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Overview

About Catchword Branding

Catchword is a trusted leader in brand naming and logo design that’s been creating impactful identities for clients worldwide since 1998. From offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York, Catchword helps clients express who, what, and why they are. Industry-leading brands such as PwC, TikTok, Intel, Allergan, Boston Scientific, Starbucks, HBO, and VW turn to Catchword for creativity and strategic insight delivered with expert guidance.

Whether a quick-turnaround startup project or a Fortune 500 retainer, Catchword helps clients develop a timeless brand that resonates with target audiences.

Catchword has received more awards for naming work than any other agency, including Top Honors at the London International Awards and multiple awards from Transform Magazine, Hermes Creative, MarCom, C2A, and MUSE.

"The Catchword team members that I have worked with are truly experts in the field of naming and have a passion for linguistics, naming, and marketing that is evidenced by every interaction I have with them." – Corporate Marketing & Branding Director, Corning

"What keeps us coming back to Catchword is the ease of working with them. … I wish I could have somebody at Catchword on call at all times.” – Brand Director, PwC

"They provide incredible insights into the branding process. Instead of coming in with preconceived notions, they listened to what we wanted and took it to the next level." – Content Lead, Stanford Center for Global Health

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What clients say

Review Analytics of Catchword Branding

Every review is verified through Goodfirms before it's published.

5.01 Verified Review
Quality5.0
Schedule & Timing5.0
Communication5.0
Overall5.0
Review Summary
Summarized from 1 verified reviews · Updated August 2026
Catchword Branding demonstrated strong ability to understand client needs and execute efficiently. The team combined a pragmatic "get it done" approach with thoughtful strategic thinking, delivering results that met client expectations. Their collaborative process helped extract the best ideas from the client team and translate them into actionable outcomes.
✦ AI-generated summary. May not reflect every review.
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What reviewers mention most

Eric Seifert
Eric SeifertVerified Review
Posted on Jan 21, 2021

“What's In a Name?”

Overall rating5.0
Quality5.0
Communication5.0
Schedule & Timing5.0
Advertising

I’m the founder and President of Good Hope Advisors, a specialized M&A firm providing prospecting, consulting, and process management support throughout the M&A lifecycle. My team and I engaged Catchword to assist with brand positioning and to help us identify a meaningful and compelling brand name for our firm. We decided to work with Catchword because of their stellar reputation in the space, and because we felt their process was more thorough and creative than other agencies we considered. The Catchword team did a fantastic job. Every aspect of the engagement was a success, from the creative name solutions they proposed to the friendly and effective project management. First rate naming agency and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to any company looking for a new company name or in the process of renaming.

Focus

Service Focus of Catchword Branding

How the team's effort is distributed across services.

75%25%

Industries Focus

10%10%10%10%5%5%5%5%5%5%5%5%5%5%

Client Focus

Small Business10%
Medium Business35%
Large Business55%
Selected Work

Client Portfolio of Catchword Branding

Where their work concentrates - by industry, budget, and timeline.

Project Industry

Productivity17%
Automotive17%
Consumer17%
Media33%
Business Services17%
Major industry focus
Media

Project Cost

Not Disclosed100%
Common project cost
Not Disclosed

Project Timeline

1 to 25 Weeks100%
Typical timeline
1 to 25 Weeks

Clients: 19

AsanaStarbucksVWAllerganUpWorkPwCIntelFitbitVuduAetnaThermo FisherBoston ScientificHBOAmazonCorningTikTokUnileverIndeedHitachi

Portfolios: 6

Executive Interview

Executive Interview of Catchword Branding

Maria Cypher
Maria Cypher
Co-Founder, Partner & Creative Lead
Visit Profile

Kindly share your feedback on how Goodfirms has been doing so far in increasing your visibility among potential clients.

We are delighted and proud to be the #1 listed agency for brand name development on Goodfirms. It’s a great resource for brands to find the right creative partner. The Catchword site has received many visitors from the platform over the years, and we look forward to many more.

Please introduce your company and give a brief about your role within the organization.

Catchword is a global leader in creating impactful, inspiring, and strategic brands for clients across industries. Our services include company and product naming, brand strategy and positioning, and visual identity. I co-founded Catchword in 1998 and serve as the creative lead, overseeing name development and myself developing hundreds or even thousands of names on a weekly basis. I also manage much of the back-end of the business and conceive of and contribute to many internal initiatives that keep us innovating in the branding space.

