I’ve been involved in verbal branding for more than 20 years as a name and tagline developer and a crafter of concise, compelling brand stories. I’ve named products and companies in virtually every category: a condom, a venture-capital firm, a brand of freezer-to-stovetop meals, an office chair, one of the first mobile payment systems in the United States, a photo-sharing app, a pioneer in the business of divorce funding. Naming work gives me room to be a journalist (during the information- gathering and brief-writing phases); a poet, linguist, and brand strategist (during the creative phase); a para-paralegal (during the trademark screening); and a salesperson (during the presentation).
I have a dual background in journalism and marketing. I earned a master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley and worked for newspapers and magazines as an editor and writer. As editorial director for Banana Republic, I oversaw catalogs, ads, and internal communications—and named a bunch of products. That led to freelance work with verbal-branding agencies—Lexicon, Metaphor, StealThunder, Monigle, Wood Interactive—and to my current career.
Since 2006 I’ve written about names, brands, and the language of commerce at my blog, Fritinancy. I also write a regular column for the Visual Thesaurus on names and verbal branding, and I contribute guest posts to Duets Blog, a blog about marketing and trademark law.
Read more about my name-development process in interviews with me in the Wordnik blog and the Chicago Manual of Style Online.
When I’m not working with words, I swim wordlessly in San Francisco Bay with other members of the Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club.
For more, read my LinkedIn profile.
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