I broke down the brief into distinct ideas I could focus on to ensure I stayed within the parameters of the project and met its expectations.
Here are the six themes I chose to anchor this assignment:
Travel Bug
Portable
Wireless
Colorful!
Small
Mighty / Powerful
Fleshed Out
My creative journey began with song titles and lyrics (you don’t realize the dozens of travel-themed songs that exist until you research them). This route gave me a ton of ideas. From there, I began exploring travel idioms and puns. Lastly, I compiled two lists: one of tiny, colorful objects like candies and another of small, but mighty animals.
The Full Monty
Below is the (slightly modified) list that I emailed to Eat My Words. Twenty-four hours later, I received a response from Alexandra saying she wanted to collaborate with me on future client work.
I had a blast working on this project, but the fact that it secured me a chance to team up with one of the coolest naming companies in the game made it that much sweeter.
