Canon
The Challenge
When Canon research and development came out with a new and innovative top of the line projection system, the decision was made to name the product internally as they have done so in the past. This projector was the first to pair new LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) technology with Canon’s proprietary AISYS light engine. The result was an image so sharp and crystal clear that it needed a name of its own.
Initial attempts to name the projector in-house by the client had been unfortunately rejected by the legal department due to a lack of trademark availability. The time had come to bring in an expert-naming firm that could deliver a breakthrough brand name. That’s when Canon turned to GK Brand.
What we did
GK was brought in to research the industry, develop a brand strategy and based on our findings our recommendation was to not name it within the alphanumeric naming system that was currently in use at Canon. Instead we suggested that we craft a unique, memorable name that would be not only meaningful, but also fully ownable and one that could be trademarked by Canon.
After rounds of concepts and testing, trademark scans and linguistic analysis, a name was finally selected as being one that would articulate the personality and market positioning of this unique product. As a final step, to ensure the viability of the name on a global scale, GK Brand conducted a through legal screening of the name for trademark registration globally. Once completed, the next step was to conduct a verbal audit and linguistic analysis of the name in all major markets around the world. For this we contacted our, partner worldwide agencies in the Tribe Global Network. It was decided that the name was not only palatable to foreign ears, but was also memorable and resonant across different languages. The name that was chosen was REALiS.
The next phase of the project involved our development of a visual brand and logo for the projector. From start to finish we worked at lightening speed and with extreme precision in time for the factory to print the new name with the newly designed logo on the products as they rolled off the assembly line.
Results
Since its launch, REALiS has become one of the most popular high-end projectors on the market. Canon’s confidence in the REALiS name recently led it to spin the single product off into a line, and three other versions of the system have now become available. What started as a product name has turned into a franchise, which is just another example of the power of good naming from GK Brand.
Visit Canon’s website at www.usa.canon.com.