While health and wellness is not a new trend, it is one that has been accelerated by the pandemic. Consumers are increasingly more conscious about their health, and this affects their snacking choice and habits as they continuously look for healthier ways to indulge in their snacks and sweets. Demand for healthier snacks and confectionery is therefore on the rise, not only because of consumers’ re-evaluated indulgent choices, but also because snacking breaks have also proven to be good relief for consumers during this period.

In the highly competitive snacks and confectionery market, brand naming trend becomes essential in creating distinction. Having good brand names that are eye-catching, memorable, and unique can become a vital competitive edge especially because these names tend to make up the foremost impression of the brand and product.

In this article, we will look into a few brand naming trends in the snacks and confectionery category:

1. Deeper Meanings

An increasingly explored brand naming approach in the industry, these brands create their names with a strong rationale or message to create an emotional connect with their consumers. Having a deep meaning behind these names will also give consumers a more lasting impression on the brand story, missions, and values.

BARE SNACKS

Aligned to their motto of Less is More, BARE Snacks wants to communicate their simplified process of having real fruits and coconuts baked to crunchy perfection without the use of excessive preservatives, artificial colorings, flavors, added sugar and more.

Having the word “bare” as the brand name strongly aligns with this core intent, creating the right impression among consumers where its snacks are as simple and healthy as it claims to be.

SECONDS

At SECONDS, the brand transforms perfectly good and nutritious carrot pulps, peels, and other bits, which would have been normally discarded, into deliciously crunchy crackers.

The name “SECONDS” is inspired from “second chances” as the brand aims to reimagine snacking by creating healthy and delicious snacks through upcycled vegetables. “SECONDS” also cleverly hints at the addictive and flavorful crackers, so much so that consumers will definitely crave for their second bites and more!

LESSEREVIL

Through naming, LesserEvil wants to communicate the core values that are dear to the brand. It strongly believes simple acts such as minimizing environmental footprints and contributing to communities can bring about positive change, and clean snacks can promote good wellness and care.

The brand name “LesserEvil” successfully expresses the goodness of the company and products, appealing to consumers who are socially, environmentally and health conscious.

KARMA BITES

As a brand building its philosophy on “release your inner goodness”, Karma Bites focuses on the overarching wellness lifestyle enabled by snacking. “Karma”, in this context, indicates that with each bite, consumers are taking actions and wellness responsibility towards their futures and their lifestyle. By snacking on Karma Bites, the brand empowers its consumers to mindfully snack and lead “virtuous karmic cycles of goodness and positivity”.

On another read, it can be interpreted as a pre-emptive measure as a wordplay of ‘xxx bites’ (ex. reality bites), cautioning the consequences of unhealthy diet and negativity that may affect people’s wellbeing and lifestyle. The brand name is versatile with its double meaning, and at the same time advocates a more significant role that snacking can play in consumers’ lifestyle.

2. Conversational & Playful

Where brands aim to increase relevance and resonance with consumers by being more communicative and personal in their naming approach. These brand names tend to be more slang-like and informal, where the words are more commonly used in speech than in writing.

GIMME

The brand gimMe aims to create and promote healthy superfood snacks among both parents and children while being environmentally and socially friendly. Unlike many organic and sustainable companies that may come across as serious, gimMe adopts a more playful approach to express that healthy and sustainable snacking is fun for all.

The brand name “gimMe” is a slang expression that defines “give me”; it is short, easy and widely used in speech among consumers of all ages. Using this slang expression not only aligns to the fun, playful brand personality and encourages the act of snacking, it also makes it easy for the brand to connect with consumers, especially the young ones who like to use this term in their daily conversations.

PIGOUT

A snacks brand by Outstanding Foods, PigOut is an innovative 100% plant-based chips that taste like l, allowing consumers to indulge in the crispy, salty, fatty, lingering flavor of bacon without the cons associated with the actual, traditional pork ingredients. 

