How Not to Brand

This could also be called ‘How to keep your Customers on their Toes’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti_gmwcP9Pg

Thanks to Mike Myatt of N2Growth for highlighting this YouTube video via his Ecademy blog.

Why do companies and organisations that are well established feel the need to change names so often?

Especially when the original name is so well known. Is it sometimes just a case of hopping on the ‘trend bandwagon’ and ditching tradition because tradition isn’t ‘cool’ any longer?

In the UK a few years ago, The Royal Mail which until recently had a complete monopoly on all postal deliveries in Britain called in the branding experts. Even though The Royal Mail can trace its origins to 1516 when Henry VIII established a ‘Master of the Posts’, in 2000 one of the most well-known and trusted brands was re-christened ….

As the UK postal market was being gradually opened to competition and with operational problems becoming more commonplace, a change of name was deemed essential. Do away with the past. We’re new, we’re 21st century, we’re hip … let’s call ourselves… drum roll…..Consignia.

Excuse me. Re-wind.

Replace an instantly identifiable name with what? 

Replace a name that conjures up pictures of granite-like posties delivering the mail when the rest of us are struggling through the blizzards and thunderstorms, a name that encouraged us to read the tales of Postman Pat and his trusty side-kick Jess to our children. Surely not?

But hey-ho.

Rather than deal with the competition and sort our problems, hey guys let’s pretend we’re somebody else and let’s spend a fortune on re-branding ourselves with a word that Joe Public has never heard of.

But it’s clever – combining consign (to deliver) with insiginia.

Not surprisingly, the new name sunk without trace as customers and employees refused to adopt Consiginia and insisted on using The Royal Mail. In 2002 the old name was back and by 2004 all traces of the disaster were gone.

Sometimes we’re too quick to ditch the old and bring in the new.

That’s my name!

Returning to names just for a moment. Until a few years ago, the considerations when choosing a business name were straightforward but then came the internet and the scramble for great domain names.

Nowadays, finding a creative and, most importantly, unused .com name ranks up there as one of the most time-consuming exercises when setting up a new business. It seems to be a recurring nightmare – think of a name, check its availability, go back to square one.

And that’s before considering the marketing, branding and legal implications (incidentally the battle over the iPhone name name looks like being a happy hunting ground for the lawyers). 

So if anyone dreams up a great .com name that’s quirky, suitable for a broad based, global online social community and of course still available, then I’ll owe you a virtual shot of your favourite tipple.

To Infinity and Beyond…

Last night, I found myself watching a film I’ve never heard of – October Sky, based on the life of someone I’ve never heard of – Homer Hickam. Now a best selling author, Homer has a childhood story that illustrates how big dreams can be.

Growing up in Coalwood, West Virginia in the late 1940/ 1950s as a young boy, Homer was inspired by the Russian Sputnik to dream of a life away from Coalwood and the mine that ran through every vein of the small town. With a small group of friends, Homer set up the Big Creek Missile Agency (great name, could have come straight from the Spy Kids film trilogy) and set out to build the biggest and best rocket they could.

Learning everything they could about rocket systems, propulsion, mathematics and everything else needed to launch, the three year project became the rallying point for the town.

Many people should be included in the roll of honour but one in particular stands out. Homer’s young, female science teacher believed in the Rocket Boys even when the system didn’t.

At the same time though, Homer’s adventurous streak was not welcome at home or at least not by his father. Whilst his mother encouraged her son to follow his dream and look for a life beyond the mine, for his father the maverick behaviour was almost impossible to reconcile with the traditional mining way of life. The mine was his life but not Homer’s. Homer dreamed of becoming a rocket engineer.

Encouraged by the developments taking place at Cape Canaveral under the leadership of Werhner von Braun, the boys experimented with all manner of resources including fuels with the poetic names of ‘rocket candy’ and ‘zincoshine’.

From Auk I (altitude six feet) to the mind-boggling Auk XXXI (altitude 31,000 feet) the boys belief in themselves culminated in the gold medal at the National Science Fair, 1960 and careers well away from Coalwood and its declining way of life.

Homer grew up to fulfil his ambition as a NASA engineer before establishing himself as a successful author.

Homer may not have been a business entrepreneur but his ability to dream, to think big is probably the most fundamental quality any entrepreneur has. Not to accept the norm, not even to step outside the comfort zone slightly but to dream wild thoughts that provoke a mix of hostility and jealousy in others.

But how big do a budding entrepreneur’s dreams need to be?

Entrepreneurs – born or made?

What makes a person set up on their own & why some succeed and many others don’t, is a fascinating subject in its own right.

Before we start though, I don’t like the term ‘entrepreneur’ or more to the point, it’s so overused that it’s lost some of its meaning and impact.

