NEW MERGER MANIA FACES NEW MIRRORS ON THE WALL
As mergers start to take off, realignment of these newly stirred corporate philosophies must be properly captured and correctly projected through their new corporate name personas to ensure long term investors' confidence in turbulent marketplaces.
First, we must know precisely how corporations and their branding
tackle new names germination. The following are the three main
principals often applied at great costs resulting at times even more
questionable looks than they originally started with.
The real big question is not how, rather why?
One: Small Naming vs. Big Branding ...
The
naming isn t as important as branding. Here, forget the Laws of
Corporate Naming, pick a name out of a hat, big branding, big
advertising and big spending will take care of the rest. Wrong.
There
is no longer surplus money available to buy every billboard or TV spot
in the country. Bottomless budgets are only Utopian dreams of agencies.
The concept that any name in the customer s face 24/7 will surely win
is almost like spelling bankruptcy. Contrary to belief, naming is not a
creative exercise, rather a black & white process of The Laws of
Corporate Naming.
It is a simultaneous application of
highly strategic and tactical skills, demanding authoritative knowledge
of global marketing, languages, perceptions, connotations, trademark
laws and cyber rules of domain care. Graphic designs are critical and
must follow a name over a long period. Not in reverse.
Two: Sobriety vs. Silly Name ... creative names will win the hearts.
Here, catchy, funny, silly names will catch the eye. Create a very expensive short-term hip-hop dance. Wrong.
Hit
and run naming has already left a very bad taste among companies,
customers and media. With hundreds of high profile naming failures all
over the world there in now an urgent need to fix the lost credibility
of naming capabilities of big branding agencies.
Three: Just Change vs. Just Join ... why change, why rock the boat, why not join.
Here,
let's play both sides of the merged parties, let's tell a slightly
alternating story each day, sooner or later, the world would look at us
as one big happy company. Wrong.
True, it s very hard at
times to find even greater and better names than the original legendary
merged icons. This is because there never was a correct naming process
in place and the only hope was to randomly pick from a list of 10,000
names, compiled by some sub-contracted, freelancers.
The
prudent and astute boards of the two merged giants often have no other
choice but to reject such ad hoc choices. Join the names, they say, end
of story. The merged corporations suffer and bleed their marketing
efforts in dual personalities and external image struggles.
Two Quick Steps Analysis and Treatment ...
The
First step, most corporations have dozens of different names for print
and for e-commerce as domain names often clashing with each other. It s
always better to have a few healthy, strong and globally protected
names. Utilize the modern cyber e learning for this process and check
out webinars on professional naming standards and issues. These naming
webinars are quick and highly efficient to help you recharge your
internal name management process.
The Second step, it is
very easy to re-evaluate, reposition and rebuild the name identity of a
product or service if you do so by using The Laws of Naming. There is a
huge difference between a branding and highly specialized naming
expertise. Once you have determined if a name is healthy, injured or on
life-support, then something very constructive can be arranged ... just
like going to a doctor and fixing the problem.
Healthy
names are always fit to run the race, so they cost less to promote, and
promoting them builds huge brand value. Injured names cost 10 times
more, and seriously hurt marketing efforts. Names on life-support
simply die and no amount of advertising can save them. Corporate
executives must tackle this in order to cope with new challenges of the
new name-economy.
For more information, contact:
Naseem Javed
E:
W: www.naseemjaved.com
W: www.abcnamebank.com
Naseem Javed
Naseem Javed author Naming for Power, recognized as world authority on global Name Identities and Domain Issues, introduced The Laws of Corporate Naming in the eighties and also founded ABC Namebank, a consultancy he established in New York and Toronto a quarter century ago. Naseem's cutting edge ideas are available via webinars worldwide.