David Placek

Renaming Codium to Windsurf made the brand take off

Lexicon renamed Codium to Windsurf over a six-week period because no one could spell or search 'Codium' and its SEO was bad; after the change the brand took off, illustrating the launching power of the right name.

“We changed Codium to Windsurf. Now, nobody knew about Codium, really. No one knew how to spell it. They couldn't search it. Their SEO was bad. We worked with them over a 6-week period, changed it to Windsurf. I mean, there's a story behind that, but we don't need to get into that now. And boom, that brand took off.”

Renaming Codium to Windsurf made the brand take off

Lexicon renamed Codium to Windsurf over a six-week period because no one could spell or search 'Codium' and its SEO was bad; after the change the brand took off, illustrating the launching power of the right name.

“We changed Codium to Windsurf. Now, nobody knew about Codium, really. No one knew how to spell it. They couldn't search it. Their SEO was bad. We worked with them over a 6-week period, changed it to Windsurf. I mean, there's a story behind that, but we don't need to get into that now. And boom, that brand took off.”

Swiffer is a $5B brand; Clorox's Ready Mop a few hundred million

Placek argues the name made the difference: P&G's 'Swiffer' became a $5 billion brand while Clorox's near-simultaneous, comfortably-named 'Ready Mop' stalled at a couple hundred million.

“Swiffer's a $5 billion brand. I think that Clorox's Ready Mop is a couple hundred million dollars.”

In naming, quantity leads to quality — generate ~2,000 names

Placek's counterintuitive rule: quantity leads to quality. Clients who get stuck stop at 50-100 names; Lexicon generates around 2,000, knowing most are bad, to find the rare right one.

“Because in this business, and it's very counterintuitive, quantity leads to quality. Quantity leads to quality. Often we will get a list from a client saying, you know, we're really stuck now. And I'll say, okay, well, how many names you generate? We will get back a list of 50 or 100 names, and that's where, and they got stuck and they stopped, right? We can't do that. We're looking at maybe 2,000 names, right?”

Steal thisWhen you feel stuck on naming, you have not generated enough options — push to thousands of candidates before judging.

Kill brainstorms: name in 2-person teams, not big groups

After 18 months of researching where their best names actually came from, Lexicon stopped brainstorming sessions and stopped using freelancers; names come from individuals or 2-person teams, free of peer pressure and premature evaluation.

“It's not coming from brainstorming sessions. It's coming from individuals or people working in 2-person teams. And so we stopped all that brainstorming, never, hired a freelancer again”

Steal thisReplace group brainstorms with solo or two-person creative teams to avoid peer pressure and the cascade of premature evaluation.

Turn criticism into a problem to solve to protect creativity

Instead of killing an idea with 'that's too expensive' or 'that'll never pass legal', Placek reframes it as a problem-solving prompt — 'I wish we could make that so it wasn't expensive' — because humans love to solve problems and the reframe keeps people generating.

“I'll coach people to say, listen, when you have trouble, when you feel yourself leaning into the urge to say, that's too expensive, or that'll never pass legal, say something like, I wish we could make that so it wasn't expensive, or how do we, how do we modify that word so it's legally available? What you've done there is you've given someone a problem-solving proposition. You haven't slammed a name down.”

Steal thisReframe objections as 'I wish we could...' or 'how might we...' so feedback fuels iteration instead of shutting it down.

Sound symbolism: plosives like P, K, B signal speed and reliability

Lexicon's research on sound symbolism finds certain letters carry inherent meaning — plosives (P, K, B) connote reliable and fast — and their 'Predict' software sorts candidate names by which sounds (D, P, Z) convey speed.

“those letters that are strong— I mean, this is in many ways just intuitive, but think about some— you know, you can call them plosives, there's other technical terms, but you talk about, uh, P and K and B. Those sounds are— if you want something reliable and fast you're gonna at least formulate that into, um, your names.”

Steal ideas from two random magazines you'd never read

Placek's synchronicity tactic for any creative work: before a final draft, spend 30 minutes on two magazines you've never read, hunting for connections; he claims at least 30% of the time it yields a fresh angle or insight.

