Bissell Case Study

A red and black logo with a stylized triangular shape and the word "HEAT".
Logo with the words 'THE IDEA STORE' and a circular design with an arrow pointing outward.

Industry: Home Care & Appliances

Service: ITG EXCITE®

5,875 Ideas. One Perfect Name.

Bissell was launching a category-defining product and needed a name to match. ITG’s Creative Consumers® delivered, and the result became one of the brand’s most memorable product launches.

5,875

Ideas Generated in a Single Session

34

Participants Co-Creating Live

100+

Names Advanced to Legal Testing

The Challenge

Bissell was bringing something genuinely new to market: a single product that vacuums and steam-mops at the same time. A breakthrough product deserved a breakthrough name, one that could carry a single-minded message, appeal broadly across consumer segments, fit within a newly redefined brand, and breathe fresh energy into the steam category. A generic product name wouldn’t cut it. The bar was high, and the name had to do a lot of heavy lifting.

What Success Looked Like

Develop a creative, compelling product name — plus names for several key features — that would capture the product’s unique value, resonate emotionally with consumers, and hold up through legal scrutiny and market testing.

How We Got There

ITG brought 14 Bissell stakeholders and 20 Creative Consumers® associates together in a live online session, guided by ITG’s expert Facilitators. From the start, the approach was about building, not just testing. Consumers didn’t react to a pre-set list of options, they generated names from scratch, working through structured creative exercises designed to push past the predictable and surface ideas with real originality.

Bissell’s team participated alongside the consumers in real time, adding their own ideas, reacting to what consumers said, and building on the energy of the room. The collaborative dynamic was key: when consumers and clients ideate together, the output is richer and more aligned than when either group works alone.

Using ITG’s championing and voting process, the full group identified their highest-interest names, capturing both functional and inventive directions across the product and its core features. From thousands of ideas, the team identified a focused top-100 list ready for the next phase.

  • Structured creative exercises pushed beyond obvious, generic names

  • Real-time co-creation between client stakeholders and Creative Consumers® associates

  • ITG’s Championing process aligned the group fast and with confidence

The Results

From 5,875 ideas, one name rose to the top: Symphony™. It perfectly captures the product’s core idea — two functions working in harmony, like instruments in an orchestra. Bissell took the name to launch, and even produced a dedicated product video to showcase the Symphony’s extraordinary cleaning powers. A name that started as one idea among thousands became a product identity that still resonates.

This project used ITG EXCITE® — Communications that begin and end with your audience.

Find the Words Your Product Deserves

The right name doesn’t just label a product. It communicates everything your audience needs to feel. Let’s co-create it.