A name is the most important identifier of a person, a brand, state, a village, a business, a nation, a pet etc. The name implies race, era, societal culture and religion. No wonder, people take time to name their children, their business, their pet, their memoirs etc. Names have meaning and they do suggest character, traits and acumen of a person/business/state/nation/ product. Each name has power, people work hard to make the name outstanding and influential, and it must be valued.

Beyond just a memorable logo and tag line, good branding adds to the value of a company. It provides employees with direction and motivation, and attracts more and more customers easily. A brand represents the total sum of people’s awareness and experience of an individual, a company, a product, a school, college, a university, a hospital, a park, an auditorium, a nation, a river, a mountain, a flower and infinite things. There are countless components which go in creating a successful brand.

In this article I will be discussing some examples of how names were created of certain brands.

Do you know that Pepsi was named after the medical term for indigestion? The inventor of Pepsi, Caleb Davis Bradham, originally wanted to be a doctor, but due to some crisis in his family, he left medical school and became a pharmacist instead, according to the company website. His original invention, identified as “Brad’s Drink,” was made from a mix of sugar, water, caramel, lemon oil, and nutmeg. Three years later, Bradham renamed his drink, which he believed helped digestion; so he named it as “Pepsi-Cola,” taken from the word upset stomach, meaning indigestion.

Panera Bread Company is a chain store of bakery-café fast casual restaurants in the United States and Canada. Panera combines two words “pan” and “era.” According to Panera’s Facebook page, the chain store’s name has Latin and Spanish roots. In Spanish, “pan” means bread and “era” means age or time. So put together, Panera means “age of bread.” And, in Latin it means breadbasket.

Google owes its name to a typographical error. Its name came forward from a brainstorming session at Stanford University. Founder Larry Page was coming up with ideas for a massive data-index website with other graduate students, according to a Business Insider report. One of the suggestions was “googolplex” one of the largest describable numbers. The name ‘Google’ came about after one of the students accidentally spelled it wrong. Larry Page thought of keeping the name as erroneously spelled and registered his company with this name.

McDonald is named after two brothers who ran a burger restaurant. Raymond Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, used to sell milkshake machines. Once he met brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, who ran a burger restaurant in San Bernardino, California. The McDonald brothers bought several of Kroc’s Multimixers and he was so impressed by their burger restaurant that he became their agent and set up franchises around the US. Years later, he bought rights to the McDonald’s name.

Adidas is not an acronym for “All Day I Dream about Soccer”; it’s a fallacy of many people. It turns out the athletics-apparel brand is named after its founder, Adolf Dassler, who started making sport shoes when he came back from serving in World War I, according to the LA Times. The name combines his nickname, Adi, and the first three letters of his last name, Dassler.

Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex, the expensive watches wanted a brand name that could be understood and pronounced in any language. He tried combining the letters of the alphabet in every possible way. He thought of hundreds of permutations and combinations by setting and fixing the alphabets. But, none of them felt quite right. One morning, while riding on the upper deck of a horse-drawn omnibus along Cheapside in the City of London, the name “Rolex” struck in his mind and ears.

The name LG came from the merger of two companies, Lucky and Goldstar, the acronym of both companies. It was officially decided to use the brand name as LG.  It is a conglomerate in South Korea. When the company started marketing its products to the west and English speaking countries the company rethought about its name using the same acronym as “Life’s Good” as a backronym (an acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose initial letters spell out a particular word or words).

Nike is the Greek goddess of victory and she often represented with wings. Her presence symbolized victory and she was often depicted as sitting next to Zeus, the Greek god. The swish designed signifies her flight.

SONY the leading manufacturer of electronics products for the consumer and professional markets is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Sony comes from the Latin word ‘Sonus’ which means sound. And, ‘Sonny’ is a slang word used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster. The company was named after bright youngsters – Sonny boys working in sound and vision. The name Sony was also chosen because it could be pronounced easily in many languages.

Vodafone was formed under the Racal telecommunications brand and as was launched in January 1985 under the name Racal Vodafone Holdings Ltd. The name Vodafone is derived from three words which are of significantly important for the industry. The short explanation could be described with the naming formula voice, data and phone. The idea of this name came from Saatchi & Saatchi (the advertising agency) and one of the company’s original directors. It was the agency’s idea of spelling phone as “fone” which at first wasn’t accepted very well by the then CEO of Vodafone. Eventually he pondered over it and accepted the name. This is how the name “Vodafone” was born.

