Corporate Names
If you’re selling services like insurance, car rentals or muffler repair, your corporate name is a critical element of business identity - the “trustworthy source” from whence those services flow and the implied executive desk where “the buck stops.”
If you’re selling packaged goods, your corporate name is more important to you (as the brand name of your employer’s securities it affects the value of your options grant) than to your customer.
There are exceptions, of course. Exxon is a 10-mile high laser-lit obelisk of trust and quality in gasoline. By historical dedication to pickles, H.J. Heinz is a valuable brand name of vinegary delights.
But when the guys on the top floor suggest adding “Concatenated Products Inc.” to the front of your toiletries product labels, they’re not intending to sell more cologne - they might hope the added exposure will jack the price of the stock or, more likely, they don’t have a clue about branding, packaging or how to find the men’s room on the third floor.
Other aspects of corporate names are discussed in this well-reasoned article from the business pages of New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/business/29proto.html?_r=1&src=twr
Tags: labnotes, namelab, Naming, Strategic Branding