As CMO, you’re accountable for translating every business evolution into growth. Whether it’s a merger or acquisition, an upcoming sale or IPO, a new ownership structure or any one of a dozen other transformative moments, you might well need a new B2B brand name to advance your new future.
Now what?
Choosing a new name feels big because decisions don’t come much bigger. Your name is the opening line in your brand story. It’s your calling card, your store window, your profile picture on the dating app: a powerful representation of who you are and what you are about as a company and culture.
Consider these five key factors as you get ready to rename your B2B brand. You’ll want to work with a naming partner who understands the importance of each. And to kick off a successful process, you’ll want everyone at the company to know what to expect and prioritize.
1. It can’t be a beauty contest. Strategy must win.
Any branding partner can give you their hot take on what your new name should be. Creative options feel exciting and fun. But what matters most is what the name can actually do for your business—both today and as the company keeps evolving over time.
That requires sound naming strategy.
Consider the case of Meta, born as Facebook. Leadership claimed they changed the name because they saw the Metaverse as the company’s future. But the public couldn’t help noticing Facebook’s rebrand followed damaging U.S. Senate testimony from whistle-blower Frances Haugen, the Cambridge Analytica scandal and years of negative press over user privacy concerns. Investors also thought the Metaverse seemed expensive—too expensive. It all just didn’t “add up.”
Fast Company ran the headline that told the tale, “Brand trust in Facebook actually fell after it changed its name to Meta.” With its poorly conceived renaming, Meta’s “trustworthy score” fell from 11% to 6.2%.
If you’re tempted to conclude scandal (not poor strategy) was to blame there, consider Altria. In 2003, Philip Morris was fighting a mass of tobacco-related lawsuits. Leadership recognized the only way to leave controversy behind was to build a wholly different future: new attitudes, new products and a healthier promise. So the business rebranded as Altria—a name creatively derived from “altruism.” Meaningfully, it also shifted its R&D priorities, committing to “moving beyond smoking.”
Philip Morris’s transformation went deeper than a new name. That’s why to date Altria remains “remarkably profitable,” even in its arguably dying industry.
The moral? Great names are great when they’re true. Clever is good but it’s not enough. That’s why you need a B2B brand naming partner who’s as interested and invested in your business plan as you are.
2. The trademark challenge is enormous, but not insurmountable, for experts who know your space.
You’ll need a name you can own, of course, and the path to the trademark finish line can be long. Trust us: the obvious options for a business in your vertical are taken. In our experience, even most of the seemingly original names are taken.
Thankfully, solid naming partners come with the perseverance and verbal creativity to uncover hidden gems and even coin new words that only fit you. We know what’s too cool for school, what’s relevant and what’s yesterday’s news. And we know enough about language to understand what will sound right and inspire the right associations.
DeSantis Breindel rebranded Gibraltar Industries after M&A activity that brought together six agricultural growing and processing practices. Included in our scope was, of course, a new name. It wasn’t easy. Given their space and what they enable for their customers (specifically), we needed the new name to signal “the one who helps others prosper” with warmth and gravitas. We had to find something ownable that didn’t sound like anything already out there. It had to look strong and balanced in visual form, too.
We stepped up, and Prospiant was born. An inspired and meaningful name that the business could legally own—and also a compelling brand story that no competitor could claim.
3. The subjectivity challenge is…even bigger than the legal one.
It’s nobody’s fault. Language works in mysterious, often counter-intuitive ways. When humans attempt to judge names we’ve never heard before, our many cognitive biases can trick us into making false assumptions. Add groupthink, power dynamics and conflicting agendas to the mix, and the reality is this: trying to come up with a good name everyone can get behind is just really, really hard.
More often than not, coming up with more options isn’t the answer. (It’s all too easy to get trapped in endless rounds of proposed names with ever-diminishing returns.) The bottom line is that there’s a necessary discomfort in making a subjective choice. Period.
A huge part of what we do is shepherd B2B CMOs and their teams through the toughest hours of decision making. It helps that we’re outsiders and experts, both. We also just credit our sea legs. We’ve been through this before. We know how to get our clients through it.
4. Generative AI may be useful, but don’t expect magic.
In the era of ChatGPT, the tempting theory that algorithms can take care of naming (along with taglines, along with marketing copy…) is everywhere. It’s safe to assume B2B brand namers are using generative AI, and company leadership may even recommend that their internal marketing team give it a shot.
Look, we get it. Generative AI is great at pumping out lots of ideas near-instantaneously. Some suggestions can be built on and inspire great names. Unfortunately, many are terrible.
True creativity involves taking a punt, pushing forward, breaking the rules, zagging where everyone else zigs. As we’ve covered before, Generative AI is predictive, not insightful. It can’t reason, and it can’t create. Because it lacks human ingenuity—the “x factor” that makes creative work deeply resonant and memorable.
We won’t claim we’ve never looked to Generative AI to start a brainstorm. But we’d never name a company with it. A great tool for provoking some thinking, yes. The source of true genius all on its own, no.
5. The market is not your first audience. Your internal team needs to believe in your new name first.
The C-suite takes the lead on working with the naming partner and getting to final approval. Once the new name is set, though, it’s time to throw open the doors and start inviting your entire team to the moment. Explaining what’s happening, building their excitement for the opportunities ahead, getting them 100% behind the new name—so that once it’s announced to the world, it can truly, actually come to life.
Your people are your frontline brand ambassadors. They’re the ones that customers, analysts and job candidates are going to ask about the new name. They’re also the ones who have to deliver the experience that new name promises. No interactions excepted.
When DeSantis Breindel was tasked with renaming Veolia’s district energy group, we intentionally chose a story that would inspire the brand’s workforce as much as customers and investors. The energy industry isn’t known for human qualities. But we knew Veolia’s employees were proud of delivering personal, localized services. We renamed the company Vicinity—the pride of the company’s people serving as our strategic launchpad. The new name set the company apart in its market while rewarding its people for taking pride in their work.
If there’s one common thread through all these brand renaming factors, it’s that stamina, expertise and knowing the challenges that lie ahead matter. For you as CMO and for the branding partner you choose.
Naming is part art, part science, part instincts, part digging deep to find the soul of a business. Equal parts daunting and exhilarating. But what you can end up with—if you get it right—is a name that speaks to the best of who you’re becoming.
Ready to get started renaming your brand? Contact us.
