BY FARAI CHIGORA
Imagine a world without names for everything (people, products/services, places, streets and any other objects). There will be disaster to say. Without identity, recognition, personalisation and differentiation. Where cars will be just cars without brand names like Toyota and Honda. In the marketing for businesses it will then be difficult to differentiate one business and its offerings from another with intense competition and imitations. In fact there won’t be any business/brand to talk about. We are reminded by Stephen King that “A product is something made in a factory; a brand is something that is bought by the customer. A product can be copied by a competitor; a brand is unique. A product can be quickly outdated; a successful brand is timeless”. That is the power of a brand name in the age of entrepreneurship. Some of our SMEs especially those not registered are trading without names (reminder to formalise our businesses through registration). With some registered using names that don’t have any meaning in their markets, product/service functionality, brand experience and positioning. Indeed names have a meaning besides being just for generic identity in the Registry of Companies filing cabinet or for birth record in case of humans. Some behaviours of people in our societies have been discussed and described as relating to the names they were given. No wonder why many are biblical in order to present righteousness, good deeds and trust as a brand. Of course these might be viewed as myths or a form of societal bandwagon of existence. But like numbers names don’t lie. A brand name adds on to the lasting visibility and attractiveness that is needed by a brand for an SME. In fact it helps in telling a story (one will never have thought of) and sharing a brand vision with the markets and beyond. Helping that imagination and fantasy by the customers turned into tangibility and visibility. That is making the markets believe through wording. Yet as thriving SMEs we take naming as one of the general housekeeping issues. Let me remind you that a brand name has the power negotiate for your attractiveness, lasting recognition and supreme positioning (whether conveyed by a human, artificial intelligence or digitalised social networks). In short I will say that a name is the igniter/starter giving birth to all types of awareness and representing any type of product/service packaging. Colours, designs, jingles and any other form of brand elements means nothing without a leading brand name. Here a brand name is no longer is just an element but the foundation. This then leads us to the focus of this edition where we talk about brand names as the source of lucrative positioning and sustainable publicity of our thriving enterprises. To start with as discussed in other previous editions there are innovative brand names which are the best specific for pure, unique and not ever seen/imagined new identity. Those that are original and haven’t existed in the market before (that’s our SMEs should do rather than copy and paste of existing brand names). I will refer you to the two highly discussed in the existing theories and practising domains. These are invented and evocative brand names. There is need to shift from the traditional descriptive brand names to those that are out of novelty, catchy, techno adaptive, modern and meeting the new expectations (tastes and preferences) of the markets. A descriptive name was just conveying the type of products/services offered by the business. This is not enough in the highly competitive environments where our SMEs are existing. Anyone can define his/her products/services which is just like imitation through offerings. A brand name driven from such will accelerate power of imitators and increases our chances of vulnerability and capital waste. There is need to search/develop a brand name that reflects us as inventors/brand leaders on the market. That invented brand name which makes it easier for us to get trademarks and any other Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for future brand market dominance and protection as discussed in the previous edition. Then there is one known as evocative brand name as aforementioned also most compatible for our SMEs. That brand name which seeks to emotionally connect with its markets. Where our entrepreneurs come up with names that talks about their brand experience (driven by stronger imaginations/images and positive memories that connects with the intuition of all the customers). Experience is an outcome of trial and that is what all the potential customers look for in their first or continued association with a brand. To keep on having greater and exceeding experience as they consume. I advise my enterprising colleagues to come up with these types of names in order to connect with the hearts and souls of targeted markets. Another type is geographical brand name. This is a name that an SME will derive from its own ecology and endowments. This easily connects with the mind and interests of targeted markets since it is part of their DNA. Imagine coming up with a brand name ‘Mbare Brothers’ or that popular and long lived Machipisa. There is more in this type of a name which connects with a larger market of those who once resided or currently staying in that neighbourhood. They want to be associated with their own wherever they go. This gives what I can refer to as rooted brand identity through the name of a location (a concept in place branding for future discussion). The same with Africa University brand name representing the whole of Africa, no wonder why its brand equity has grown leveraging from that diversity of its customers. Just for emphasis and correction our SMEs should by all means move away from acronymic brand names. Where they use mere letters for identity. The problem in that people will interpret the letters differently and wrongly hence there won’t be any brand ownership/identity for the SME. A brand name should have a meaning in the mind of the customers. Most of the times our naming is through letters that do not link or easily help in improving both tangibility of our brand visioning and visibility within the potential markets. Also some of our successfully growing enterprises have used founder brand names. These can be highly distinctive if well positioned. The Fachip brand name also says it all in its growth and fame founded by Farai and Chipo (home-grown brand names). KFC and Ford have done the same to become global giants with their brand names and are still making a lucrative and profitable impact beyond the founders’ existence. That is what brand names should do in this era. I will then end by reminding our start-ups and those growing businesses that the main objective in finding a suitable brand name is to have a tight/symbiotic connection with the vision and strategy of the SME hence it should not be out of serendipity.
- Dr Farai Chigora is a businessman and academic. He is the Head of Business Science at the Africa University’s College of Business, Peace, Leadership and Governance. His Doctoral Research focused on Business Administration (Destination Marketing and Branding Major, Ukzn, SA). He is into agribusiness and consults for many companies. He writes in his personal capacity and can be contacted for feedback and business at fariechigora@gmail.com, WhatsApp mobile: +263772886871.