Brand building requires sincerity: Like we individuals have our personalities, style and image; brands also have their personalities. Brands make a personal connection with their customers. Just as people have values, goals, beliefs and even flaws, so do organizations. Customers connect with the brands if only they like them. The connection grows when brands deliver what is promised. Customers go by their own experience.

Organizations need to work on delivering exactly what they communicate regarding their brands. They need to decide on their brand’s personality traits and deliver them as promised.  Over-promising and under-delivering turns out to be short-term marketing strategy.  In fact, it’s often cheaper and easier to create hype, than providing genuine substance.

Initial marketing hype can create little success, but after it fades, organizations fall flat and struggle to retain customers and struggling for their existence. The core issue in branding exercise is maintaining the brand authenticity. And what is a brand? It’s a name!

The world of marketing is brutally competitive; each brand fighting for mind share of customers. Advertisements can strengthen a product’s existence in the market. There is so much creativity in advertising that it can change the scene for a product in shortest no time.   While creative advertisement might be entertaining, comparative advertisement, one of the aggressive forms of marketing, is a whole new ball game altogether. But are creative ads more effective in inspiring people to buy products? Yes they are.  They certainly outshine ads that simply describe catalogue product attributes or benefits. Numerous empirical experiments have found that creative messages get more attention and lead to positive attitudes about the products being marketed, but there is not sure short evidence that shows how those messages influence purchase behavior. Each individual has his/her unique perception, likes and dislikes. At the same time, some creative campaigns have failed miserably because customers found them too bitchy.

We come across advertisement wars regularly, where brands take on one another. Some brands openly mock the rival brand through print, digital or broadcast media. We have witnessed Apple’s campaign vs. Microsoft’s, TOI’s vs The Hindu’s, Pepsi vs Coke, FedEx vs DHL and many more such. It is marketing, morals and ethics are for book reference, big or small brands are all game in mudslinging at each other and they don’t shy away from getting dirty in this game of ad wars. Such advertisements where companies make direct references to the competition are interesting for the rest of the world to watch. Here are some of the brilliant virtual ads from around the world:

Kingfisher and Jet Airways

Kingfisher and Jet Airways nagged at each other with these billboard advertisements.In its panic, Jet Airways invested Rs. 10 crore in ad campaign to publicize its rebranding through its “We have changed” ad campaign. Jet insisted that they have grown consumer friendly and more services are on offer. But, Kingfisher through “Equus Advertising” resorted to the ways of Ambush marketing and hijacked the campaign from Jet airways. The Jet hoarding at Cadbury Junction, near Jet CEO Naresh Goyal’s residence in Mumbai, was superseded by a Kingfisher billboard saying “We made them Change”.

Though today the scene has changed. Jet Airways has booked profits in the fiscal year 2016, while Kingfisher Airlines is in crisis.

Dove vs Pantene:

This is an ad war of 2010. The story started on July 23, when Mumbai woke up to hoardings that screamed: ‘A Mystery Shampoo!! 80% women say is better than anything else’. P&G, it was later found, was planning to unveil the new Pantene on August 1. When the suits at HUL found out, they saw an opportunity to score a point. They ambushed P&G. On July 28, even as the P&G hoardings stood tall on its skyline, Mumbai woke up to another hoarding that was upfront, and suggestive of its source of inspiration. It said: ‘There is no mystery. Dove is the No.1 shampoo’. Dove is one of the four brands in HUL’s shampoo portfolio. The HUL national campaign took just one day to go from brief to execution, and was handled by Ogilvy & Mather India. This was the quickest advertising turnaround in the company’s history.

Apple vs Samsung:

Two tech giants Apple and Samsung are always seen warring; we have seen their ad wars for last couple of years, we have seen these two rival brands competing for supremacy in the smartphone market. In 2011, Samsung began its ad campaign to promote their then new smartphone, Galaxy S II. In the ad, they showed Apple fans waiting in line for the next iPhone release were ironically checking out the Samsung Galaxy S II of passers-by. The ad not only mocked iPhone users with lines like “Why don’t you guys just get 4G phones?” but also took the opportunity to feature their larger screens.

McDonald vs Burger King:

In a tug of war between McDonald and Burger King, McDonald’s came out with a print ad, backed up by a video, for which it erected a huge roadside sign giving directions to a Burger King Drive 258km away, next to a sign reading ‘McDonald’s Drive 5km’.  In a quick retort, Burger King created a new ending for the McDonald’s video, which shows a French couple driving from the sign to the nearby McDonald’s Drive. They order coffee to sustain themselves on their 258km journey to the Burger King Drive, where as they tuck into their Whoppers the man says to the woman: “It wasn’t that far at all.” The tagline on the ad reads: “Thank you McDonald’s for being everywhere”.

