Name Game

How Important is a Brand Name?
As usual, had a heated discussion with boss & had a tough time convincing him about the same old “Brand Name” isssue.Nothing new, some new products to be launched, so he asked me to think of names for the same.I suggested names & he is again furious that names suggested by me aren’t connoting the category.According to him, the brand should immediately cue the category like Airtel.Well, he is somewhat right but I think its a debatable issue.If meaning of names were that important then why did brands like IKEA, NOKIA, APPLE became world famous and are having the highest recall value.There are hundreds of articles by famous people available which support this fact but my boss says that these are all foreign brands & foreign consumers can accept anything but not Indians…O.K., then Why ORANGE is highly acceptable by Indian consumer for a telecom service provider???There are hundreds of such examples where brands aren’t having any specific meaning but are still accepted & liked by the Indian consumer too.I mean this is the discusion point bewteen me & my boss every time a new product gets launched and everytime he goes ahead with a name that cues the category……Well I agree that name should be easy to pronounce & have some positive meaning/impact….but why cue the category???He thinks that I am new in my career, so I throw all these new & bookish ideas which is not very suitable to Indian consumer market….So, thought of putting my viewpoints here.Does a brand necessarily cue the category?I feel no………