What is the story behind starting this company?

We opened our doors during the Wild West of the Internet—1998 in Oakland, CA, near Silicon Valley. At the time, there were few specialized naming firms but a lot of need for creative names that were available as trademarks and domain names. From our initial focus on tech and startups—with clients like Intel, HP, Cisco, and Asana (which we named)—we expanded to consumer products, financial services, biotech and healthcare, automotive, and more. In the last few years, we’ve formally added brand strategy and visual identity to our array of services, providing clients with a soup-to-nuts menu of brand positioning, name development, logo/wordmark, and more.

What are your company’s business model—in house team or third party vendors/ outsourcing?

We have a seasoned in-house team of branding experts as well as veteran partners who are ready to join projects when a larger team or additional skills would best serve client needs.

How does your company differentiate itself from the competition?

We have over 25 years in the business and are pioneers in the field of naming. Our internationally recognized work—we’ve received 83 awards and counting—includes the creation of brands that became household names such as Upwork, Vudu, and VW Atlas. We are creatively agnostic. That is, we don’t advocate a certain style or come in with one-size-fits-all ideas. Instead, we immerse ourselves in the client’s business and culture and customize our approach accordingly. We also pride ourselves on being open, transparent, and responsive, and we always overdeliver.

What industries do you generally cater to? Are your customers repetitive? If yes, what ratio of clients has been repetitive to you?

We work across industries, including tech, finance, healthcare, CPG, and automotive. We have many repeat clients and retainer clients, and together they constitute about half of our business.

Please share some of the services that you offer for which clients approach you the most for.

Clients approach us the most for company naming and product naming, but we also offer brand strategy (including positioning, architecture, and messaging), visual identity (logos, wordmarks, identity systems, and templates and guides), taglines, domain name advice, and linguistic and cultural analysis.

What is your customer satisfaction rate according to you? What steps do you take to cater to your customer’s needs and requirements?

As I mentioned above, over-delivery is our mantra! We take pride in wowing our clients with creative and strategic options and receive consistently positive feedback that our process keeps clients’ needs and concerns at the fore. Our account team is as engaged and responsive as they come. We are the top-ranked naming/branding firm across numerous ranker platforms, for which customer satisfaction is a key metric—so I have to say that our customer satisfaction is very high!

What kind of support system do you offer to your clients for catering to their queries and issues?

We are in constant communication with clients and are highly responsive to their questions and concerns. As anyone in the business of creativity will tell you, ours is a subjective field for which there can be multiple right answers—meaning clients sometimes need more communication and reassurance. Our account team is never a black box, and our process has been well-honed for over a quarter century to anticipate and address client queries and issues.

What kind of payment structure do you follow to bill your clients? Is it Pay per Feature, Fixed Cost, Pay per Milestone (could be in phases, months, versions etc.)?

Our payment structure varies depending on the scope and duration of the project. Most of our engagements are discrete, with a fixed budget, but we also have retainer clients and other kinds of ongoing relationships.

Do you take in projects which meet your basic budget requirement? If yes, what is the minimum requirement? If no, on what minimum budget you have worked for?

We do our best to meet clients’ budget needs and can be quite creative in finding a solution that works for everyone. While there is no minimum budget per se, our process is comprehensive, and tailored to larger companies and funded startups requiring global trademark availability—and our budgets reflect that.

What is the price range (min and max) of the projects that you catered to in 2022?

We work with a wide range of budgets and scopes, from a single “blast” of brand naming creative to comprehensive branding projects including strategy and positioning, brand name development, visual identity design, tagline, and more. Budgets also vary depending on geography, trademark considerations, and the number of stakeholders involved.

Where do you see your company in the next 10 years?

In the past few years alone, we’ve expanded from our roots in name development to encompass brand strategy and visual identity—and added two new offices! Competition for trademarks is greater than ever, meaning that developing brand names and visual marks that are creative, strategic, and available requires deep expertise like ours. And with all the change and disruption in the world, there will only be a greater need for brands that inspire and engender trust, so I’m sure we’ll continue to see increased demand for our services.

Where we are

Locations (1)

Offices where Catchword Branding operates.

Headquarter
United States

United States

409 13th Street, 12th Floor, Tribune Tower
Oakland, California 94612
510.628.0080