Picking a new name for a merged company has long been tricky.
"FleetBoston Financial," formed in one of those late-‘90s megamergers, was the kind of crammed-together name that often doesn’t roll off the tongue. And who can ever remember where the capital letters go in PricewaterhouseCoopers, much less PwC?
The wholly new brand "Verizon" worked in telecom — few recall there ever was a Bell Atlantic, GTE or NYNEX. But made-up names can come off as forced, as in Woolworth's short-lived switch to
So, what should the merger partners of the hour —
BB&T is the acquirer, yet its name is, well, a bit clunky. And the two sides have labored hard to present their $28.2 billion deal as a merger of equals. The banks’ leaders said they intend to create a new identity, but surely it would be tempting to just keep the SunTrust name: It’s a real word (or two), and in a deal where cost savings are a primary rationale, you’d have fewer branch signs, letterheads and stadium signs to change.
But the two East Coast regionals have no choice but to dream up a new identity, several branding and marketing experts say.
“To keep one name over the other doesn’t really scream ‘merger of equals,’ and it just amplifies the opportunity for employee dissonance,” said Steven Reider, president of the marketing and branch planning adviser Bancography. “This is a transformative merger. It’s doubling the scope of the institution and [at $442 billion] becomes the sixth-largest bank in the U.S. by asset size when all this is finished. … A new name backs that up, to say this is a different entity.”
In making the choice, there will be a lot to consider. People trust banks with their money and sensitive data, so a new name needs to convey a certain sense of seriousness and trustworthiness. Not only that, it should also be easy to spell, easy to pronounce and easy to remember.
Marketing and branding agencies consider everything from the way a name will look on a sign versus a business card to the shape of its letters. And there’s also the matter of availability in the first place.
“The biggest challenge is simply in the amount of registered brands that exist today and finding one that is available,” said Gina Bleedorn, chief experience officer at the Atlanta-based marketing agency Adrenaline.
It is for that reason that many brands, especially financial services companies, make up a new word for their new name, said John Mathes, director of brand strategy at Weber Marketing in Seattle.
One example is the now $45 billion-asset Synovus in Columbus, Ga. Previously known as Columbus Bank & Trust, the bank holding company changed its name to Synovus in 1989, combining the words synergy and novus (Latin for new). At the time, Synovus connected its rebranding to its diversified services and the growth it anticipated. It retained its local bank names and charters for a while afterward, ultimately consolidating the charters in 2010 and
On the other hand, lenders are occasionally lucky enough to find a name that uses real words and has positive connotations. Mathes gave the example of Ally Bank.
Formerly GMAC Bank, the company used to be General Motors’ auto financing division. It rebranded as Ally after it was spun off from GM in 2006. The
“What a great name. They were so fortunate to find a real word that has a great meaning in banking, to have an ally on your side,” Mathes said. “They got a good one there. That does happen, but most common words are already taken.”
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Regardless of the challenges inherent to the process, marketers say the new name offers a chance for the combined company to reinvent its image. That can be something of a double-edged sword, according to Roger Beahm, a professor of marketing at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.
“Anytime you give your customers an excuse to rethink their loyalty, that creates an issue. As marketers, we don’t like to do that,” he said. “On the other hand, the merger creates an awareness that there’s going to be an even larger company to provide greater service in some respect that’s important to me. You can capitalize on it as well as defend against loss.”
SunTrust declined to comment for this story, and BB&T did not respond to a request for comment.
On a conference call last month to discuss the deal, the two banks’ chief executives emphasized that a new name and brand, just like the new headquarters city (Charlotte, N.C., instead of BB&T’s Winston-Salem or SunTrust’s Atlanta), would be part of a fresh start for both.
“I can assure you no two individuals are more attached to their brands,” SunTrust CEO Bill Rogers said on the call. “We both knew this was about the future, so while we honor and respect our past, absolutely, we elected to create a new brand that reflects our future as the premier financial institution.”
Neither company has publicly hinted as to whether they will choose a name made up of a word or words that already exist or coin their own name. Branding and marketing experts are reluctant to spitball ideas without background research (or pay). Nonetheless, they offered a few different ways of thinking about naming a new bank.
Brand names can be surnames, like Wells Fargo, descriptive, like Bank of America, or connotative, such as Discover, Beahm said. Further, a brand can choose an invented name, such as Synovus, or a linked name, like BankUnited.
But whatever the new organization decides, Beahm said it should follow a few particular rules. The new name should be short, ideally three syllables or less. It should be memorable and free of negative connotations. And it should be easy to pronounce.
“People tend to avoid saying words they aren't sure how to pronounce, and you want to encourage people to say your name,” he said.
An invented name can be unique and easier to trademark, experts say. However, many people also associate coined names with the pharmaceutical industry, and for some that’s a turnoff, Bleedorn said.
While she acknowledged the risk of losing existing goodwill and reputation on either side, Bleedorn said, “This is an opportunity for a blank slate, to establish new connections, new relationships and potentially shed any negative baggage.”
A solid name can also provide a competitive advantage, Mathes said. By and large, the public views financial services as a commodity. A checking account is a checking account, after all. A good name can be one way to stand out.
“There’s really not a lot of differentiation between one provider and another,” he said. “One of the ways you differentiate is with a brand, is with a name.”
