What’s in a New Name for a Company? Plenty
Michael G. Rey, now 51, was a design director at California magazine 15 years ago when he decided to establish himself as a freelance graphic designer. When clients asked what his company was called, he simply leveraged his own reputation and dubbed it Rey International. But last year, with an expanding clientele, a partner and four employees, he decided it was time to take the firm’s identity beyond just himself. Because he designs logos and provides corporate identities, he had an inside track on how and when to execute a name change, how to let clients know about it and how to budget for the switch. Rey was interviewed by freelance writer Karen E. Klein.
It’s really important to find the right name for your company. One concern we had in making a name change is that we had won a lot of awards and established credibility in our industry under the name Rey International. We didn’t want to lose all the credit for that when we changed our name.
But this was no longer a one-man studio, like when I founded it. I have other designers, working on new things like Web design now. The company is not just about me anymore, so I felt it was time to make a change. I wanted it to feel like everybody’s company, so that my employees could take more ownership in the firm. Also, we were expanding and setting new goals, moving into a new location, and our client base was changing from mostly record labels to a more corporate clientele. It seemed like the right time to make a change.
Since we do graphic design and corporate identity, we handled the name change in-house, and it did not cost us much more than our time. I think if you’re going to hire a consultant to help you devise and research a new name--which I would recommend because names are so important now, especially on the Internet--you’d have to pay at least $12,000 for that aspect alone. Actually getting someone to design a new logo, register your name legally and physically make the change at your company would probably cost a minimum of $10,000.
We started choosing a new name by evaluating what we do as a company and what we have to offer our clients. We’re a small company, but we have a wide variety of experiences and expertise in a lot of disciplines. We’re also very involved in the community and in modern culture, because of our experience with entertainment companies. We began to see that our firm was a kind of crossroads--a place where many ideas and people would meet.
We brainstormed for several months and put up a huge list of names that we were considering, then we bounced them off a lot of people. My partner, Greg Lindy, came up with the word “intersection,” and we liked that, so we sent it off to a corporate identity consultant we work with and asked for her perspective. She wrote up a 20-page report on the name, including some ideas for a slogan that would narrow it down a bit, since it is very broad. We brainstormed again at lunch and came up with the words “More Than Design” as a subtitle for our logo, since we are expanding beyond just graphic design into Web design, corporate identity, and other areas.
I started preparing my clients for the idea that we were going to change our name about a year ahead of time. I’m pretty set with most of my regular clients, they know me personally, and I didn’t worry that the name change would put them off. Once we settled on Intersection Studio and registered it with the state Department of Corporations, we sent out an announcement to all our regular clients. We needed to do it inexpensively, so we mailed a very simple, fun postcard that looks like our business card. It said, “More Than Design” on the front side and “Rey International is now Intersection Studio” on the back, with an arrow pointing to the new logo.
I advise businesses thinking about changing their names to make sure they have a couple of variations in mind, in case the exact name they want is not available. We wanted the word Intersection with a “squared” symbol--a small number 2--above the last letter, but using the 2 above the line was not allowed. Just the word “Intersection” alone was already being used by a nonprofit group, so we couldn’t get that either. You also need to make sure that you legally secure the name before you spend money changing things like your invoices and your stationery.
We wound up with a whole new look for the company that is really great, and we’re very pleased with it. I did get some clients saying they didn’t like the new name, it wasn’t what they were used to, but I figure that’s OK. Most of our clients have said, “Right on.”
If your business can provide a lesson to other entrepreneurs, contact Karen E. Klein at the Los Angeles Times, 1333 S. Mayflower Ave., Suite 100, Monrovia, CA 91016 or at kklein6349@aol.com. Include your name, address and telephone number.
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AT A GLANCE
* Company: Intersection Studios
* Owner:Michael G. Rey
* Nature of Business: Design firm
* Location: 4120 Michael Ave., Los Angeles 90066
* E-mail address: intersection@mediaone.com
* Year founded: 1985
* Employees: 4
* Annual revenue: $400,000