Uber vs Ola:

In India the taxi war between Ola and Uber is benefiting the customers. Uber banks itself as a premium service where the user is paying an affordable price for the experience of travelling in luxury cars, whereas Ola always focused on getting more cars, taxis, and auto-rickshaws on their platform and more riders to use their services. But the lines are increasingly getting blurred with the launch of Ola’s business class service called Ola Prime. In May 2015 both taxi aggregators launched their ride sharing verticals called Ola Share and uberPOOL. With these, users can now share cab rides with others heading to the same destination or in the same direction. It took Ola four years to come out with its nationwide (multi-channel) campaign titled ‘Chalo Niklo’ by Happy Creative Services, which aimed to position Ola as the go-to transport platform of choice for immediate and spontaneous city travel needs, across cabs, autos and taxis. Both Uber and Ola have used social media for their campaigns. While they keep fighting for cutting into each other’s market, while customers are enjoying the rides!

Ford vs General Motors:

The advertising wars between Ford and General Motors started in the first decade of the 20th century and are still going strong more than a century later. The two brands have ridiculed one another over price, features, safety, looks, financing and luxury features. Each advertisement seems to say how their brand is more reliable, harder working, more powerful, and ultimately more American. This rivalry has involved each brand’s fan base, as t-shirts, bumper stickers, and other memorabilia bashing and praising each brand have become extremely popular. Even today, this rivalry continues on and has expanded to social media and the use of YouTube. In fact, GM recently went on the attack releasing a series of commercials featuring demonstrated ability of GM trucks to fare better than Ford trucks in car accidents!

Britania vs Patanjali:

Today, Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali has its presence everywhere and is sweeping away everything in its path. From local stores to Amazon,Patanjali Products have a strong presence on all shelves. The product quality is best in breed, the prices competitive and the distribution chain is probably the first that is surpassing even the Cola majors. FMCG majors are unable to match Patanjali strategies. Britannia is so scared by Patanjali biscuits that they’ve launched their own Baba Ramdev, guess who it is Farhan Akhtar. Britannia NutriChoice has rolled out an ad film featuring Bollywood actor-director Farhan Akhtar conceptualized by Lowe Lintas, the film looks to showcase NutriChoice as the healthy offering among biscuits. This just shows strength of Baba Ramdev as brand ambassador, that Britannia had to hire the versatile and suave Farhan Akhtar – their Farhandev.

Logo is a graphical mark used to identify a company, an organization, product or brand. Logos are displayed alongside of a company’s name in order to generate awareness of the company’s association with a particular product or service. It is presented with graphical lettering, or an abstract shape of design.

The current era of logo design dates back in the 1870s; with the first abstract logo of Bass Brewery – the biggest beer company then.  Its logo red triangle began the branding campaign in history.  Its brand name and the iconic “red triangle” logo were registered as a trademark under the British Trade Mark Registration Act 1875 on 1 January 1876, just when the act was freshly implemented. After successfully becoming the first registered trademark in England, Bass Ale was filed as trademark no.1. It seemed practical for Bass Ale to use a shape as basic as a lozenge triangle; the triangle symbolizes rising energy, prosperity and the wealth of life. The use of red color, on the other hand, also signifies energy, as well as passion, vitality and enthusiasm for life. The brand name is handwritten to underline the elegant and authentic expression.

Today there are countless corporations, products, brands, services, agencies and other entities using an ideogram (sign, icon) or an emblem (symbol) or a combination of sign and emblem as a logo. But, out of countless logos only few are recognized without name. An effective logo may consist of both an ideogram and the company name (logotype) to emphasize the name over the graphic, and employ a unique design via the use of letters, colors, and additional graphic elements.

A good logo is instantly recognized; it should be inimitable, and exclusive to be remembered by people. Usually people recall a name, a design, a shape if they see it twice, whereas their eyes could pass right over written matter. So people don’t register written statements compared to a shape or design. The more often a potential customer sees and associates a reference to a company the more familiar he/she will begin to feel to the company. And their association with the logo makes their buying process easier.

Logos are an example of intangible assets because they hold value, but not in a physical form. They have become an essential part of a company’s identity, and are used heavily in the marketing of products and services. A well-recognized logo can increase a company’s goodwill, and is trademarked for intellectual property protection.

The three ellipses seen in the logo for Toyota represent three hearts: the heart of the customer, the heart of the product, and the heart of progress in the field of technology.

