Re: A renaming analogy

[Jim Nasby <decibel(at)decibel(dot)org>]

On Sep 2, 2007, at 7:23 PM, Jonah H. Harris wrote:
> > The Company Formerly Known as Federal Express changed their name.  I
> > can still recall their old slogan: "Federal Express: When it
> > absolutely, positively has to be there overnight."  For reasons I
> > don't know (but could probably learn if I spent some time doing the
> > research), they concluded that they should re-brand as FedEx.  They
> > had something going for them in that new name: that's what everyone
> > "in the know" _already_ called them.
>
> http://www.vizual.com/resources/nl/Nov03/article1.asp

Relevant quotes...

 Under a cloak of secrecy on June 22, 1994, a mysterious aircraft  
landed on a darkened runway in Memphis and was swiftly guided into an  
awaiting hangar. Only a handful of security guards standing watch  
against intruders witnessed the late night operation, which took less  
than 20 minutes to complete.

Two days later the whole world knew the secret. With news media,  
public officials and 4,000 FedEx employees present ... the world's  
largest overnight delivery carrier unveiled its new corporate  
identity -- the culmination of two years of research and design and  
weeks of clandestine implementation. Video relays around the globe  
carried an event that usually doesn't get much play beyond a  
company's in-house newsletter.


Research surveys also uncovered problems with the word federal. In  
1973, the word had given the company immediate equity, an  official  
alternative to the post office, but today it was more often  
associated with being bureaucratic and slow. In Latin American   
countries, it conjured images of the federales, and in some other  
parts of the  world, people had trouble pronouncing Federal Express.

 With a June 24 deadline looming, the design  team worked 70-hour  
weeks. The launch of the new FedEx  name was a closely guarded  
secret, intended by management to catch the public -- and the  
competition -- unaware. "We wanted to make an event, to create a  
whole new identity as if it had happened overnight and get  as much  
coverage as we could," says Christensen. Two days before the event, a  
newly converted MD-11 was secretly flown from a paint hangar in  
Mobile, Ala. and hidden behind the immense doors of FedEx Hangar Ten  
in Memphis.
--
Decibel!, aka Jim Nasby                        decibel(at)decibel(dot)org
EnterpriseDB      http://enterprisedb.com      512.569.9461 (cell)