Brand-Building Strategy | Think 100 times before changing your name

By Dian Hasan | February 7, 2010

For the vast majority of people, we die with the names we were born with. They are part of our DNA, the essence of what makes us unique, what gives us our identity. And although women adopt their husband’s surnames after marriage, for the most part we never change our names.

There are of course cultures that believe a name change can bring bring better luck, that some names are more auspicious. In Central and East Java, there is a practice of changing a person’s name (mostly when a child is still fairly young, and hasn’t entered puberty) when the old name is considered to bring bad luck as the child goes through life.

When applied to the business world, this of course is practiced differently. The fast evolving globalization has brought about mergers and acquisitions of businesses large and small, across distant oceans. Warranting, in the end, a name change. And in the world of branding, the fundamental question is always: “What’s in a name?”

I found a fascinating parallel in the following article by Jeff Waoriu in Microsoft website, where he warns about the risks of a Corporate name change. Enjoy!

Brand-Building Formula | How do you build a Corporate Brand

Many believe that building a corporate brand differs from building a commercial brand of a product or service. Well, guess what? It’s no different, and shares the same principles. And the following explanation of the required building blocks as presented by Martin Roll of Venture Republic sums it up nicely.

Here are the 10 Steps to Building a Corporate Brand:

The CEO needs to lead the brand strategy work

The starting point for corporate branding must be the board room, which is also serving as the most important check-point during the project. The CEO must be personally involved in the brand strategy work, and he/she must be passionate and fully buy into the idea of branding. To ensure success despite the daily and stressful routine with many duties at the same time, the CEO must be backed by a strong brand management team of senior contributors, who can facilitate a continuous development and integration of the new strategy.

Brand-Building Formula | Product + Expert + Promise = Brand

Different angles offered in explaining what Branding and Brand-Building is, always interests me. And the following angle that I found from Susan J. Lindner, founder and CEO of Lotus Public Relations, is no different. A fresh take on brand building, as appeared in Entrepreneur publication.

Product: It’s not enough to build a product and assume it will be the base of your brand. Just ask Apple about Apple TV, Microsoft about Zune or the New Coke about its prestigious debut. Unless your tag line is “But hey, it’s free,” don’t plan on having a product sell itself–or your company. First, consider what makes the product truly unique. How will it avert pain, bring pleasure and envy to all who use it and, most important, make people talk about it? As a young company, you can’t afford advertising, so word-of-mouth is going to be your primary aim.

Consistency in Brand-Building, the Coca Cola case

Consistency is the key ingredient in brand building. It takes time, years in the making, and consistency is paramount, building the same message through all attributes – both tangible and intangible – that are related to the brand.

Coke is a classic example, and what better represents this than it’s classic-shaped bottle. It’s been around since the 19th century, endured changes over the years – but not really that many, settling at the shape we know today that has virtually remained the same since 1915!

Street-Level Branding | The role of Coke as icon and brand ownership in pop culture

In our daily lives there are things that seem natural, omnipresent and part of the landscape. We take it for granted that they should always be there. I’m talking about a brand and the depth of how it has permeated into the consumers’ mindset. All of us, really!

That brand is Coke, and as we all know it is inseparable from Pop Culture. So when you see it depicted on the street-level like the picture below, you know the brand ownership has shifted to the public mass! There is only a handful of other brands that have managed to go this far.

Inspiration: Majorly Cool

Because every red dot tells a different story [3 of 3]

Not all red dots are created equal. They all engage in different storytelling when placed i the context of a logo.

A red dot is used for its striking quality, a simple and fast way of drawing attention. After all, the most compelling of traffic lights is red, with its power to stop traffic.

Because every red dot tells a different story [2 of 3]

Not all red dots are created equal. They all engage in different storytelling when placed i the context of a logo.

A red dot is used for its striking quality, a simple and fast way of drawing attention. After all, the most compelling of traffic lights is red, with its power to stop traffic.

Because every red dot tells a different story [1 of 3]

Not all red dots are created equal. They all engage in different storytelling when placed i the context of a logo.

A red dot is used for its striking quality, a simple and fast way of drawing attention. After all, the most compelling of traffic lights is red, with its power to stop traffic.

Novel Way of Killing Time at Airports ~ Changi, Singapore

It is commendable to see how companies constantly find new ways to engage their customers with the brand, while concurrently provide customer service. And airports are no exception.

Here’s a look at Singapore’s Changi Airport that has drummed up a novel way to entertain and kill passengers’ idle time: Zipping on a Segway in an indoor track! Original story by Cheryl Lim appeared in Asia One Relax.

We’ll have to crawl out of this global recession together…

“This has been a global recession and it will be a globalized recovery.  The structure of many sectors may be open to a fundamental change in a way not seen for decades.”

Mildred Tan, Managing Director of Ernst & Young Advisory, Pte. Ltd., Singapore. Business Times, Singapore, January 22, 2010.