|
The name IBM is the world's
most distinct and valuable corporate identity.
Its three letters, parked in this unique random
arrangement, are worth many billions of dollars.
Meanwhile, Lenovo of China is the new owner
of IBM PC and will also use the IBM name for
the next five years, while IBM will use its
identity for higher-end technology and consulting
services. How will all this work?
Currently, IBM's corporate
identity is more aligned with high-end technology
and enterprise solutions, including blue chip
consulting services, in contrast to just generic
PC hardware.
This sharing of corporate
names now raises three serious questions:
* Will the simultaneous use
of the same name in two separate areas create
confusion?
* Will the identity of Lenovo be eclipsed by
IBM's name and will it take away its strength
to stand alone five years later?
* Will the two separate masters of the same
brand name sing in total harmony?
Lenovo will start using the
name IBM and after 18 months will add Lenovo
to the brand, dropping IBM after five years.
The deal will also allow Lenovo to use IBM's
famous "Think" brand.
Getting Trapped by Master
Branding
Master branding, simply put,
is a false sense of branding where all of the
various corporate goods and services, as well
as the rest of the paraphernalia, is parked
under one huge tent of a single corporate identity.
This approach rarely works as most big corporations
have more than one marketing message.
This overbundling of messages
can sometimes split the perceptions in the marketplace.
Customers at large are very fickle, but despite
customers' confusion, corporations often practice
this "everything under one master tent"
dilemma.
For example, Xerox at the
height of its fame and glory, was so powerful
and successful in copiers that its entry into
computers failed, simply due to its projected
perceptions. Customers couldn't believe how
such a successful company in copiers could also
make computers so successfully. Some $750 million
later, Xerox packed up the computer division.
Would Fed Ex be able to bifurcate
the perception of it in order to operate other
businesses? A Fed Ex airline, maybe, but not
Fed Ex cola. Neither would you care to fly a
Coca-Cola Airline. The fear of Coke leaking
all over the cockpit is enough to scare the
customers.
Somehow, we do get trapped
in a series of perceptions, and once set, they
are very hard to change.
Big-time technology with consulting,
and selling rock-bottom PC hardware, are two
separate and two very distinct selling propositions.
The identity of Lenovo will greatly enjoy the
glittering IBM wrapper. It will give Lenovo
a great boost.
As the brand IBM PC gets a
stronger hold in this fiercely competitive market,
the visibility of the IBM PC name could come
to the top and dominate the global PC marketplace;
let's call it the China Syndrome. This will
make it very difficult for Lenovo when it comes
time for a departing hug and a goodbye kiss
after five years of romance.
Names once set in consumers'
minds can't be changed by a serious corporate
memo or by placing a series of fancy, full-page
global ads. Five years later, Lenovo will have
to start a long and hard climb once again.
IBM, a Made-in-China Company?
When a brand serves two different
masters, it might also end up with two faces.
Here in reality, two separate corporate entities
under master guidelines and working plans will
be using the same IBM name, while the customers
stuck in the daily toil at large will hardly
know the background or the difference.
The branding images of an
aggressive IBM PC on one side, and on the other,
branding images of high-end IBM's big-technology
solutions with consulting are bound to sing
two very different tunes. Would this cause some
confusion and alter some perception over these
long five years? Is there is a risk for IBM
to be globally recognised as a made-in-China
company, at least by the users of all those
PCs? Would IBM be better off just to sell the
division without the name?
A while ago, IBM made another
deal with a great contemporary nerd -- now recently
knighted William Gates, of Microsoft the richest
man in the world on the Forbes 400 list -- that
proves it is all in the deal.
The building of a corporate
identity and establishing the perception of
that name in the mind of the populace is a very
well defined science and should not be confused
with design and logo branding. Names are the
true deliverer of the message, and they simply
park and occupy our subconscious, creating strong
perceptions and ideas that directly lead us
to buying decisions.
The rules of naming and corporate
name identity are very tough to apply, but then
again, to have a one-of-a-kind, unique global
corporate identity is also the most desired
goal of any corporation in the world. One master,
one name, one message is always the best.
About the author
Naseem Javed, author of Naming
for Power and Domain Wars, is recognized as
a world authority on Global Name Identities
and Domain Issues. He introduced The Laws of
Corporate Naming in the 80's and also founded
ABC Namebank, a consultancy established in New
York and Toronto a quarter century ago. Naseem
conducts exclusive executive workshops on image
and name identities issues via web conferences.
www.azna.com/ceo.htm
|
