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Any business faces and overcomes many hurdles to reach the consumers. Given a choice what would a businessman prefer? Create and overcome more and more hurdles or minimize and remove the existing hurdles.

Brand names are words which have meanings or are imbued with meanings by the marketer. Four cases (a few more if we go in greater detailing) emerge out of this statement in the context of marketing.

1. An already existing word which has a certain meaning in people's minds
   and when adopted as a brand name, matches the product/service offered. (Infosys for a software company)
2. An already existing word which has a certain meaning in people's minds but when adopted as a brand name, marketer tries to attach a new or a different meaning to that word. (Pantaloons for a fashion retail outlet trying to lure women)
3. An already existing word which has certain meaning in people's minds but is applied to a
   product which doesn't have any apparent relation with the word. (Cherry
   Blossoms as a brand name for shoe polish, Blackberry for a mobile phone)
4. A brand new word (so of course it doesn't have any meaning in people's minds) is coined and used as a brand name for the product/service. (Accenture for a software company)

In the first case the name assists the people to understand the offering. In the third, since there's no apparent relation (there could be a metonymical or a metaphorical relation) marketer has a blank slate and can take the opportunity to create that relationship between the name and the offering. Fourth case is similar to third one; again a blank slate, an opportunity to imbue the new word with meaning and create a relationship between the name and the offering.

I didn't talk about the second case. Unlike the other three cases, the second creates a hurdle. Why? Coz there is a meaning already established in people's minds. So to get the name related to a new different meaning, the first task is to weaken the established meaning and then try to imbue it with the new different meaning. Marketers would know (or don't they?) this phenomenon is next to impossible.

Someone might say, well, that's the challenge. Alright, I say, in the list of hurdles to overcome to make your business a success, don't you have enough already? And an existing and well-accepted perception is a tough hurdle to overcome. Go ahead and take the challenge!