So why should organizations invest in a logo? Maybe the organization is considering branding or re-branding. Perhaps it has grown very big and needs fighting out competition or it plans to diversify business, whatever the reason, designing a evocative logo is the starting point of the exercise. The logo intensifies the branding efforts. Building a solid, well-designed logo is pivotal to the success of a business, its life and its marketing and sales activity.

Not only does a logo set apart a business from others, it appears on its stationary, website, advertisements, business cards of its executives, packaging, hoardings, name board – it becomes an inevitable part of the corporate communication.  The company’s logo design influences the design of its entire existence and business process. It represents the philosophy of the company therefore designing a ‘brandable’ logo is a must.

See how the letter “M” for McDonald’s stands out. There really isn’t much meaning attached to this logo. In the 60′s, McDonald’s wanted to change the logo but their design consultant and psychologist Louis Cheskin insisted that they continue with the golden arches made in “M” Louis told them that the customers will unconsciously recognize the logo as “symbolism of a pair of nourishing breasts.” Whether this is true or not, their logo is one of the most recognizable in the world.

Historically, pictures were used to convey messages to individuals who were unable to read. A picture of a loaf of bread would be used on a signage to denote a baker. Even if the word “bread” was not displayed, consumers knew the type of product available at that store.

A powerful logo is one of the most valuable assets a company can utilize to broaden its base and maximize its recognition. It is a vital and extremely rare component in the success of a corporation. The practice of using symbols to claim ownership is not a modern invention. Logos existed in the world for hundreds and thousands of years to facilitate identification. Romans used to stamp their bricks with the manufacturer’s emblem, place of origin, as well as their intended destination. As time progressed the logos became more refined and stylized, offering them a touch of sophistication and distinctiveness. Today’s world is surrounded with an abundance of diverse icons and monograms, as well as countless forms and styles of logos and trademarks that consist of numerous shapes, symbols and color combinations.

BMW has a history in aviation and its logo stays true to its roots. The blue and white represent a propeller in motion with the sky peeking through. In fact, BMW had a role in World War II as a creator of aircraft engines for the German military.

The Apple logo represents the forbidden fruit from the “Tree of Knowledge” in the Biblical creation story of Adam and Eve.

There’s no rule against giving a facelift to a logo. Every big brand name you can think of, whether it’s Apple, FedEx, Pepsi, or KFC to name a few, has had a major logo redesign at some point during its history. There are many cases in which a redesign is necessary, which cannot be ruled out. Pepsi’s logo was redesigned at $1,000,000 by the Arnell Group in 2008. In early October 2008, Pepsi launched an entirely new logo, but it did not come into effect until early 2009, when the last logo ended. The Pepsi Globe is now two dimensional again and the swirl design has been changed to look like a smile, of which changes size according to the type of Pepsi. It also added white outlines.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s logo was redesigned in 2009 for $15,000,000. Though the earlier logo was not a brilliant one, it was simple and meaningful. There was nothing strange or anything futile about the old logo.  People had accepted the logo and it went well with them for doing business with ANZ. The new logo does not connect with the mindset of people. The new ‘ANZ’ letters lost the dynamic incline of the old logo. The four horizontal lines don’t make any sense. It is not implicit why ANZ needed to spent $15 million to change its good logo to a bad one.

The importance logo cannot be underestimated in the branding strategy.  Therefore choosing the right logo is very important for the company. The process takes a lot of time, vision, capacity, strategy and most importantly lot of money. They have become progressively crucial in the corporate world as companies make strenuous efforts to distinguish themselves from one another in the worldwide arena. They have to be simple, readable, visually distinctive, cohesive, relevant and consistent. 

Why do consumers ignore marketing messages? They are too tired of advertisements day in and out moreover everywhere they go. Because of this boredom they don’t know the brand and what the offering is, they don’t understand how the product or service works, they don’t understand the benefits of the brands, they find the advertised messages ambiguous, they feel the ads are not directed at them, the messages are dull and tiresome, while commercials are aired consumers are busy doing something else, they’re at work, they are not in a mood to hear the ads, in short the customers are tired of hearing from the brands and fundamentally to the company’s value  offering. The moral of this narrative is the good brands don’t need to be advertised too often and good brands sustain on their core values.

It is a fact that brands like Apple, Nike, McDonald or Google achieved their iconic statuses because of an unattainable magical formula, or we can say that they are lucky to have the brilliance of a single visionary leader. However, these companies have adopted specific approaches and principles that transformed their ordinary brands into iconic brands.  

