“How do we name our new bike to show it’s a break from our past while maintaining equity in the Bowflex name?”
Naming for a legacy brand is not just creative--it’s highly strategic.
In 2019, the Bowflex brand launched a totally new product line of bikes, with the hero and mid-tier products of this new line launching in mid-2020. The new line, along with its hero product, features the unique, industry-defining specs that Nautilus has become known for, and they needed a unique name for the hero product as well as a descriptor for the mid-tier one.
The creative challenge with naming Bowflex’s hero product was to find a name that intuitively fit into their current naming convention and that highlighted the product’s functionality and exciting innovation. We explored a wide range of names and naming strategies; from strictly descriptive to wildly metaphorical, ultimately landing on enhanced descriptive names that felt practical yet catchy.
For the mid-tier descriptor, we considered the strategic implications of how to name it, ultimately exploring everything from traditional alphanumeric options to coined acronyms and abbreviated words. For the hero product, the client ended up choosing one of our recommendations, VeloCore, which stylishly suggests the core-enhancing benefits of the bike along with its range of movement and sleek agility. The name works incredibly well for the brand’s identity while also heralding the next wave of exciting Bowtech innovations.
