Non-Alcoholic Beverage Names That Actually Work!

In this episode of Naming in the AI Age, Ashley Elliott unpacks how non-alcoholic beverage brands use naming to stand out in a vibe-driven market. She outlines four naming strategies: descriptive (e.g., Hop Water), suggestive (e.g., Recess, Trip), abstract (e.g., Hiyo, De Soi), and unconventional (e.g., Cornbread). While descriptive names offer clarity, Ashley argues that suggestive and abstract names better capture emotion and brand potential in a space where mood often outweighs function.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to the episode
• 0:06 Overview of naming in the non-alcoholic beverage space
• 0:45 Descriptive naming: Hop Water and Kin Euphorics
• 1:28 Trade-offs of descriptive names
• 2:12 Suggestive names: Recess, Trip
• 2:54 More suggestive names: Mingle, Moment
• 3:34 Abstract names: Hiyo, De Soi
• 4:24 Wildcard name: Cornbread + key takeaways

Transcript

Ashley Elliott (00:05):

Well, hello and welcome back to Naming in the AI Age, the podcast where we really explore what it takes to make a name work in a world of algorithms, AI, and short attention spans. Today we're going to dive into something a little bit different, the world of non-alcoholic alternative drinks that are all the buzz pun intended. And more importantly, we're going to look at how these brands are naming themselves to really stand out on shelves or in social ether. We'll take a look at few of the trailblazing brands and categorize their names. So let's get started. I have some of these with me. The first little camp of names that we're going to talk about are the more descriptive style of names for these drinks. So the first one we have is hop water. I don't have that one with me, but hop water signals.

(00:45):

This water has hops. Pretty descriptive, helpful for somebody that's looking for a non-alcoholic bureau alternative on the shelf. So that's definitely an example of a more descriptive style name, which we don't see a ton of in this space, or I haven't considering all the ones I've researched so far. Next we have kin euphoric and it's a pretty small can. I like the idea of kin really likened to that euphoric feeling. It also could be likened to, it tastes good. It gives you that feeling of alcohol without actually being alcohol. And then the euphoric really taking you to the mood enhancing beverage aspect of it. So I would say this is a little less descriptive than hop water, but also really lands in that camp. The trade off with these descriptive names though is they're easier to understand, but because the language is familiar, you really need to tell a story.

(01:28):

You need to do the packaging and the storytelling and that product experience to make it more unique and distinctive. It's a low barrier to entry, but also a low barrier for people to try to imitate it. Now some of these more suggestive names of beverages I have is probably my favorite camp of names. So we have recess, so we have recess, zero proof, a craft mocktail, and then we have recess mood, which is just a mood enhancing drink. I like the concept of recess. It reminds me of school taking a recess, taking a break. You could do it at the end of your day, taking a recess. It's a drink for unwinding, for play that really connotes all of that when a single word, which is nice and it's a very familiar word. Another one we have is Trip. I thought this was kind of clever.

(02:12):

It's short. One syllable recess is two syllables. So it has maybe an advantage on that aspect of it. But I like the concept of taking a trip. So grabbing an actual trip, I'm going to take a trip with me, or I'm going on a trip. I need to take a trip. Trip. Could take you to some interesting evocative connotation, but it also really just lands well. I think then we have, I don't have this one with me is mingle. Mingle I think is cool because it really takes you into social settings. It's light, it's approachable. It's definitely into the vibe or the benefit. You can take this while you mingle. You don't have to feel odd not having a drink in your hand. So then we have moment, I really like moment, moment is akin to me to trip or mingle, really enjoying the moment, whether that be enjoying the moment and being lively or enjoying the moment in relaxation.

(02:54):

I really like where these are. They're suggestive of the vibe or the benefit. They really lean into that emotional stickiness, but it's not too literal and not too abstract. Now we do have a couple of the more abstract styles of names. So the first one we have is he, and I had to look up how to say it. I thought it was Hiyo. It's Hiyo, but he is actually Swahili for that. So the concept of I'm taking that with me on hand could be where it comes from. It's definitely short. Two syllables. It could take you to, it almost just sounds made up and joyful. Take you to greetings even if you don't know the backstory. So I think that from a brand building standpoint is a pretty sweet spot. I mean, two syllables, four letters, it's hard to get these days when it comes to trademark.

(03:34):

Then we have De Soi, which means by oneself or by yourself in French. So that could be really this elegant. This is more of an elegant abstract name I would say, and it really leans into the moment of being alone, that euphoric type of feeling. So I feel like Hiyo and De Soi are very different in style of name and the tone that they come across, but they both land in the more abstract, evocative. I'm curious what you guys think of these names specifically, but I have one more that's an outlier that I found and it is called Cornbread. I saw it immediately on my Facebook feed and I had to literally dive in because I wanted it to know. The tagline said Drink cornbread, and I was intrigued. It's unconventional, it's nostalgic if you're from the south like me. It's unexpected, not intuitive for a drink.

(04:24):

So it really does make it memorable in a strange way. I actually reached out to the company themselves. I couldn't find the backstory, and so the backstory actually is cornbread is an ode to the co-founder of Cornbread, the company. He wrote a book on the Cornbread Mafia, which side note, you'll have to look that up later. That's an interesting story for another day or another podcast. But really I thought this was such an evocative name. It's so different in the category. I'm sure there are more out there, but that one really grabbed me. So I think one thing to think about when we talked about the more descriptive names versus the evocative names. The evocative names like the De Soi and Hiyo are going to really need more brand building investment. They don't inherently explain what the product is, but their payoff is they're unique and they're memorable.

(05:05):

If the name lands and the product delivers on these style names, you can really create that buildable, ownable identity that very few can replicate. So thinking about, okay, what's the takeaway of this? Thinking of the more distinctiveness you can gain, the more unique your name is, great, but it also comes at the cost of clarity and upfront understanding on the shelf or in social situations. So descriptive names are discoverable and abstract names are more memorable. It just depends on where you want to land. In the non-alcoholic space, where the vibe really matters as much as the function, we are seeing that growing preference for suggestive and evocative names like a cornbread really pop up that really tee a feeling versus specifically function or flavor. But all that to say, I think we should try one, and until next time, cheers.