“I would go to a bookstore and I would either get a book, or it'd be easier to get a couple magazines that you never have read before Right. And I would spend 30 minutes on those two magazines just looking for connections that might be moved into your article. And I guarantee you that at least 30% of the time by doing that, you will find a new perspective or you'll put a new spin on that article”

Steal thisBefore finalizing creative work, mine two unfamiliar magazines for unexpected connections to import into it.

How Lexicon sold a skeptical BlackBerry on its name

Canadian clients from Waterloo rejected 'BlackBerry' at first, but Placek won them over with sound-symbolism research (B is reliable, 'black' and 'berry' translate, a blackberry is delightful) and the clincher: their big competitors would never have the courage to put 'BlackBerry' on a device.

“I said, your current competitors, who are all big companies, would never have the courage to put BlackBerry on a device. Then the arms dropped and you could see people going, okay, maybe this guy knows something I don't know.”

Present names in context: a believable ad, not a spreadsheet

Rather than handing clients 40 names on a spreadsheet, Lexicon shows each name as a 'proof of concept' — in a Wall Street Journal ad or on a billboard with a celebrity — testing one thing first: is it believable in that first half-second?

“we call that a proof of concept, right? So we, we look at this internally, right? We, before we would show it to a client, we would look at this, you know, 2 or 3 of us and we would say, and there's just really one rule, which is, okay, is that believable? Right? Because that's really the most important thing is in that first less than a second, they have to lean towards, wow, this— I think I believe, I think I believe this, right?”

Steal thisPresent a new name inside a realistic mock ad and judge it on one question: is it believable on first sight?

A polarizing name has energy — that's a feature, not a bug

Placek learned from Intel's Andy Grove that Pentium worked precisely because it was polarizing; polarization signals energy inside a name, and teams should examine what's creating that energy rather than retreat to a safe choice.

“And he said, listen, This is a good name because it is so polarizing. That means it has energy to it. There's energy inside. And I remember thinking, man, that guy is so smart. And that's where I began this kind of the value of— and we encourage people, we say, listen, this is polarizing for your organization. That's good.”

Changing your name doesn't cost you your equity

The biggest fear in renaming is losing accumulated brand equity and momentum, but Placek says Lexicon has never seen that play out in the market — provided the relaunch is enthusiastic and tells a clear story of where the company was and where it's going.

“the biggest reason people don't change their name is they think they're going to lose whatever equities they have and they're going to lose momentum. We have never seen that as evidence in the marketplace. Never. I want to emphasize that, provided, provided that their launch is done with enthusiasm and they, and they have a story to tell that we were here and now we're going this way and the benefits for you are A, B, and C.”

Steal thisIf a rename is right, don't fear lost equity — relaunch with enthusiasm and a clear before/after story.

Placek's reading list: Ogilvy, da Vinci, Roger Martin

For mastering marketing and positioning, Placek recommends David Ogilvy on Advertising, Walter Isaacson's Leonardo da Vinci biography (for creative curiosity and persistence), and Roger Martin's 'New Ways to Think' and 'Playing to Win'.

“from a marketing standpoint, I like reading the books by Roger Martin. He wrote a book called "New Ways to Think."”

Lexicon naming projects run $75K–$200K

David Placek says most Lexicon naming engagements cost between $75K and $150K, with a big corporate name going up to about $200K.

“Most of our projects are somewhere between you know, a low of 75 to a high of about 150. Big corporate name will go to maybe 200.”

Approximate thinking: aim for half-baked ideas, not safe ones

Placek's parting tool: draw a line from 'bizarre, absurd, illegal ideas' to 'safe, workable ideas' and label the middle 'approximate thinking'. Give teams permission to land in that approximate zone — unbaked and possibly bad — and creativity spikes.

“draw a line on it, and on one side put bizarre, absurd, illegal ideas, and on the other side put safe, workable ideas, right? In the middle, write the word approximate thinking, right? And if you show that to your teams who are doing creative work for you and say, you know what, as we start this thing, you can move from bizarre through approximate, and then let's just stop there. Let's look at these approximate ideas. They're not baked out, they're not full, they may be bad. If you give people permission to do that, you will see that your creativity will spike.”

Steal thisTell your team to land ideas in the 'approximate' middle between absurd and safe, and judge those half-baked ideas, not polished ones.