Great brands don’t waste too much time and money on image building; Instead great brands focus on culture, core operations, and customer experience. They reach out to their customers when it is required. Intelligent marketers concentrate on internal marketing communication than external marketing communication. They turn to advertising, promotions, and public relations only after all other elements of the brand have been developed and aligned. These companies believe that actions (customer’s experience) speak louder than words. When organizations cultivate stronger corporate culture, have healthy relations with their stakeholders, believe in corporate governance their brands fuel faster growth.

There’s a lot in name for brands

In my opinion the brand name matters in its success and its life cycle.  Where did the name Apple Computer come from? Steve Jobs & Wozniak wanted their startup to be ahead of Atari Computers in the phone book. They wanted to stay away from the unfriendly, larger than life, complex images created by other computer companies such as IBM, Digital Equipments, Cincom etc. Jobs and Wozniak wanted to pay a tribute to Apple Records, the music label of the Beatles. There’s another tale to it that Jobs in his early life had worked in a farm at California picking and growing apples. The name just clicked and rest is history.

Good brands don’t become complacent

One of the fundamental principles of a brand’s success is its ability to do two challenging things at the same time – maintain consistency in the core of the brand such as quality, features, and price points along with this constantly change in order to stay in tune with the changing times. Doing these two things simultaneously is a big challenge for any brand.  Sony – one of the most distinguished global consumer electronics brand which has enjoyed unparallel brand equity and loyalty is surprisingly losing out its position. Its rivals Samsung and LG are giving it a tough time. Over the last couple of years, Sony has been gradually but surely slipping from its ivory tower.

There are few reasons for Sony’s fall from the top. This is because of its excessive and unrelated diversifications; to name a few – consumer electronics, music label, online music store, semiconductors, a motion picture company and financial units. These diversifications suck its energy and added to heaped costs of unrelated operations.  The diversification’s have not only drained the brand’s resources to a great extent but also abstracted the brand focus from the core of the brand. In addition, brand Sony has become complacent; it has many loopholes left open in its operations making it vulnerable to attacks from rivals. The followers (holding follower position) in the market who are agile, more energized attacked on the loose ends on multiple fronts. Samsung, LG, Apple, Nokia and others have grabbed Sony’s market share in consumer electronics segment.

Good brands don’t chase customers

Regularity and reliability cannot be compromised in the brand building game. The philosophy adopted by Ray Kroc – the founder of McDonald’s is that they can’t be successful unless their operators (franchisees) are successful. The logic is so profound. Approximately 85% of McDonald’s restaurants are owned and operated by independent business men and women. The idea of McDonald’s has always been of wanting to build a restaurant system that would be known for food of consistently high quality and uniform methods of preparations. Their aim, of course, was to assure repeat business based on the system’s reputation rather than on the quality of a single store or operator. This required a continuing program of educating and assisting operators and a constant review of their performance. The key to uniformity is their ability to provide techniques of preparation that operators have to follow. The success also comes because of its management listening so carefully to its operator’s problems, thoughts, ideas and solutions. The success of this partnership between the company and its operators is that the operators devote full time and best efforts to their restaurant business. Their focus and passion is what makes McDonald’s the number one food service organization in the world.

Great brands when commit stay committed

Another iconic brand Nivea body cream has been around for many years. Nivea is used in a household for generations together making it a habit. You will see Nivea on the dressing shelf constantly in many households; this is because it is super hydrating and makes the skin supple. This body cream product has maintained its fragrance, feel, thickness, packaging design same for years. When you buy the bright blue round tub/tin you know what you’re getting. It is one of those creams that have not changed, thus enjoying a large amount brand loyalty.

The best brands are good inside

Fortune Magazine and the Great Place to Work Institute named Google the 2014’s “Best Company Work For.” It’s the fifth time Google has enjoyed this position. This company has always believed in bringing diverse in demographics, smart, talented young people together. They believe in providing a very conducive atmosphere to people while allowing them to innovate, good benefits and perks, safety to women employees. Well, the company has a systematic hiring policy. Nepotism is completely avoided.  It is one of the employee friendly organizations. When the work atmosphere is great, obviously the employees give their best. 

Good brands stretch out

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare is leveraging on Horlicks’s brand equity to get into new categories. Horlicks is an old player in the market. Horlicks came to India with The British Army; the end of World War 1 saw Indian soldiers of British Indian Army bringing it back with them as a dietary supplement. It has been around for decades. But there are no evident signs of its ageing. Horlicks’ market share is above 50 per cent as per AC Nielsen market survey.  It would be foolish for GlaxoSmithKline not to leverage the equity of such a brand. Thus, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare decided to use the brand’s equity to get into new categories. It has launched biscuits for children, a nutrition drink for women, an energy bar and chilled milk. Thus good brands stretch out.

Pay attention on how you make a relevant brand!