Just back from Cologne, where I finally met a partner I’ve been working with for the past three years. Until now, she has only been a face on my computer screen, and I finally discovered she has a body too. It was such a great experience, and I’m very grateful to Jen for making it happen.
While there, we took a walk along the river in one of the most incredible areas of the city, a neighborhood with striking modern buildings where offices of companies like Microsoft, Birkenstock, and EA Sports sit alongside residential apartments. It’s a fantastic area, my favorite in Cologne: a mix of old and new, where people picnic, jog, stroll, eat, sit, and chat in the evening.
As we were walking, I noticed a place called THE COFFICE, and my branding brain immediately kicked in. I couldn’t help but smile and appreciate the cleverness of the name.
In an era where names are shrinking to the extreme (X), and where it seems you should communicate everything with three or four letters, I think this name checks almost all the boxes of what makes a great name:
One word
The problem with two- or three-word names is that they run the risk of becoming acronyms that quickly lose meaning and marketing potential. Instead of helping you stand out, they blur into the ocean of companies that thought acronyms were cool just because giants like IBM or UPS use them. But IBM and UPS succeeded despite this, the acronyms only became widely accepted after those companies were already successful.
Almost but not quite generic
A name should be the initial spark of your positioning process. It should instantly tell your potential customer the main benefit of your product or service. So what’s THE COFFICE about? Walking around this mixed-use area of apartments and offices, I immediately connected it to two things: coffee and office. Without even looking in the windows, I already had a sense of what the place was about. Sure enough, it was a coffee shop.
Short enough, but not too short
Very long names risk being shortened, which takes you back to the earlier problem of acronyms hurting your marketing. In this case people wouldn’t even use the original name. For example, there’s an Italian brand called Campagnolo that does outdoor apparel, but their logo says “CMP”, so people just call them “CMP.” Back to acronyms. On the other hand, names that are too short can lose all meaning. The Coffice lands in the middle ground, short, simple, and memorable.
Easy to spell
I’m not a big fan of names that are common words but intentionally misspelled. You’ll always have to clarify the spelling. I remember a company here in Italy that had a deliberately misspelled name. They were advertising on the radio, and part of the ad had to be dedicated to explaining how to spell it. That’s a classic example of a name hurting you, spending precious marketing budget and attention just to clarify how your brand is written.
Easy to pronounce in any language
At least across European languages, “Coffice” is smooth and universal. And this matters especially in a neighborhood like this, which is populated by a very diverse community thanks to the kind of companies headquartered there. Even for a local spot in Germany, it was forward-thinking to choose a name that resonates across languages. Some letters or letter combinations are pronounced very differently depending on the language, and this is something to carefully consider if you want to build an international brand. (I’m Italian, and for example here most people mispronounce even giant brands like NIKE or LEVIS, proof that no business is completely immune to this challenge.)
Fun to say
This is one of the toughest but most powerful boxes to check. If a name is fun to say, it automatically feels fun to do, buy, or experience. That energy becomes a marketing asset in itself, because the name invites play and repetition.
It sounds good
Which, in many cases, is more important than how it looks. A name is spoken and heard long before it is written. Our brains process sound first, and sound connects to the older, more emotional, intuitive part of us, the part that ultimately drives most of our decisions.
It gives a vibe
Who wouldn’t want to have a coffee at Coffice?
And yes, it really is a small coffee place at the bottom of one of Cologne’s most iconic buildings, as you can see in the snapshot I took.
So, my admiration goes to the owner, the marketing agency, or the client who inspired or came up with this name. My stay in Cologne was too short, but next time I’ll make sure to stop in and actually have a coffee at COFFICE.
Ok, I lied, there is one more box to tick, and in my experience it’s the toughest one…
Trademark availability
It takes a lot of work to come up with a great name, so you need to make sure it’s legally defensible and tradable. I’m not sure Coffice clears this one, and I don’t want to go too deep into the legal side here, but there are official databases available online where you can quickly check if a name is already trademarked or not. Do it, it’s worth the effort.