Using the slang expression “pig out” is not only cleverly punny with its association to bacon, it also fully expresses the brand’s ability to allow consumers snack to their hearts’ content without feeling guilty or unhealthy.

SNACK FIRST

When one hears the short phrase “snack first”, one is prompted to answer it with “do something later”. Recognizing that snacks bring happiness, it intends to honor that happiness by granting the priority of doing it first through brand naming. The brand in a way indulges the consumers to take their snack cravings seriously above all else. This conversational expression also illustrates the brand as the companions who pamper consumers as it knows how snacks are essential for physical and mental functioning through the day.

OH SO HEALTHY!

This casual and conversational name atop an exclamation mark highlights the emotional benefits the brand wishes to communicate. With ‘oh’ and ‘so’, the naming illustrates a reactionary expression to the impressively delicious snack that’s used among common exchanges between close friends (a personality that the brand wishes to establish). Whereas ‘healthy’ is a juxtaposition stand in for the healthy lifestyle value the brand aims to promote.

The name is also abbreviated as the acronym ‘osh!’, which establishes a uniquely brand-owned slogan as well as creating a brand inner sub-culture. It also adheres to the youthful, digital slangs that’s trendy, as many of its marketing campaigns also uses similar phrases such as ‘oh so cool!’ or ‘oh so good!’— the conversational expression offers flexibility and light-hearted lifestyle.

3. Playing Opposites

Where brands use words that have a meaning contrary to their products and values. While uncommon, this naming approach intrigues curious customers to learn more about the brand. A famous example would be Impossible Foods, where the irony lies in the name as the brand makes plant-based foods a reality.

BEHAVE

BEHAVE serves to fulfill the sweet cravings and desires of consumers who have been told to “behave” when it comes to candies growing up. By ensuring that its gummy bears are low in sugar, made without artificial ingredients, and yet still delicious tasting allows consumers to “misbehave” by indulging in sweets.

From a naming perspective, BEHAVE essentially connotes two sets of ironies, where on one hand, “behave” becomes an act of obedience to eating healthy (even if they are essentially candies), and on the other “behave” is an act of defiance to eating sweets despite being told not to do so.

UGLIES SNACKS

Uglies are chips crafted from potatoes that have imperfections – be it in terms of their sizes, colors, blemishes, or sugar contents.

Although the brand name accentuated the imperfections of its raw ingredients, using “ugly” becomes a unique irony that captures the beauty of the perfectly transformed chips. These chips are seen as more beautiful and perfect in the eyes of consumers because of their crisp and delicious flavors, as well as the positive impact the brand has on the environment through upcycling imperfect potatoes.

4. Big & Bombastic

This brand naming method adopts the use of big, descriptive words to bring impact. Brands that adopt this approach tend to have loud and strong personalities that they would like to express even at the naming front.

INSANE GRAIN

As the name suggests, Insane Grain brings insanely delicious baked snacks, that are insanely nutritious, good for gut health, the planet and community.

Using the word “insane” as part of the name therefore boldly describes the brand’s incredible products, especially because the main ingredient is not just any grain, but a super grain named sorghum that is packed with nutrition. It also accentuates the brand’s incredibly positive impact on its environment and people.

GRENADE

Because the brand’s healthy, weight-loss products are so effective, it generated a lot of noise among consumers in sports and bodybuilding. This  inspired the birth of the brand name “Grenade”, as it perfectly describes how the bars are so explosively good, just “like a grenade”.

The brand continued this powerful theme even as it expands its product range, creating unique product names such as “Carb Killa”, “Thermo Detonator” and more.

GIGANTIC

Despite it being a plant-based candy bar with low, organic sugar content, Gigantic wants to emphasize that is still a humongously delicious treat.

Using a bold description “gigantic” as the brand name therefore emphasizes its “heavy abundance” of flavours and natural, quality ingredients, and also aligns strongly with the brand’s loud and fun personality.

