What's in a name? Often more than there should be.

In the movie The Social Network, the famous entrepreneur Sean Parker leaves a meeting with Mark Zuckerberg when he turns at the last minute and says to the young Facebook founder: "And drop the 'The.' Just Facebook. It's cleaner." Zuckerberg is in awe of the sheer simplicity – and brilliance – of Parker's advice to cut the needless definite article from the startup's brand name.

When it comes to olive oil there's already plenty of confusion among consumers. Your brand name should bring clarity.

Our team here is about halfway through the process of receiving 1,171 entries from 28 countries for the 2021 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition – the largest and most diverse collection of olive oil brands ever in one place.

Scanning the labels in our sample vault reveals a wide array of approaches to branding from romantic to modern, each the result of a producer's careful consideration of the message she hopes to convey on the shelf.