Type Private Founded 2002 | Industry Naming Area served Worldwide | |
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Founders Jay Jurisich
Steve Manning Headquarters Sausalito, California, United States | ||
Igor Naming Agency is an American naming agency. Based in Sausalito, California, Igor is known for its "almost militant embrace" of using real and natural-sounding words in naming. Among others, the company has named Gogo Inflight, Cutthroat Kitchen, TruTV, the Aria Resort, and The Wit Hotel in Chicago.
History
Igor Naming Agency was founded by Jay Jurisich and Steve Manning, who met while working at the Sausalito naming agency, A Hundred Monkeys. In addition to naming, Jurisich and Manning worked with agency founder Danny Altman to create The Shinolas, an annual award given to the year's worst brand name. Judged by Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's, Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads, Bob Camp, co-creator of Ren & Stimpy and others, Shinolas were awarded to products including the Oldsmobile Achieva, and Cruex, a cream to soothe itches. With significant media coverage, the Shinolas were recognized as a distinct brand.
Jurisich and Manning left A Hundred Monkeys in 2002 to co-found Igor Naming Agency. In addition to established companies including Nokia, EA Sports, and MTV, Igor worked extensively with companies founded following the dot-com downturn of 2000. They eschewed industry-standard practices, such as the use of invented words, and advised against choosing a name based on the availability of a URL. Commenting on Igor's aversion to the use of focus groups to determine the effectiveness of a name, Manning stated: "We don't recommend market research for naming. You've really got to figure that if you're trusting the future of your brand to a bunch of people in a focus group who are willing to give up their time for $45 and a stale sandwich, you're in trouble."
In late 2002, Igor launched Snark Hunting, a blog about company names, product names and the implications of naming and branding upon popular culture. Created to keep Igor's name in front of potential clients, Snark Hunting was "obsessively monitored" within the advertising and marketing industry. As more blogs related to branding began to appear online, Fast Company wrote: "The best stuff comes from Snark Hunting," highlighting a post which "riffed on Gap Inc.'s new Forth & Towne store concept for middle-aged women, noting that it uses an ampersand rather than risk the acronym FAT." Described as irreverent and biting, Snark Hunting took "frequent shots at crosstown naming rival Landor," creating a recurring character named Blandor the Imponderable.
In 2004, Jurisich and Manning co-authored Building the Perfect Beast: The Igor Naming Guide. Frequently updated, it remains available as a free download in two different lengths, "soul-crushing (123 pages) and moderately-irritating (28 pages)." The Igor Naming Guide has been widely used as resource in academic settings as well as by B2C companies, startups, and incubators.
Jurisich left Igor in 2011 to found Zinzin, also a naming agency.