When I was a teenager, my mom always watched this television show called 'Santa Barbara', and ever since, one actor's name on the show has been stuck in my head. Not because of his particular impressive acting skills, but because of his rather unusual name that made me think: "That's not a name! There's something missing." 'A Martinez' was the actor. Not sure what he is doing these days.
Very often, when I hear, see, or read many a brand's name, I feel the same. Just a letter, or two, or three? That's it? Who are you? "A"? What are you? What are you trying to tell me? What is your personality? What do you stand for?
There are many reasons why companies choose certain names, like the ones above. Some never gave it enough thought. Others ignored the advice from their marketing or branding team or simply had bad brand managers. Some just got bored and lazy over the years of pronouncing the full length of their company's or brand's name, and there you go - you end up with two or three letters, void of any meaning, instantly destroying so much of the brand recognition and awareness you have created over many years.
Once you start goggling these brands, learning about the cryptic letters and the world behind them, you can feel the "Aaahs" and "Ooohs" running through your mind. It's like all of a sudden you opened a secret door to the brand's vault. Things begin to make sense, you feel the brand's depth and dimension, like an empty balloon that is being inflated and building up its volume.
Just ask yourself. What on earth does 'LG' stand for? Or 'IBM'? 'AT&T'? 'JWT'? I recently had a chat with a junior art director from a major New York ad agency, and yes, of course, she knew JWT as an agency, but she had no idea what the initials stood for. It has been just a few years, since the iconic 'J. Walter Thompson' got slaughtered, and the new 'JWT' took its place. Around the same time, the agency completely overhauled their midtown offices, located in one of those lifeless office towers in the Grand Central Station area. Humans disappear in it, being swallowed by its tons of steel and concrete, disappearing in one of dozens of elevators, being carried to one of way too many office floors.
While the agency was ripping out walls - getting rid of that old, stuffy, corporate office environment - and adding color, life and energy to the place, it did exactly the opposite with the one asset that distinguished itself from all the other corporate advertising manufacturing behemoths - its name. Instead of honoring its charismatic founder and heritage, it stripped itself into an empty shell, void of anything. Nothing that hints in any direction. Just three letters. Could just as well have been PMS or DVB.
You can't even argue that 'J. Walter Thompson' is too long, and 'JWT' is so much more efficient. Yes, it's more letters, but it's printed on your letterhead and business card, it automatically appears in your email signature, and on the website. You hardly ever have to write it down. You have to say it though. Might that be the reason? Communicating more efficiently in the 21st century? Can't be. The old name phonetically reads "Jay-Wal-ter-Thom-pson". That's five syllables. The new one reads "Jay-Dou-ble-You-Tee". That's five syllables as well. 'J. Walter' would have been a nicer choice. Three syllables. It flows nicely off the tongue. And it makes sense. Funny to see on their website that they've added the 'J. Walter Thompson' name right below the logo. Seems someone realized the mistake to some degree.
But what's an LG? 'Life's good' they tell us all the time. Is that the brand though? It is not. Apparently, it is the combination of two Korean brands - Lucky and Goldstar. Oh my. Ask a hundred people, and I'd be surprised if five know the answer.
An IBM? Probably a few more. Given that 'International Business Machines' is indeed a very long name, IBM seems to be the right choice. It comes with a caveat though. When you are a brand as big and strong as IBM, throwing millions of advertising dollars out there each year, reminding us that they exist, pounding their name into our heads, you can get away with it.
The same holds true for the American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation - AT&T. But how about GMC? Seems an easy one. General Motors Corporation, right? Wrong. It takes some digging to find the right answer. Very often, as in the JWT case, the owners or founders initials are hidden in there, which is also where GMC got its naem from. Max Grabowski, whose truck company was founded in 1901 and sold to GM in 1909, deserves the honor. So if you know someone who owns a GMC Pick-up truck or SUV, let them know that they drive a 'Grabowski Motor Corporation'. That might sound awkward, but the same holds true for 'BMW', who is hiding its heritage in the name. When you are driving a 'beamer', you are really in a 'Bayerische Motoren Werke' - a 'Bavarian Motor Factory'.
Long story short: if you are small, choose a good name. Simple. Easy to remember. One that makes sense. If you have gazillions of marketing dollars to spend, you might even be able to establish a brand called 'RX78TY'.
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