If you ever had a child, one of the most important aspects to them was the naming. A good name helps them through life. It is same in the business world, picking a name helps the business, the wrong name and customers will be confused with the company and go somewhere else. Two people who help companies name their companies are Steve Rivkin and Fraser Sutherland who wrote the book The Making of a Name – the Inside Story of the Brands We Buy, Oxford University Press, NY, 2004. The authors write about a wide variety of company names and when reading them you will likely stay they make sense and what else would they have chosen? Then the authors tell you of the names that did not make it, until they were changed. Often names look similar because in the example of the mutual funds industry – funds with names such as Growth, Large will draw more money to them even if it the performance does not match the name.  Choose wisely for the name of your organization. By choosing a name – the company in all its operations will “live” that name – from stationary, websites, employee communications, business forms, business affairs, listings and certificates, advertising and promotions, signage to drawing people to work for the company.

A good name shows that a company knows what it is doing and has a firm and focused fix on what it is offering to the public. A good name will answer yes to the following questions about new products – is a specific need fulfilled? is it really an improvement over what already exists? it is easier to use than what already exists? is it safer than what already exists? is there a competitive point of difference?   A good name is also the answer to another question: How will you bring your idea to life? In making a brand name or trade name thrive no single good element of a product exists in isolation. Overlapping, interweaving, they all work together. What all the elements share is an ability to make the customer recall the name.

In today’s world, the English language is not the only language to consider. Many companies have gone to countries around the world to discover their wonderful brand name in the English speaking world, means something very different to the public in other countries. Then a problem is faced on what to do? Picking the correct name for many geographic areas is a difficult task, which is why there are lots of examples of companies getting it right and getting it wrong or needing a name change.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, over time the public has accepted the name of the company and rewarded it well. Similar to all companies, there is always innovation or new products to come up with – partly because we all like new and partly because it allows the company to gear up for the yearly sales campaign. The author once worked for a company that was very traditional and changed its image to new age – the logo were the right colours to compete …. The company changed nothing else in the way they operated and once the President was removed (his decision) the new President changed everything back to where it was before. The company felt better to work for. The name and logo matters to the customers both internal and external.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions