Brand Name Changes

The conventional wisdom in the branding world is to maintain a brand name without change. However, because of changes in the way a company does business, mergers and acquisitions or because of negative associations with an existing brand name, it may become necessary to change that name. Significant time, effort and money will be required to make a change so it should not be done unless there are compelling reasons to do so.

In April, we discussed some of the issues relating to choosing a new brand name. Those considerations will apply in this context, but longer-term business objectives will also be important.

The starting point is to determine whether the new name is legally available for use and can be registered in the countries in which it will be used. Once this hurdle has been overcome any necessary domain names must be secured.