Jack Wimmer is a brand strategist, copywriter, and namer based in North Carolina. He’s also the co-founder of Monika, a “brand naming service that pairs artificial intelligence with human judgment.” Monika made a bit of a splash when it launched, mainly thanks to a Fast Company article, “Naming a brand can cost more than $50,000. This new AI-powered service will do it for much less.” I also wrote about Monika and the use of AI in naming on this blog.
Before I’d even published my article, Jack and I were in touch via LinkedIn. I was eager to hear from him directly, and he seemed equally eager to share his point of view! Doing a Q&A was a no-brainer, and I’m happy to share Jack’s answers to my questions. Below, you’ll learn more about how Monika creates names, the ins and outs of a typical Monika project, and even a bit about pickleball and nihilism. Enjoy!
Creating and launching Monika
Why create a naming service that relies on artificial intelligence? What are the main benefits?
Artificial intelligence was never a passion of ours prior to launching Monika, nor was it the starting point for developing a new venture. AI simply emerged as one of many mechanisms that could be leveraged to create an elite naming service—one capable of delivering names in a fraction of the time, at a fraction of the cost.
What downsides do you see, if any? Is there anything you lose by using AI in some places where humans have been used before?
Honestly, automating the briefing process has introduced more challenges than automating name generation. In a branding agency environment, a company’s brand strategy is typically defined prior to coming up with a name, making it easier to judge what is and isn’t a ‘good’ name. Isolating naming from the rest of the brand development means that companies sometimes approach us without a clear sense of what their brand is all about or who they want to be.
This is less of an issue for our branding agency clients (a growing segment for us), who typically approach Monika with a well-documented vision for the brand.
Monika received a fair amount of media attention when it launched, including a big piece in Fast Company (and a much less prestigious piece by me, on How Brands Are Built!). What effect did that have on your business? How would you describe the reaction overall—positive, negative … just curious?
Aside from those who sell brand naming services themselves, the reaction has been incredibly positive. Agency creatives who have been through the naming wringer multiple times have been particularly enthusiastic. Every day, new briefs are being started on m-o-n-i-k-a.com by curious founders, strategists, namers, writers, marketers and product managers, which tells us we’re onto something.
The naming process at Monika
What can you say (without revealing trade secrets) about the “dozens of bespoke naming models run in parallel” by Monika? How is your AI different from asking ChatGPT to come up with a thousand good name ideas for a company or product?
It wouldn’t be accurate to say that Monika “is an AI,” or to suggest that Monika is functionally comparable to ChatGPT.
Monika’s name generator is composed of a suite of independent models, each designed to produce names of a particular substance and flavor, which are pooled for our manual review and selection. Each model utilizes a different resource or combination of resources (say, page 122 of Frankenstein), is guided by different inputs from the brief (say, the product description), and may or may not use GPT-4 or sentence transformer models to perform a particular task to produce names at scale.
Our mutations—which involve creative actions like swapping or removing vowels, creating rhymes, and inserting special characters—also provide a huge amount of value to the process. All mutations are manually designed by us and applied to names based on their trademark availability and our own creative instruction.
Artificial intelligence was never a passion of ours prior to launching Monika … [it] simply emerged as one of many mechanisms that could be leveraged to create an elite naming service.”
—Jack Wimmer
How does Monika determine likelihood of trademark availability? Is that done with AI? Are humans involved?
There’s no AI involved, no. Our system crawls global trademark databases to determine the likelihood of a name’s availability. Each name receives a score based on the quantity of names that result in a search, and the similarity between those results and the name of interest. We also cast our eyes across each trademark report prior to delivery, always erring on the side of caution.
In my article about Monika, I noted that cultural and linguistic checks are not explicitly included in your process (but would be relatively easy to add). How do you offer this service, if at all?
We have a large language model (LLM) flag names which could be potentially insensitive or offensive, and manually Google our final selections to ensure there’s no unintended meaning. For large corporations that operate globally, we provide recommendations for cultural screening specialists.
I also noted that—as far as I can tell from your website—names are not presented by a person. Rather, a “slick deck” (Fast Company’s words!) is provided without any explanation, rationale, or discussion of the names. Is this accurate? If so, why do it this way, rather than scheduling a call to walk through the names with the client?
We provide a one-sentence rationale for each name, which communicates our intention behind each selection without getting too deep into subjective opinions and trying to shove meaning where there is none (a common practice in the naming industry!).
Our clients come to us for an efficient, no-b.s. pathway to a compelling brand name, so it’s not often that a meeting or presentation is requested. However, when someone asks that we jump on a call, we of course do that without hesitation.
Q&A Bonus Round with Jack Wimmer of Monika
What’s a hobby you have that no one would expect?
I picked up pickleball when I moved back to the United States earlier this year, which gives me a weekly dose of physical competition. It’s an incredibly inclusive sport with a low cost to entry, so you get lots of different folks coming together to play. I’ve been whooped by 16 year olds, developed a rivalry with a guy in his 70s, and ruthlessly destroyed a group of retired women for two straight hours. It’s a lot of fun.
What’s playing in the office (or home office) while you work?
As a remote strategist and namer, I work at a different coffee shop each morning. I’ve got about a dozen in Asheville, North Carolina that I happily shuffle through. This means I’m typically surrounded by a blend of muffled conversations, the clanking of silverware, swinging doors and alt rock / pop country / R&B. These environments give me so much more energy and motivation than just sitting at home, and make me feel like I’m part of something meaningful outside of my career.
What’s something you just can’t stop thinking about lately?
I’ve spent a lot of time this year dwelling on nihilism and the prospect of life having no inherent meaning. Some people fear this possibility, but in a totally-not-psychotic way I kind of revel in it. I find it very freeing to understand that Earth and human consciousness is a total coincidence, and that when I’m dead, I’m just dead, and that it was all for nothing. I saw a painting at the Kettle’s Yard gallery in Cambridge last year that was just a single dot in empty space, and it gave me a lot of comfort.
What’s an object in your home that you love?
I’ve got a pair of bull horns on my wall that my great grandfather had strapped to the front of his car throughout the 1940’s in rural Kansas, where I was raised. It’s falling apart, and somewhat gross, but it fills me with an odd sense of pride when I look at it.
Rob Meyerson is a brand consultant, author of Brand Naming, and co-author of the sixth edition of Designing Brand Identity. He runs Heirloom, a brand strategy and identity firm, and hosts the podcast How Brands Are Built.
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