Everyone who runs their own business claims to be an entrepreneur. The guy who leaves a steady job and goes solo only to work primarily for one or two clients, without employing anyone else. Is he really an entrepreneur? Are sub-contractors entrepreneurs or just people who in another life would still be on the payroll.

Even working solo but with many clients, does that really qualify him to wear the entrepreneural badge?

But in the absence of a better word, we’ll stick with it.

Like many people of my generation, you didn’t come across entrepreneurs on every street corner during my formative years and early career. Such people were rarely in the media and those that were often had something ‘odd’ about them.

For normal kids, like myself, getting a steady job, a career was the option. Maybe my parents were unadventurous & passed that on but looking at my contemporaries at school and college, I can’t think of anyone who didn’t at least start safe. Accountants, management trainees, lawyers, IT gurus – all collected their wage at the end of the month.

So I blame the parents!

No not really, I think it was just a reflection of the times and the importance still attached to security, university and taking things slowly. Plus the money to launch an idea was not as accessible as nowadays.

So I did the right thing. Graduated from college, joined a management training programme with a large financial services company and life was sweet.

But change was on the horizon. Margaret Thatcher, the Internet & ‘greed is good’ were just around the corner.

Back to Boo

OK, some last few thoughts about Boo.

I know it’s been a while since blogging on this topic – my apologies. No excuses. Just a personality trait – easily distracted & a certain amount of laziness especially over the festive period. Well we’re all allowed to switch off sometimes aren’t we?

So was T2G a mini Boo?

Simple answer, yes. Or atleast we made many of the same mistakes just not on the same bank-breaking scale. We may have had sleepless nights but our bank manager (the Geoff Boycott of financial services for those of you with a long memory for that English tradition of cricket). The Boo bankers and investors though I’m sure acquired a very distinguished grey-haired look very quickly.

Starting a new business is exciting and the adrenaline rush for us encouraged the heart to rule.

Spend, spend, spend!

Did we need a plush office? Of course we did. It may have been serviced on an easy in/easy out agreement but it impressed our clients. It confirmed our story. We were going places, jump on fast guys or miss the ride.

Looking back, of course it was great to have a pleasant environment to work in, to talk with clients and suppliers in the ‘boardroom’ and to have a lovely lady answering the phone and welcoming our visitors. But in the early days until the revenue gained momentum, we should have stuck with home or hotel lobbies.

Many years ago, I had a client who set up an engineering business (equipment to test for foreign bodies in foods) literally on his kitchen table. Given his line of business he was always able to hide this fact as demonstrations were done at the client premises. It was only when one of his early customers wanted to arrange training for half a dozen staff at Dennis’s ‘offices’ that his cover was blown.

Even so, training in the garden shed gave them all a story to take with them and the customer still remained years later.

Business took off quickly though and the move to proper premises didn’t take long. Dennis sold his business a few years ago for a few $m having relocated to Canada for tax reasons.

Lesson: Even a garden shed can look swanky!

Procrastination

Jeoff and I also spent too long navel gazing. Jeoff likes to analyse & plan, two aspects of life that I have a natural dislike for, but know that in many cases they are justified. Unfortunately we spent too long analysing, planning, justifying, debating rather than just doing. Only when the balance in the bank account started to show too much red did we stop planning and start doing.

Planning is important and trying to get as much right as possible before launch is, of course, vital but how do you know it’s right? How do know the planning is accurate?

Only real-life feedback will confirm whether you’re on the right road. Be happy with 80% in place before launch, then launch. The 80% will soon become 90%. The other 10% you’ll never quite achieve – changing landscapes. But at least the bank balance will start to look healthy and you can draw an income.

And in some cases, no planning at all will work. Just get the idea going with the bare essentials in place & ride the rollercoaster until you reach your first comfort zone. Then start planning for the next stage of your development.

Lesson: Just Do It!

Variety is (not always) The Spice of Life

Some experts would say, pulling in the same direction is even more important. To an extent Jeoff and I wanted different things, had different ways of working, talked different languages but thought the umbrella set-up for T2G would accomodate this. I still think it would if the business had reached financial stability quickly. But when money (or lack of) is a constant pressure those differences quickly become issues.

Likewise Boo. Boo had no strong leadership. Everyone could do their own thing. Sounds great. But in reality it’s one thing to encourage creativity, there still has to be an overall direction.

Someone has to have the vision and to see it through.

Lesson: There’s only two directions in a tug-of-war – forwards or backwards. Whichever way your business is going, make sure all your team are still holding on!

There probably are other comparisons which we can all draw. But whatever mistakes are made the important thing is to learn. Making mistakes is good, repeating them is not.

Next up, I’ll go back to basics. Why start in business at all? They’ll be a bit about making lots of money, better work/life balance but also about what makes someone tell their boss to stick it & put themselves in the firing line.

Are entrepreneurs born or made?