I began my internship at Skriptor Zigila at the start of February 2019. So what is this company with the odd name? It is, in fact, a naming agency. Skriptor and Zigila were once two separate companies, the former based in Stockholm and the latter in Amsterdam. They joined forces in 2016 to become Europe’s leading name consultants. The two partners (one in charge of management and the other in charge of creative directing) in Amsterdam have over 20 years of experience working in the field of naming. I am being directly supervised and mentored by the managing partner.
The main service they provide is straightforward: helping other businesses create names whether it’s for a new product, service, company, merger, feature or other concept. Some of their most well-known names include Ziggo, iDeal, Dubbelfris, Jillz, Klarna, Independer, Oppo, Medique, the Beertender by Heineken and many others. Often the names are intended to be developed into brands, but sometimes naming systems are created for items that do not necessarily need to be branded. For example, they help Signify (formerly Philips Lighting) name all their new products which includes every single lightbulb; not every bulb needs to be a new brand, but product names help consumers navigate through all the products on offer to find what they need. Aside from creating brand names, they also create category descriptors and slogans; this all falls under verbal branding. They furthermore advise on brand architecture matters, and brand strategy more generally. Their clients include Heineken, Philips, ING, the Dutch government, Gazelle and many others.
So what have I been doing? Well, I’m now nearly at the end of my internship (late June) and at this point I am being treated as a fellow junior naming consultant. I attend most client meetings, from the initial briefing for a new project to the strategy and naming workshops, until a final shortlist of names is chosen. Most projects require one strategy workshop and about two or three naming workshops, during which we go through hundreds of name candidates with client teams. Afterwards, the shortlist either goes to the client’s own legal team or a trademarking office we partner with. Trademarking is a crucial step for protecting brands, and legal checks usually eliminate half or sometimes the majority of names on the shortlist. I have learned that most existing words are trademarked and their .com URLs are taken, so name creation needs to be increasingly creative to secure available trademarks and .com URLs.
I write up reports of all the client meetings I attend and share these internally as well as with the clients, incorporating their feedback if they have any. I also prepare the PowerPoint presentation decks for all meetings, which requires researching naming trends in the client’s market to create a benchmark and doing top-line screenings for trademarks and URLs for all the name proposals. I also have to understand and summarise the client’s brand mission, values and positioning in order to help pinpoint where strategic decisions still need to be made, such as brand identity/personality or communication strategies for different target groups. I also coordinate with our partnered trademarking bureau. I have even gotten to contribute to the creation of name proposals for naming workshops with clients, giving me a chance to flex my creative muscles.
In addition, I promote our StartUp Friday event which takes place every first Friday of the month. On this day we invite all startups to come by for free brand naming advice; I mainly promote this CSR event through StartupAmsterdam’s channels. I also help the partners create and curate content for Skriptor Zigila’s website blog and LinkedIn page to grow the company’s online presence, as well as for their private LinkedIn accounts to build their personal brands. Content marketing and PR is limited to the business website and LinkedIn since it is a B2B company. In short, my communication tasks are quite varied.
One piece of advice I have for fellow students: take charge of your internship. Find new projects for yourself, and show initiative. Try new things, speak up, take on tasks you were not explicitly asked to do. This has been greatly appreciated 90% of the time, and 10% of the time I overstepped or mistakenly went around a procedure I didn’t know about. These mistakes are ok in a healthy work environment, you learn as you go. Good managers will appreciate the fact that you took initiative and were proactive because this demonstrates the fact you want to add value where you can. Furthermore, if there is something you really want to learn about or try your hand at, throw it out there— perhaps not all of your ideas are realisable, but your creative input and enthusiasm will always be appreciated by leaders who care about your development and take their employees’ opinions seriously.
Remember that you are there for you, not just for them, so it’s up to you to make your internship count towards the career path you want.