Imagine growing up and living your life with a name like Kal-El, Moon Unit, or Jermajesty.
These are the names of real people, by the way.
Their celebrity parents have exercised their right to name their offspring, flexed their creative muscles, and possibly plotted to gain some extra publicity. All at the same time.
Good on them.
Unlike some of you, I take no issue with celebrities giving weird names to their children.
At the end of the day, when the children grow up they can either change their name if they wish or lean into it and use it to their advantage. Especially if that name turns out to be an accurate representation of their personality and authentic self.
A business on the other hand can’t change its name – it’s at the mercy of its owner.
So when, as an entrepreneur, you get a creative urge to rename your business (again), it might benefit you to read this first.
In 2002–2003 I launched my first blog aimed at sharing inspiration with other graphic designers.
In the following 2 or 3 years, I must have changed the name of the blog (and the domain name) at least a dozen times.
You know how it is. You get bored of things. You now consider your old idea lame which you thought of as ‘cool’ 5 years ago. You get a new idea to improve on it.
These are natural creative urges.
But here’s the thing. Your business (and brand) has many important assets that contribute to building up your brand perception in the minds and hearts of your customers.
And the consistency of those assets is one of the core requirements to upkeeping that brand perception.
A brand name is a key asset. It’s also often the first and most critical touch point for your brand.
So while it might be tempting to change it up once in a while don’t let your subjective preferences drive what should be a strategic decision.
If you’re thinking of renaming your business, here are a few things to consider first, before you do:
Both the internal and external reasons should align, and they typically overlap anyway.
Changing a name can be a touchy subject. And to be clear, changing your brand name should perhaps be the last resort.
Even despite the reasons listed above.
In many cases, a brand name has too much legacy to change. For example, if I was to suggest Johnson & Johnson change their name, I would be throwing out its 130+ years of brand legacy.
Not a wise move.
So you’ll need to find another creative way to overcome those internal or external forces in cases like that.
It could be looking at a subtle name change that will minimise the loss of that brand legacy. Think CVS Health (formerly known as CVS Caremark).
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