Kindling 44: Can a bad name hurt your company?

Hi friend,

You’re reading Kindling, a weekly newsletter from Wildfire sharing insights from the world of branding and design.

A thought from me

This week, I heard from a couple business partners who approached me about branding their new media agency. 

The first thing we talked about was the name.

A bad name can really hurt your company’s chances of success. You won’t notice at first. Over years, the issues will compound. But over time, your name will become harder to change. So it’s important to get it right.

Pretend you’re starting your own dairy company. Many business owners and entrepreneurs I know would be cheekily tempted to call it Dairy Co. The problem is, Dairy Co. is not a memorable name. It’s a description, and a forgettable one at that. Especially if your competitors call themselves Yoghurt Co. and Milk Co.

But consider different directions. Names like Yohey and Milkay sound ridiculous when you first encounter them. They test poorly among focus groups. But as names, they become more memorable culturally. Yohey can become a household name. There are infinite advertising opportunities and taglines one could use for it. It sounds friendly, endearing, slightly funny, and approachable in a way dairy products often wish they could be (see the ​“got milk?” campaign).

In Canada, there was a bank called ING Direct. They were a successful bank, but they failed every metric you could come up with for a good brand name test. Lexicon changed the name to Tangerine, and Concrete designed the new visual identity. (You can see the ING Direct’s previous branding in this Toronto Star article.) The rebranding, along with a massive advertising spend and a referral bonus for trying Tangerine, resulted in deposits increasing by over $3 billion in just a couple years. (Anecdotally, there was a point around 2018 when seemingly everybody in Toronto had a Tangerine account — thanks to their generous referral program and playful advertising.)

ING Direct was not cool. While the rename was reportedly driven by a legal situation, the new name and branding made Tangerine seem like a fun, hip, youthful bank. And it clearly made a difference.

A good, memorable name is not a guarantee of success, but it sure doesn’t hurt your chances.

A bad name, on the other hand…

Things worth sharing

1. Dan Mall writes about the benefits in approaching your brand the long, hard, stupid way.
2. Polaroid’s latest ad campaign is very smart, blending fears of modernity with their trademark vintage aesthetic.
3. Base Design gave Ray’s, a local Alaskan restaurant, the sort of branding treatment typically reserved for million-dollar businesses. It’s gorgeous and extremely fun..

A question to ponder

If your business already has a name, but you resonated with this week’s thought, you might be left wondering if you should rename the company. If your name truly is terrible, and you think you could gain a lot with a rename, you need to consider the cost as well. It’s not just financial. Your SEO and AEO will take a hit as you start from scratch, and you’ll need to build up all your existing domain authority again on the internet. In this position, the question to ask yourself is simple: is it worth it?

Until next week,

Nathan

What you should do next…

1. For more insights like this, subscribe to the weekly Kindling newsletter.
2. To see people walk the talk, explore my case studies.
3. Schedule a free call to review your brand and website. Get a one hour consultation where we discuss your brand, your current marketing problems, and potential next steps. If you’re not ready to work with me, I won’t attempt to sell you, but I’ll point you to the right next step.