The Clearance Call: Auditing a Sub-Brand Naming Shortlist

Marketing Academy · Field Work●Brand Strategy

CoreAudit· 45 minutes

FirstCry (Brainbees Solutions)

Objective: Given a real 10-name shortlist for a new sub-brand, apply the four-filter test and a trademark-clearance triage to decide which names survive to legal review.

FirstCry is launching a premium maternity sub-brand and the internal team has produced a 10-name shortlist with no filtering applied yet. You have one week before names go to outside counsel.

Apply the four-filter test to eliminate weak candidates, then triage the survivors by trademark-conflict risk before recommending which 3 go to a paid clearance opinion.

Before you start

What you'll need

Free path (everything below is enough to finish)

Google Sheets

FreeTrack filter results and TESS triage across the shortlist

Free, sortable, easy to share with the legal team

The process

2 steps

Step 01 of 02

Applying the four-filter test

The lesson's Step 3 eliminates any candidate that fails two or more of spell, say, search, and scale.

Of the 10 shortlisted names, 4 fail the search test because a competitor already dominates page 1. Do any of those 4 also fail a second filter, and should they be cut immediately?

Google Sheets— Import the 10-name shortlist into a sheet with 4 filter columns, mark PASS/FAIL per name.

Procedure

Import the 10-name shortlist and add spell/say/search/scale columns
Google each name and mark search PASS/FAIL based on page-1 competitor dominance
Read each name aloud to 2 colleagues and mark say PASS/FAIL on pronunciation agreement
Cut any name failing 2 or more filters

Sample output

SHORTLIST AUDIT (10 names)
  MaternaCare: search FAIL (existing competitor), scale PASS, spell PASS, say PASS -> KEEP (1 fail)
  BumpEssentials: search FAIL, scale FAIL (too narrow), spell PASS, say PASS -> CUT (2 fails)
  Nestlingo: search PASS, scale PASS, spell FAIL, say PASS -> KEEP (1 fail)

Healthy

Only names failing 0-1 filters remain on the shortlist after this pass.

Unhealthy

A name that fails 3 of 4 filters stays on the list because the team likes how it sounds.

What this means

The filter is a hard cutoff, not a scoring suggestion; sentimental attachment to a failing name is exactly what the framework exists to override.

So what do I do about it?

Symptom	Action	Effort
A favorite name fails 2+ filters but nobody wants to cut it	Present the filter scorecard in the next review meeting before any subjective discussion happens	5 min

YouYou can do this yourself, no engineering access required.

Step 02 of 02

Triaging trademark clearance risk before paying for a legal opinion

The lesson's Step 4 recommends a free USPTO TESS search before spending $500-$2,000 per name on a full attorney clearance opinion.

Of the names surviving the four-filter cut, which show an exact or close match in a free USPTO TESS search, and should be dropped before paying for legal review?

Google Sheets— Add a 'TESS search result' column to the same shortlist sheet.

Procedure

Run each surviving name through a free USPTO TESS search
Mark CLEAR, CLOSE MATCH, or CONFLICT for each
Drop any CONFLICT names regardless of how well they scored on the four-filter test
Send only CLEAR or CLOSE MATCH names to the paid clearance opinion

Sample output

CLEARANCE TRIAGE (3 survivors)
  MaternaCare: TESS = CLOSE MATCH (registered in an adjacent class) -> hold, needs attorney opinion
  Nestlingo: TESS = CLEAR -> send to attorney
  BabyBloom: TESS = CONFLICT (exact match, active registration) -> DROP, do not pay for opinion

Healthy

Only 2-3 names go to the paid attorney opinion, each already cleared or close-matched via free search.

Unhealthy

All 5 surviving names go to the attorney sight-unseen, spending $2,500-$10,000 on names a free search would have eliminated.

What this means

The free TESS search is a triage filter, not a substitute for legal opinion, but it should always run first to avoid paying for names with an obvious conflict.

So what do I do about it?

Symptom	Action	Effort
Budget for legal clearance opinions is fixed at 3 names but 5 survived the four-filter test	Run the free TESS triage before sending any names to counsel, cut CONFLICT results immediately	5 min

YouYou can do this yourself, no engineering access required.

Final deliverable

A filtered shortlist of 2-3 names with a documented pass/fail on all four filters plus a TESS clearance triage result for each, ready to hand to outside counsel.

See a reference example

Sample output

Robinhood Retirement Add-On, clearance triage (excerpt)

SURVIVOR 1: VaultAge
  4-filter: 0 fails   TESS: CLEAR   Recommendation: send to attorney

DROPPED: NestEgg Direct
  4-filter: 1 fail (scale)   TESS: CONFLICT (registered by a competing broker)   Recommendation: do not pursue

Success criteria

You're done when you can:

All 10 names scored against all 4 filters with pass/fail documented
Names failing 2+ filters are cut before the TESS triage step
TESS triage completed for every filter-surviving name, with CONFLICT names dropped before recommending a legal spend