Episode

Naming expert shares process for creating billion-dollar brands: Vercel, Azure, Windsurf, Sonos

David Placek, founder of Lexicon Branding, discusses his systematic approach to creating iconic brand names like Sonos, Azure, Pentium, and Windsurf. He explains why bold, uncomfortable names outperform descriptive ones, shares his three-step process (identify, invent, implement), and reveals how linguistic research and sound symbolism inform naming decisions.