PS212

What PS212 does

PS212 is a privately held professional naming and branding consultancy founded in 2008 by David Gaglione and Nik Contis, headquartered in New York City. The firm provides verbal brand identity services including company naming, product naming, brand architecture, name research, trademark screening, and global cultural sensitivity analysis to clients ranging from venture-funded startups to Fortune 50 corporations, alongside nonprofits, government, and influencers. Marquee engagements include Waymo One, Sonos Era, Tapestry (Coach's holding company rebrand), Pfizer's PfizerForAll, Amazon Echo Show, KPMG's Lakehouse, ACLU's "Systemic Equality" initiative, and the City of New York's congestion pricing program.

The firm operates on a project-based professional services model, billing quote-based fees determined per engagement. Its core intellectual property is the trademarked Cultural Sensitivity Analysis™ methodology for evaluating names across languages and cultures, paired with a 15+ year integrated workflow using Corsearch trademark databases spanning US Federal/State plus 30 international jurisdictions. Additional codified offerings include Naming Best Practices & Playbooks for in-house teams and Influencer Branding services. There is no software platform or AI product; delivery is consultant-led by a senior-only staffing model.

PS212's go-to-market is sales-led and referral-driven, with engagement initiated via website contact forms, direct partner outreach, and industry referrals leveraging 30+ years of partner relationships. The team of approximately 10-11 named professionals operates across New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco offices, with global service delivery via online communications. The firm is independently owned by its founding partners with no disclosed outside equity, no funding rounds, and no parent company.

Name

PS212

Legal name

PS212, LLC

Website

https://ps212.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

PS212 is a New York-based naming and branding consultancy founded in 2008 that provides company, product, and brand naming services to clients ranging from venture-funded startups to Fortune 50 corporations, as well as nonprofits and government entities, delivered by a senior partner-led team across three US offices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Naming Consulting Services: Professional services revenue from naming assignments for companies, products, initiatives, and brands. Projects include company naming, product naming, brand architecture, ticker symbol naming, holding company naming, non-profit naming, and startup naming.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

PS212 is a professional naming and branding agency that creates company names, product names, brand architecture, ticker symbols, and initiative names for clients ranging from startups to Fortune 50 corporations. Their work spans the full naming lifecycle from creative development and preliminary trademark screening to global cultural sensitivity analysis and naming best practices documentation.

Product overview

PS212 is a professional naming and branding agency that offers a comprehensive suite of services centered on verbal branding and naming strategy. The company provides brand naming, brand architecture, brand strategy, name research, naming best practices, startup naming, influencer branding, trademark screening, and cultural sensitivity analysis services. Rather than a software platform, PS212 operates as a consultancy delivering human-powered naming expertise to clients ranging from startups to Fortune 50 companies. Their process includes creative development, trademark screening using Corsearch databases across 30+ countries, cultural sensitivity analysis, and implementation guidance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brand Naming Professional brand naming services for companies, products, and services. PS212 develops memorable, meaningful names that differentiate brands and support business objectives.
• Brand Architecture Strategic organization and structure of a brand's portfolio of products, services, and sub-brands. Creates coherent relationships among offerings and tells a brand story to key audiences.
• Brand Strategy Includes naming strategy, brand positioning, and value proposition services that establish the foundation for brand expression and experiences.
• Name Research Qualitative and quantitative name research services to identify optimal names, explore language and concepts, and support final name selection through customized research studies.
• Naming Best Practices & Playbooks Custom naming best practice documents and playbooks that help organizations establish what and how to name, saving time and money while keeping portfolios clean and strategic.
• Venture Funded & Start-up Naming Naming services for startups and venture-funded companies, creating names that are personal, powerful, and built to grow with the business from pre-seed to growth stage.
• Influencer Branding Personal branding services for influencers and public figures, creating memorable and meaningful brand identities that extend influence into commercial success.
• Preliminary Trademark Screening Initial trademark evaluation to identify potential risks, knock out similar marks, and optimize the naming process before investing in full trademark searches.
• Thorough Trademark Search Reports Comprehensive trademark search reports providing clearer pictures of potential legal risks across registered and unregistered marks in US and international databases.
• Global & Cultural Sensitivity Analysis Cultural and global sensitivity analysis to assess how names are pronounced in different languages and what they mean or suggest across cultures, including pronunciation guides, regional associations, and intended/unintended meanings.

Quantifiable outcome

• 80-90% reduction in name candidates after preliminary trademark screening
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers17 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CorsearchcoreOthersPS212 has worked collaboratively for over 15 years with Corsearch as their trademark screening partner, using their databases including US Federal and State trademark databases plus 30 international trademark databases for preliminary and thorough trademark searches.
• Science x StoryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIntroduction agency that connected Upwork with PS212 for the Lifted naming project. Science x Story serves as a creative bridge introducing brands to PS212 for naming collaborations.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Igor Naming: International naming agency focused exclusively on brand, product, and corporate naming. Direct boutique competitor with a similar pure-play positioning and global client roster.
• Siegel+Gale: Global brand strategy and naming consultancy where Nik Contis previously ran the global naming practice. Directly comparable as a naming-led brand consultancy with a similar senior-practitioner model and Fortune 500 client base.
• Catchword: Independent naming and branding agency specializing in trademark-clear, culturally vetted brand names. Closest direct peer in scale and service mix, competing for similar mid-market and Fortune 500 naming assignments.
• Lexicon Branding: Long-standing boutique naming agency known for creating iconic brand names (BlackBerry, Swiffer, Febreze). Direct competitor — both firms are pure-play naming consultancies serving Fortune 500 clients, and PS212's Senior Partner Nik Contis previously worked there.
• Tanj: New York-based naming and verbal identity consultancy founded by a former naming agency partner. Competes head-to-head with PS212 for corporate, product, and brand-naming mandates in the US market.
• Labbrand: International brand consultancy with a strong naming practice across China, Europe, and North America. Directly comparable as a naming-led agency with proprietary cultural and linguistic screening — closer to PS212's Cultural Sensitivity Analysis™ than most peers.

Broad incumbents

• FutureBrand: Global brand strategy and design consultancy with naming capabilities. Competes for enterprise rebrands but bundles naming into larger identity and strategy engagements rather than offering it as a standalone specialty.
• Landor & Fitch: Major global branding consultancy offering naming within broader identity and experience design engagements. Competes for the same enterprise rebranding and holding-company mandates (e.g., the kind Tapestry represents).
• Interbrand: Global brand consultancy with a dedicated naming practice, serving many of the same Fortune 500 buyers as PS212. Comparable on naming but operates at much larger scale across identity, architecture, and brand valuation.

Emerging players

• Ruckus Branding: Independent branding agency offering naming alongside broader identity and design services. Less specialized than PS212 in pure naming but competes for similar mid-market and growth-stage company work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PS212Naming

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about PS212