When Pitching New Ideas, Name Everything

We’ve seen it happen in countless meetings and presentations.

Someone is presenting a few different creative directions. It could be a logo or maybe a brochure cover.

Someone in the meeting says, “Show me the one that looks like a pineapple again?”

Inevitably, from that point forward, that’s how everyone refers to that direction. It’s “The Pineapple One.”

It’s not just in that meeting. People will refer to it as “The Pineapple One” for the duration of the project. Somehow, it becomes “The Pineapple One” to people who weren’t even in the meeting.

Like it or not, once something is named, that’s how it’s referred to going forward.

Sometimes, it’s harmless. It can even be beneficial. But from a communications perspective, any de facto name represents a loss of control over how the idea is perceived and identified.

It goes beyond creative choices. A specific campaign tactic might not benefit from being dubbed “the expensive option.” A tradeshow display might suffer from being referred to as “the cheaper choice.”

Name Early, Name Often

The solution, in many instances, is to first get ahead of the off-the-cuff naming. Give everything a name – especially if you’re anticipating discussion and debate.

“Option 1a” isn’t super memorable, but if an idea is presented that way, and the team starts using the terminology immediately, it’s more likely to stick.

Beyond preemptive naming, it’s also important to always provide strategic framing and rationale. No creative direction or tactic should live in a vacuum – the context and reasoning behind should shape how it’s perceived from the start.

It’s not just internal discussions and marketing decisions that benefit from these tweaks. Brands don’t want customers to give their products, pricing tiers or any other offering unofficial names.