When you think about it, company names are a peculiar thing. What likely begins as a simple moniker for a family business or tiny ambitious start-up can, over time, become the all-embracing brand image of a multinational monster. If a company becomes big enough, its name can become so attached to the public consciousness that it starts being used as a verb, as the catch-all term for a group of products, or it can even obliterate all other meanings from the very words it’s composed of.
Think “Apple” for example, and there could conceivably be a sizeable number of people who think first of a phone rather than a piece of fruit. Say “Amazon” and as many people will think of a smiling delivery box as they will the largest river on the planet. “Marmite” is used as a description of something that splits opinion; “Google” as the act of searching the internet.
Then you have the situation with plenty of well-known brands that people recognise instantly by just a few letters – H&M, HSBC, IBM – and yet I’d argue that far fewer will know what, if anything, those initials ever stood for. Other names may be based on a language a user doesn’t speak, yet are no less ubiquitous for it – just in the UAE, you have, for example, Emaar, Etisalat and Daman, all of which are Anglicised Arabic words whose meanings are most likely unfamiliar to many expat residents.
In any event, the public won’t even necessarily respect the name as it is either. Very often that carefully chosen (and potentially expensive) name will end up acronymised or shortened to something people feel is more convenient. For people on the inside, the act of sending multiple emails with a lengthy company name is likely to prompt a rapid search for a shorter version that saves their sanity. Meanwhile, consumers are unlikely to bother distinguishing between expertly designed corporate divisions and specialist teams, instead referring to a company solely as its largest, market-facing form.
Company names, then, often take on a life of their own. They might start as a basic description of the product or a catchy pun that looks good on a sign but, whether a firm is large or small, they will become intertwined with a company’s entire offering and culture. People will use and recognise them without a pause, and they will do so with a fairly immovable sense of what the company is about.
This makes a change of name particularly daunting. If you have established a decent business and a brand to match, shuffling from the recognisable to the sparkling new can feel like a risky endeavour. Even while your reasons may be valid – say to reflect your expanded offerings or a change of business focus – the fear is that you lose visibility, some of that customer loyalty and perhaps a measure of whatever else it was that previously made your organisation your organisation.
Obviously, an early lesson from this observation is that you probably shouldn’t just rebrand your company because you think the logo needs tweaking or spontaneously feel that the name might look better with American spelling. A rebrand could be a jarring change for many stakeholders, and it certainly shouldn’t be undertaken on a whim.
At the same time, an equally important consideration is that a brand’s underlying strength doesn’t rest solely in its name, its “unique” corporate colour set, or its expensive-looking graphics. Certainly a rebrand should take the time to think about all of these factors in great detail, but it should also not obsess about how it will impact on how the company is perceived. A great brand can certainly positively affect perception, but it shouldn’t be a substitute for paying attention to the core of your organisation.
Ultimately, a reputation for quality work, for great customer service, for a strong focus on good business, will be what carries the strongest pull with customers. A new brand may well take your organisation to new levels of success, but it will be most successful when it retains within it the same focus on excellence that won your current place in the market.
Ahmad Badr is chief executive of Abu Dhabi University Knowledge Group.
business@thenational.ae
Follow The National's Business section on Twitter
