PROJECT: Re-name the online education service company Coursekit to create a broader, higher-level, evocative brand that will become synonymous with learning.

THE NAME: Lore is knowledge acquired through education or experience, shared between people and passed down across generations. Literally the body of knowledge, especially of a traditional, anecdotal, or popular nature, on a particular subject; folklore. Learning, knowledge, or erudition that transcends book learning.

POSITIONING: Coursekit began life in the fall of 2011 as an online course management service for college students and professors. Offering a experience far superior to all existing course management products, Coursekit was a big hit, and its growth and word-of-mouth buzz has been tremendous. But the company’s mission was greater than just the nuts and bolts of course management; it is about the bigger idea of sharing and transmitting knowledge itself between people. The name Coursekit was too narrow, linear, and failed to rise above the goods and services being offered, which is a requirement of powerful brands with full audience engagement.

Joseph Cohen, the co-founder and CEO of Coursekit, hired Zinzin to create the perfect name for his Big Idea, and we delivered with Lore, a transformational name for a transformational company. Here’s how Lore announced their new name to the world: “Coursekit started as a toolkit for courses. Courses became communities of learners. We’ve seen that people learn by sharing. Our mission is to connect the world’s learners and educators. We need a name that reflects our ambitions. Lore means knowledge shared between people. That’s what we are about.”

Simple, direct, and to the point. The company also created an advanced blog to function as “a discovery engine for meaningful knowledge, fueled by cross-disciplinary curiosity,” which is all about exploring knowledge. The added bonus of the name Lore, after having secured the exact-match .com domain name, is that this discovery engine, edited by Maria Popova of Brain Pickings fame, is called Explore, and can be found at the  subdomain exp.lore.com.

Here’s a powerful bit of knowledge: Lore is going to revolutionize the higher education and learning experience. Pass it along.

VISIT: Lore | Explore

PROJECT: Name Shaw’s next generation telecommunications network, offering high-definition television, on-demand programming, high-speed Internet and advanced telephone capabilities.

THE NAME: Derived from the prefix “exo-,” meaning “outside of” (exoskeleton, exosystem). Shaw Exo is short, sweet, cool, futuristic, and works great as a graphic “bug” on TV, computer and mobile device screens.

POSITIONING: Shaw Communications, the leading cable television and Internet provider in Canada, wanted a name for its next generation television and communications network that was short, powerful, and different from the competition. Exo deftly delivers, positioning the product as beyond the usual, beyond expectations, beyond what has been done before in this space, and “outside the box,” both figuratively and literally (the TV cable box). The name is aspirational and future-forward:

“Shaw Exo is a promise that we will continue to innovate, lead, and provide the latest in technology and entertainment offerings to customers,” said Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications. “With Shaw Exo, the power of our network allows us to continue delivering the products and services that our customers are looking for.”

“Above and beyond” the parameters of the competition and most definitely outside the box, Exo is the perfect name for Shaw’s network of the future. Available now.

VISIT: Shaw Exo | Shaw Exo 2012 Super Bowl commercial

PROJECT: A revolutionary new wi-fi service for commercial aircraft.

THE NAME: From “go-go” — full of energy, vitality, or daring; stylish, modern, or up-to-date.

POSITIONING: The name had to be memorable, fun, short, universally known, be available for trademark and easy to pronounce globally, and map to both the travel experience and the Internet connectivity experience.

VISIT: Gogo

PROJECT: A new upscale online window treatments brand.

THE NAME: Derived from a very small and remote Australian Aboriginal settlement called Jupiter Well.

POSITIONING: Evocative, memorable and differentiated from the crowd of boring, mostly descriptive names in the window treatment space. This name elevates the brand above the goods being sold; is charming and disarming; emphasizes style; has some familiarity/meaning; and sounds vaguely like it could be both a designer’s name and/or evoke a non-specific sense of place. Jupiter Wells demonstrates, rather than explains, a unique, entirely new perspective, creating emotional engagement with its audience.

VISIT: Jupiter Wells

PROJECT: Naming CamelBak’s first water bottle product with a built-in filter.

THE NAME: A literal and metaphorical groove.

POSITIONING: The name Groove captures the spirit of life in motion, of being “in the groove,” “getting your groove on” and “feeling groovy.” It also maps nicely to the physical attributes of the product, with the filter slipping into a “groove” within the straw chamber and the patented CamelBak “bite valve” mouthpiece playing off the phrase “tongue and groove.”

VISIT: Groove

PROJECT: New name for Nokia’s top-of-the-line 8800 mobile phone.

THE NAME: State of the art, a work of art.

