I just came from a visit to the Duets Blog, in particular a piece called “A Shack by Any Other Name” that takes a look at a spate of questionable re-naming projects in the US. The piece by Randall Hull of BrandRanch highlights Radio Shack’s plan to re-brand as “Shack” and Pizza Hut’s infamous new “Hut” branding and asks, among other things, how a brand name should add up.
The truth is that few brandnames are ideal, but the organisations concerned nevertheless manage to achieve success. However, in today’s competitive environment, no organisation can afford to miss any opportunity, however insignificant that might appear to be to increase the return on their investment, so any organisation setting out their stall for the first time, should start with a name that ticks all the boxes.
Bearing in mind that we are talking brandnames and not logos, there are three components or boxes to tick. Firstly the name you choose should give an indication of (1) what you do or the sector that you operate in. Add this to your (2) unique name and (3) do so in a way that reflects the language of your brand character. Apart from demonstrating that you have to have a Brand Model before you start thinking about names, which is the other way around to how most people tackle it, following this path means that you should end up with a brandname that is working as hard for you as any name could – like ToysRUs or ElectroWorld. All you have to do then is build on that.
So what brandnames can you think of that tick all the boxes?
Michael Weaver
August 26, 2009