MEDICINE brand names might seem like they're created by a cat let loose on a keyboard, but the process to devise them is actually quite intense.
According to an opinion piece written by Mike Pile, a US visual identity consultant, some curious tactics can be employed to spark some naming genius.
Pile says his experience has seen some drug companies lock their marketing teams in a boardroom with pizza, white boards and rolls of paper.
Another employed professional linguists and poets to conceptualise a catchy title.
Pile says others have turned to encyclopedias of minerals and gems along with surfing dictionaries, Sanskrit rhyming dictionaries and sports metaphors to devise a name.
One copywriter has been known to pore over books such as Jane's All the World's Aircraft and the 1938 edition of The Glossary of Meteorological Terms to find their muse.
Other techniques include using sound symbolism and developing names starting with 'b' and 'p' as those words push air through the lips.
Pile detailed a time his company employed a poet to design a brand name.
The process saw the poet told nothing about the drug in question, its use or any related cues - only that she had to come up with names that evoke mental images of clouds, skies and gentle breezes - for what ultimately was a thrush cream.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 12 May 25
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 12 May 25