POSITIONING: The new Arte and Sapphire Arte, mobile phones that are truly works of art, among the most beautiful consumer objects available.

VISIT: Arte

PROJECT: Name for a new eco-friendly mobile phone.

THE NAME: Move boldly into the future; transformational; a call to action.

POSITIONING: Nokia wanted a name that would describe the environmental benefit of this particular model, but also serve as a rallying cry for environmental awareness both within the company and among consumers.

VISIT: Evolve

PROJECT: Name a new personal and group information manager web application.

THE NAME: Twine ties all your information together.

POSITIONING: Web 3.0, AKA the “semantic web,” promises the next generation of web intelligence and advanced data mining, connectivity, and meaning. The mission of gathering all this information and “tying it all together” led to Twine, the perfect name for this new kind of information manager. An elegant word for a deceptively simple physical object, Twine is also a verb meaning,”to twist together; intertwine; interweave.” Twine it, Twine me, Twining all my information together.

PROJECT: Name a new set-top box optimized for recording high-definition movies and TV programs.

THE NAME: A Showcase for content.

POSITIONING: The name Showcase elegantly maps both to the experience of “showcasing” selected content by recording and archiving, as well as the functional attributes of being a “case” for holding “shows.”

VISIT: Showcase

PROJECT: Create and evocative name for the Nokia 8600 mobile phone.

THE NAME: Roman goddess of moonlight who was often represented as a mysteriously captivating beauty encircled in a soft, yet radiant light.

POSITIONING: Luna is the prefect name for this phone, with its radiant lighting effects and mysterious, otherworldly beauty.

VISIT: Luna

PROJECT: Create a a new sub-brand for EA Sports aimed at a growing, more casual sports gaming audience.

THE NAME: The freedom to express yourself in your own unique way.

POSITIONING: The new brand features games that, while based in sports, are playful, inclusive, casual, and easy to pick up and play for kids and parents, women and men, and casual and hardcore sports fans of all ages. Jump in, have fun, anybody can play, express yourself, and bend all the usual rules. That’s what it’s all about. Freestyle takes sports gaming to a whole new level, for a vast new audience.

PROJECT: Naming a breakthrough new caulk product for GE/Momentive.

THE NAME: Groovin,’ get in the groove, get your groove on.

POSITIONING: Momentive Performance materials, the spin-off of General Electric’s advanced materials business and still partly owned by GE, needed a name for GE’s breakthrough new caulk product. What makes this product revolutionary is an entirely new chemical technology that combines the long-lasting durability of silicone with the drying speed and ease of use of acrylic. Clean and easy to apply, this amazing caulk stays in the groove you lay it down in, hence the name Groov, a name with many layers of literal and metaphorical meaning, as the perfect name for this product.

VISIT: Groov

PROJECT: Name for a Nokia CDMA mobile phone carried in the U.S. by Verizon.

THE NAME: Mystery, illusion, cool.

POSITIONING: The central positioning concepts for this family of phones, from the entry level to the high end, is mystery, illusion, paradox, transformation, and “more than meets the eye.” The name for this sleek, compact, entry-level fold phone, Mirage, embodies these themes.

VISIT: Mirage

PROJECT: Social network name.

THE NAME: A warm, human activity.

POSITIONING: Emode, a premier web destination for personality tests and matchmaking, planned to launch a social network product and wanted a new name. The company required an exact-match domain name that could be purchased, but beyond the practical considerations, the name had to: be short, evocative, and loaded with meaning; be fun, human, memorable, distinctive; be relevant yet non-descriptive; work as a verb; capture the attention of the world; tap into the hearts and minds of their audience in a unique way. The name Tickle met and surpassed all requirements.

PROJECT: Name name a new double electric breast pump.

THE NAME: A soft, close connection.

POSITIONING: The name had to be warm, approachable, and map to the harmonious nature of pumping two breasts at once, as well as emphasize the close connection between mother and baby. Affinity aptly conveys both the literal and emotional cues that represent this product, as well as acknowledging the great affinity between the company and its loyal customers. The soft sound and similarity to “infinity,” the symbol for which is curvy and breast-like, add to its resonance.

VISIT: Affinity

PROJECT: Name name a new double electric breast pump.

THE NAME: A soft, close connection.

POSITIONING: The name had to be warm, approachable, and map to the harmonious nature of pumping two breasts at once, as well as emphasize the close connection between mother and baby. Affinity aptly conveys both the literal and emotional cues that represent this product, as well as acknowledging the great affinity between the company and its loyal customers. The soft sound and similarity to “infinity,” the symbol for which is curvy and breast-like, add to its resonance.

VISIT: Intrigue