lphabet soup - branding for convenience?

Back in the 70's, one computer magazine facetiously published a chart designed for naming hi-tech companies. It looked something like this:

Modifier             Descriptor            Type               

Advanced          Communication  Systems

Responsive        Spectrography   Alliance

Rapid                Delivery             Engineering

Creative             Computer          Solutions

|                       |                      |

12 more            12 more            12 more

You were then instructed to take one word from each column to create your very own hi-tech name. I'm afraid many computer entrepreneurs took them seriously.

Names comprised of three words are still popular  even though they make the absolute worst names on the planet - except for four-word names.

Why? Let me count the ways:

1) They strive to describe the product, thus they describe the "species" so there's no differentiation from their like-minded, three-word-named competitors.

2) They're difficult to remember.

3) They don't lend themselves to good graphic presentation.

4) And here's the greatest flaw - inevitably, people shorten the name to three initials.

This "shorthand" begins with the first memo to employees announcing the new name, and from then on, those initials "stand for" the company name. If the company stays in business for very long, those in charge will begin to believe that those initials in and of themselves mean something and will change the ackward name to initials.

Now those initials will have significance to employees, investors and a core group of loyal customers. But to most of the world, three initials are just that: three initials. Without meaning. Without personality. Without associations.

The solution: a name of no more than two words. And make sure those two are anglo-saxon action words - none of those Latin-ending words steeped in passivity (-ion, -ive, -ment.)

Martin Jelsema

Signature Strategies

Helping smaller companies profit from the power of branding.

www.signaturestrategies.biz