5. Clever Combinations

Where brands use two or more words to create a newly combined name. Brand names that are made of a combination of words tend to be more unique, draw different sets of positive associations from each word and bring about greater meanings as a whole.

HIPPEAS

The brand name “Hippeas” is a combination of “hip” and “peas”. As Hippeas is an organic chickpea snacks brand, “peas” is used at the fore to describe this nutrition-packed main pea ingredient. The use of “hip”, a commonly used slang word directly implies that snacking healthy, snacking on plant-based foods like Hippeas is cool.

As a full combined word, Hippeas also sounds similar to “hippies” which is a slang expression for people who are seen as “hip” and cool, thereby implying that Hippeas consumers are tremendously awesome individuals.

NATURELLY

The brand name “Naturelly” is a combination of “natural” and “jelly”. As Naturelly is a healthy fruits jelly snacks brand, “jelly” is used at the fore to describe the special gelatine free, wibbly jelly named Gellan Gum, a main ingredient for their snacks. “Nature” is used to describe its used of freshly squeezed fruits and other natural ingredients.

As a full combined word, Naturelly also sounds similar to “naturally” which not only emphasizes its simple and natural formula, but also affirms parents that the brand is naturally the best, nutritious snack for children.

OATBEDIENT

Oatbedient is a verbal combination of “oat” and “obedient”, conveying a healthier plant-alternative oat variety which production process is disciplined with no nonsense, clean-labelled ingredients. The name, phonetically “obedient”, implies the brand’s technical rigour and scientific compliance to natural, organic, no chemicals production, as well as a consumer-facing interpretation, that through the brand Oatbedient, consumers are able to discipline their craving for heavy unhealthy diets that are usually filled with unknown harmful chemicals and ingredients.

6. Simple & Direct

A more commonly used approach, these brands create names that are simple and straightforward, making it easy for consumers to grasp what their brand or product is all about. It also reduces confusion, misspelling, misinterpretation, or mispronunciation.

THIS SAVES LIVES

For every bar that consumers purchase, the brand sends life-saving food to a child in need. “This Saves Lives” as a brand name explicitly highlights the brand’s strong mission to end severe acute malnutrition and allows consumers to feel good with every snack bar they purchase because they know that they are contributing to a positive social cause instantly.

RE-FOODS

The snack brand name immediately triggers a linkage with Sustainability, especially with its 3Rs in packaging goods, namely, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. “Re-” is intuitively associated with once-more in a cycle, a revival and rebirth. To “re-“ something is to revisit and renew its purpose for second life. Indeed, Re-Foods brand reflects this proposition through sustainably farm ingredients in environmentally friendly soils that’s kind to the planet, producing all its snacks naturally without any artificial additives.

This simple use of preposition “re” together with a hyphen directly communicates the sustainable aspect of brand. And by leaving the latter part blank, it leaves room for creativity for anyone to attach phrases after  “re-“, thus seeding a grassroots sustainable consciousness among consumers.

PLANT POPS

“Plant Pops” is not only catchy in its alliteration, it makes the “plant” component “pop” with attention — all of its products are only using plant seeds, nuts and grains as ingredients. Its emphasis on “pop” also indicates both the sound of popping and the shape of the rounded puffs themselves. Using “pop” in its brand naming thereby reflects the gratifying and de-stressing snacking experience, the crunchy munch-ability of its puffs, as well as setting the expectation of an instantaneous surprise in the taste experience journey. At a glance, the simple brand name is not only easy to remember, but also clearly associated with its plant-based ingredients and satisfying snacking experience.

Conclusion

While having a unique and creative brand name is essential for snacks and confectionery brands, it is also important to ensure that the chosen name encapsulates the key brand intent and remains aligned the brand’s overall image and positioning. As such, not only does it need to be identifiable and memorable, the name will also need to drive clear associations for a strong brand alignment.