BARQ & A

Posted By: ADM

We have been building our brand in B2B for some 5 years. I would not say it has a prominent position in the market, but quite a lot of our customers have come to know and recognize it. The name is pretty generic and in no way implies what the company itself offers.

Lately an idea was raised to refresh the logo. It does in fact needs some redesign as being too off-handedly and amateurishly designed, does not reflect the changes the company is going through.

The changes include new, sophisticated technology being implemented, better customer service and effective sales force.

Now a new idea was conceived; not only to change the logo design, but the brand name too. Why? In order to make the brand name depict what the company does.

My opinion is not to change the brand name. Quite a lot of time and money was invested in building it and impressing it onto customers’ minds. The company has changed for the better and to me the new experience customers are having with the brand and new look and feel of the old logo is enough. Am I right?

ADM

BARQ’s response:

ADM,

International Business Machines no longer makes Business Machines. That’s why their decision to be identified as IBM was such a good idea decades ago. The value of the brand recognition outweighs the benefit of a name that depicts their actual business. Business plans and products inevitably change over time. A trusted name, as long as you act in a trustworthy manner, will remain valuable no matter what you do. Just be sure the name does not imply something different from your current/future product or service.

Take a lesson from Exxon, Google, Verizon, Geico, (or SELMARQ!)… most of today’s company names LIMIT their potential (either by region, ownership, product or function). If your name does not specify any of those, what can it hurt to keep it?

BARQ
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