Following on from the positioning work that I did for the fitness brand in December of last year (click on 'Fitness Comparison Platform' above), I convinced my client to let me generate names using my proprietary naming presentation format, which has proved so valuable to my previous clients.

In order to keep costs down, of the two brand consulting options I proposed, my client choose the option that included getting to know the business and consulting on supplied names only.

I felt there wasn't a strong enough case presented for any of the supplied names and that the top name choice was profoundly problematic. Confident that I would impress my client I proposed to generate a naming presentation to take up the remaining time bought from me but that would also require a significant investment on my part as we hadn't negotiated any additional fees to cover this work as a cost. The start-up looked like a great opportunity to create an outstanding brand experience and I intended to give it my best shot.

As with all my naming presentations I look to find a name that is likely to lead an entire experience made up of various other related brand-marks. To this end I build a case for each of my top recommended names and often include a brand-idea or brandline to help demonstrate the potential of each name.

I believe I delivered of my best work as demonstrated in the brandline above: 'Workouts That Work Out'. Not only is this a strong brandline but I believe it's an opportunity to create an unprecedented brand experience. And, not only is the wordplay clever it's exactly what the brand will deliver in what looks to be a category defining business.

I proposed to contract the brandline to simply 'Workout' in some instances, not necessarily as a name, which is what it would effectively be perceived as under some circumstances, but handled, rather, as a piece of brand communication of a suggestive or instructive kind and on this basis probably wouldn't necessitate the ownership of 'Workout' as a trademark.

Unfortunately, perhaps also because I didn't charge my client for this presentation, my ideas received almost no time and the entire presentation was rejected in a matter of minutes after I emailed it over. I was devastated to find my work so unappreciated. Other names worth mentioning were Fisiq and Tautology but given the short shrift my work received I found myself like a man taking a stubborn horse to water.

So, sadly, for the first time in my career I suggested my client find another designer to work with; a designer who wouldn't challenge his brand name and merely supply him with a logo. Fortunately I hadn't accepted the 50% advance for the creative brand design stage that my client seemed intent on paying me. I didn't want to take a name forward that wouldn't reflect well on my work and this was a condition I'd set on reviewing the supplied names.

Click on 'Workouts That Work Out' above to view the naming presentation in case studies where you can also download the entire presentation.