Tungsten Branding

In short

Tungsten Branding was founded in Raleigh in 1999 by Phil Davis, after seventeen years running an ad agency in Tampa Bay; the idea was that a good name cuts the ad bill later. It says it has named more than 750 companies, products and services, from hotels to hot water heaters. The work covers name development, review of a client's own shortlist and brand architecture, with taglines and visual identity added when needed. It is #11 on our naming ranking.

PODS is the name it points to first. A moving-and-storage startup called Portables, a word tied to outdoor toilets and temporary classrooms, became PODS, which doubles as an acronym for Portable On Demand Storage and ended up naming the category. Kansas City Sampler, a fan-apparel shop outgrowing Kansas, became Rally House, now 325 stores in 29 states. For the owners of Sir Speedy it named TeamLogicIT, a national IT franchise aimed at small businesses.

Companies that have outgrown a local or descriptive name, are going through a merger, or are stuck choosing from a shortlist they already have, fit the assignments Tungsten describes, particularly in healthcare, financial services, industrial and retail. Its work stops at the brand identity a company needs before launch, so anyone who needs a digital product designed, an app built or ongoing marketing run should plan to hire a separate team.