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October 8, 2014What do you do? One day you wake up and the news media are talking about an organization that has the same name as yours. The problem is that this organization, in another part of the world, has a name that when translated into English – its acronym ISIS or ISIL – is so violent and its tactics so barbaric that even Al Qaeda has denounced it.
This is not a hypothetical question; rather one that several organizations have had to confront. A condominium development in Florida called ISIS Downtown changed its name to 3 Thirty Three Downtown. It is a dilemma that is facing an equity fund in Great Britain, a pharmaceutical company in California and other businesses, schools, and associations in North America, Australia and elsewhere.
It was even a more acute predicament for a joint venture company, founded by Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, called ISIS Wallet. They changed their name to Softcard, which is a better name anyway. Softcard enables users to use their smartphones to make payments at merchant locations across the United States, apply loyalty cards and redeem money-saving offers at select merchants. In this instance, the case for change was likely overwhelming. The risks of any confusion of the Islamic State, or internet/email rumours, with Softcard or the company’s owners were too great and they had to change their name.
News reports indicate that others will not change their name, including a heavy metal band (though they have subtly added “the band” after their name on their web site and Facebook page). There is also the added issue that if someone conducts a Google search of ISIS, many links to terrorist stories take precedence over links to these companies or organizations. This takes us back to the question of what to do.
Senior brand strategist Eric Silmser suggests, “The risk of a damaged reputation and business resulting from name confusion with a terrorist group is a powerful reason to act. Companies need to weigh the equity in their name and the cost to transfer the reputation to a new brand. If the brand is very well known to its key constituencies and has built a trusted reputation, the risk is often mitigated.”
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If you are a Peruvian organization with the name ISIL, and your activities are limited to that country, there is no issue. But for anyone in the English speaking world, it is a real problem. There is no use arguing that your name is not an acronym but that you were named after the Egyptian Goddess of fertility, Isis.
Changing your name is difficult and once a new name has been selected, significant resources need to applied to let everyone who knows you learn that “I’m not Adolph anymore, my new name is Ralph.”
