Representing Greek culinary culture.
Tell me that it's Greek, without telling me that it's Greek.
"We have a tricky one." were the first words coming out of Kostas Kaparos' mouth when he first called to talk about a huge new project. Kostas is the captain of Caparo Design Crew and it wasn't the first time that we would work on a project for LILD Hellas together.
We both have a thing for challenging cases so we were instantly on board.
LIDL was ready to launch a new, extended portfolio of quality food and beverage products characterized by local ingredients, regional flavors, and traditional recipes from all over the country. Everything would be under one brand, one visual identity, and of course under one name.
The task was to create a name that would reflect Greekness as well as quality, without being one more brand that uses the words "Greek-" or "Hellenic-" since that naming ecosystem is heavily clattered.
The brief came with a clear direction: "We don't want to say that the products are Greek, we people to sense it. We want consumers to feel our products' quality instead of being told. We want the name to reflect values like tradition, originality, and nostalgia, instead of saying them.
A proper, clean, and efficient approach to brand naming. The one brandname creators wish for.
So we got down to business.
Should we look for an existing word or make one up?
"Lexiplasia" or word-building is the process where we carefully design words hoping to create phonetic schemes that will vibe to the consumers' eyes and ears in a certain way. Words that will guide the audience to make meaningful connotations while leaving space for a strong connection with the brand.
Among the initial tryouts, the word "νώμα" [noma] came along. A gentle and easy word, that echoed both "δώμα" [doma > folk word for a small room that gives out Greek countryside vibes] and "νάμα" [nama > ancient Greek word for the water from the mountain source, and everything that revitalizes or inspires].
Nώμα sounded like it came straight from ancient Greek but the first search showed no existing word of this kind. When we decided to dig deeper, we struck gold.
In a long-gone ancient dialect the word "Νώμα" not only existed, but it had the most beautiful and relevant-to-our-brand dual meaning:
Remembrance & Sharing.
The sophistication and elegance of this small word, its timeless meaning, and the reverbing messages that come along as one listens to it being spoken made us all feel confident that we had found our name.
Now, a few months after the launch, νώμα stands for hundreds of products, and people have brought back this long-gone little word to their everyday vocabulary.
Feeling the vibe of flavorful, timeless traditions every time they pronounce it.