This is a naming project for a not-yet-named cargo bike delivery service in Basel, working the last mile for small shops and bakeries inside the city ring. The name has to carry a simple, honest promise: pick up at eight, deliver by eleven, no vans, no diesel. It needs to work as hard on a trailer at a red light as it does on an invoice.
Overview & Goals
- Deliver a name that reads clearly on a moving trailer, at a glance, from behind
- Find a word that sits naturally in both German and French without sounding foreign in either
- Clear Swiss trademark, domain and social handle checks before the spring launch
- Avoid cycling clichés and generic green branding so the name can outlast the founding team
Budget & Timeline
The first four weeks are for developing and testing a shortlist of names that survive being said out loud on a phone. The following month is for narrowing to one name, clearing it through trademark, domain and handle checks, and locking it in time to register before riding starts in spring.
Brand programme
- Situation
- New brand
- Naming
- Name needed
- Naming constraints
- Two syllables if possible, three at most. Must be pronounceable in German and French without either sounding foreign. No cycling puns, no compound of green and something. Not a person's name, because a third partner may join. The .ch domain must be free.
- Voice
- Friendly, Confident
- Checks needed
- Domain available, Trademark search, Social handles free, Pronounceable in other languages
- Languages & markets
- German and French, Basel and the Alsace.
- Kind of name
- An invented word, A real word used differently
Brand Story & Voice
The brand speaks like a reliable neighbour: no jargon, no green posturing, just a clear promise kept every morning. It should sound as natural in French as it does in German.
Target Audience
The people who matter are small shop owners and bakers inside the Basel city ring who need a dependable, quiet alternative to vans for short-haul delivery.
Style
In the client's own words
Two of us are starting a cargo bike delivery company in Basel and we have no name. We do the last mile for small shops and bakeries inside the city ring: they hand us a crate at eight, we deliver it by eleven, no van, no diesel. We have a business plan, two riders and a leased trailer, and every name we have thought of ourselves is either taken or sounds like a bicycle courier from 1996. It must work in German and French, because half our customers are in the Elsass and Basel is bilingual in practice. Short enough to fit on the side of a trailer and to say on the phone without spelling it.
Scope & Deliverables
- Naming direction workshop and territory mapping
- Shortlist of candidate names, invented and repurposed real words
- Swiss trademark screening for shortlisted names
- Domain,.ch registration and social handle availability check
- Pronunciation testing in German and French
- Final name recommendation with rationale
Do's & Don'ts
Do
- Bring at least three names that actually survive a Swiss trademark search
- Say every candidate out loud on a phone before it goes on the shortlist
- Test each name for clarity in both German and French
- Check the.ch domain and social handles before falling in love with anything
Don't
- Do not build the concept around a word that only works in German
- Do not propose names with umlauts or other diacritics
- Do not lean on cycling puns or green plus something compounds
- Do not use a person's name, since a third partner may still join