Anthony Shore has one of the most unique and distinct jobs today, being a professional namer.
His job is to source new names for companies and ensure they stand out amongst their competitors. Over 250 organisations and products can trace their names to Shore's creative talents.
These include known companies such as Accenture, Tonal Home Gym, Virgin Voyages, Dreyer's Slow Churned Ice Cream and Yum! Brands. Shore has also delivered services and products from renowned companies, including Adobe Lightroom, FedEx Custom Critical and the Fitbit Ionic.
Speaking to Fortune, Shore described his naming responsibilities: "It's the best job in the world. I sit around all day and think of ideas and words."
He also mentioned the habit of naming sticks with him even outside of work: "I have feelings about names when I see them—whether I want those feelings or not. I can't turn it off."
While the 56-year-old has never mentioned how much he charges for his unique services, StartupNation has revealed that specialists in the sector typically charge between $10,000 and $100,000, depending on the task.
Shore has worked his way to the top of the branding industry as he now oversees his naming agency, Operative Words, launching it 15 years ago. Before running his shop, he worked as a copyrighter and typesetter while also gaining knowledge at Lexicon Branding and Landor Associates.
The naming expert has a tailored process that he follows for each project, and it begins with listing the aims of the name from speaking to his client. From here, he and his team utilise linguistic software to help draw up over 1000 potential names before shortlisting around 100 of the best ones.
Shore then must find out whether the names are available and can be trademarked. During meetings with the client, he will present his ideas, and the pool of names will gradually reduce based on the client's preference before one is eventually pinpointed as the best option.
The 56-year-old usually works on a single project all the way through for seven weeks. According to Shore himself, a good name must be inspiring, different and available for use legally.
One of the more notable projects Shore was involved with during his three-decade-long tenure in the branding industry was sourcing a new name for a professional services company, Andersen Consulting. In August 2000, the organisation was ordered to change its name because it separated with Arthur Andersen LLP, an ex-accounting firm.
Shore, a former naming and writing director with Landor Associates, was tasked with overseeing the $100 million renaming process. The eventual name, Accenture, was first brought up by a female Danish employee in the company's Oslo office before it was eventually voted as the successor name by senior partners over other drawn-up names.
Looking back on why Accenture became the new name, Shore said: "It was the only name on the list which began with AC, and the Andersen Consulting logo was an A with a superscript C. So there was a little bit of comfort that came with this name."
Despite Accenture spending heavily on the name change, being separated from Arthur Andersen was beneficial as the latter was caught up in the accounting scandal with Enron, which led to its eventual demise.
Shore's eye for a good name means he can suspect poor branding, with the 56-year-old not a fan of Twitter's transition to X. He explained: "X is a branding crime. To have taken the Twitter brand and all of its equity and its whole branded ecosystem—and to debrand it with this off-the-shelf idea that's utterly undifferentiated is a crime."
