Case Study: Saucy Mama

Business & Product Naming

Marielle Tomlin is a Certified Nurse Midwife who already knew how to serve women one-on-one (and deliver their babies -- casual?!) But she had a bigger vision: to reach pregnant women and new moms with luxury skincare products to help ensure they don't lose themselves in motherhood and help them feel human again.

She had:

• A clear mission to help moms reconnect with themselves through daily routines

• A brand aesthetic already in the works (Shout-out to another client of mine, the talented Eva Couto of Flying Colours Creative)

• And a strong personality: smart, maternal, and sauuucy!

What Marielle came to me with -- by Eva Couto of Flying Colours Creative

What she didn’t have was a brand name.

Or product names. Or a newsletter name.

Marielle needed THE WORKS. Which meant, she needed a system. The name(s) we landed on had to establish naming conventions for now AND later. So, this system needed to:

• Make her products irresistible to say, share, and slather

• Sound unlike anything else in the baby-and-bump aisle

• Scale into content, AND foster community

• Feel warm, cheeky, wise, and maternal—all at once

  
  

And it had to work not just on a jar—but on any other postpartum care products in the future.

THE WORK

I named:

• The brand

• The tagline

• Every product in the initial launch line

• Her newsletter

• And I wrote her original website copy (including a 404 page that reads: “This page has Mom Brain.” Forever a favorite.)
  

But more importantly, I built a verbal ecosystem that let her be seen as both a skincare brand and a founder of something bigger. I wrote the linguistic birth plan -- if you will -- for the Saucy Mama movement.

THE NAMING STRATEGY

How I approached the system:

• Sensory-driven language to reflect her texture-rich, smell-good products. Marielle knew she wanted a common word for each product. We played with "stuff," "goop" (couldn't use that one though!) and ultimately landed on "sauce."

  • "Sauce" goes perfectly with the adjective SAUCY giving us a nice double entendre, but also, we loved that we could now niche into "food" for the products that weren't sauces -- ie - Boobie BUTTER.

• Voice consistency to make the brand instantly recognizable across platforms

• Scalability so she could name new products, bundles, &thensome

• Category differentiation to stand out in a saturated DTC space. Don't know if you spend much time on the mom & baby aisle but everything is pretty soft, subtle, neutral, pastel, gentle... Saucy Mama is LOUD in comparison. Mission accomplished.

• Collective identity baked into the brand name and pledge

  • Side note: This is what I call an “Ampersand Name”— a name that invites you to be a part of something. Find out what your naming style is here ☞ Signature Naming Style Quiz.

AAAAAND THE BRAND NAME IS:

Saucy Mama

This name is sticky, sassy, and strong enough to carry everything from oils to blog posts to a fully fledged brand movement.

TAGLINE: Slather on the self care

Five words that sound indulgent, memorable, and ritual-driven—while reinforcing product usage and a core brand belief: you deserve this.

Up next, naming the products:

Each product name had to feel:

• Sensory and indulgent

• Functional and clear

• Connected to the overall vibe (without being repetitive)

• Easy to build on for future product lines or bundles

HERE'S WHAT WE LANDED ON:

• Sunrise Bump Sauce Butter your bump, bond with your baby

• Sunset Bump Sauce Soothe the stretch, slather on the ZZZs

• Boobie Butter Good enough to eat

• Lady Bitz Spritz Shake it like a mother

• Rise & Shine Sauce Your new favorite wakey-wakey routine… goes well with your morning cup

• Slumber Sauce Smooth it on for some serious shuteye

MINI BREAKDOWN: WHY THESE NAMES WORK

Boobie Butter

• Instant clarity + alliteration

• Makes you laugh and trust it

• Baby-safe, mama-approved, and actually fun to say out loud

Lady Bitz Spritz

• Rhyming, rhythmic, hilarious

• Turns post-birth care into something you look forward to

• Doesn’t hide behind euphemisms, but still feels gentle

  
  

NAMING THE NEWSLETTER: “THE SAUCE”

To build long-term engagement, we needed a newsletter that felt as juicy as the brand. I named it The Sauce and developed a cheeky, strategic content framework that gives her personality a place to shine.

The Sauce brings the heat to parenting advice—babies-and-birthing tips straight from the mouths of experts (not mother-in-laws).

THE S.A.U.C.E. FRAMEWORK

To help her keep content clear and consistent, we developed this acronym-based format:

S – Subject: A featured topic (like doulas, perineal prep, etc.)

A – Ask a Midwife: Real advice for real questions

U – Unplug: Self-care recs that don’t involve a 2-hour bath

C – Currently: What Marielle’s reading, watching, or loving right now

E – Excited About: Teasers and sneak peeks

Why it works:

• Reinforces her role as expert and friend

• Keeps emails feeling human, not hustle-y

• Easy to replicate without burning out

• Deepens the brand’s collective voice—because everyone wants the Sauce

Everything links back to one unshakable idea: You don’t stop being a woman just because you became a mom.

This is why names matter. Not just because they sound good—but because they rally people.

Saucy Mama is more than a product line. It’s a movement. And every label, every email, every scroll says, “You belong here.”