Step 1: Compare Present Names with Future of Combined Company

Managers can ask themselves honestly if the existing company names—separately or in combination—adequately convey the range of the products and services the new company will offer. Is the company expanding? Is it planning to sell off noncore businesses? What qualities does the company want to project?

Step 2: Determine the Needs and Expectations of Stakeholders

Managers or their agents (designated employees or consultants) can then interview representatives of each stakeholder group to find out what they think of the businesses that are combining. This includes customers, suppliers, stockholders, bondholders, lenders, employees, and people in the communities where the companies are headquartered.

Step 3: Develop Criteria for a New Name

In listing criteria, managers should ensure suitability with as many facets of the company as possible. Here is a quick checklist of 10 important attributes of a name:

• Descriptive of the combined companies’ core business?
• Suitable to the products, services, and (if regional) location of subsidiaries?
• Broad enough to suit the present while leaving room for growth in the future?
• Acceptable to the company’s stakeholders?
• Distinctive rather than clichéd?
• Memorable rather than arcane?
• Pronounceable or a tongue-twister?
• Real-sounding or outlandish?
• Self-explanatory or a stretch?
• Legally available?

Step 4: Develop a Long List of Names

Now is the time for maximum creativity; the decision-making group may wish to include additional employees and/or outside consultants for brainstorming at this point. In generating a list of possible names, managers can use key prefixes, suffixes, and word fragments to imply general image attributes, such as “Uni” for centralization, “Max” for scale, or “Excel” for quality. Some industries favor certain themes. For example, one study found that two out of three banks have one of the following five words in their names: state, first, national, trust, and savings.[i] To add to the list, a computer can be programmed to generate random names. In the end, the list should include up to several hundred names for a large, complex company.

Step 5: Review Names, Making a Short List

Next, managers should winnow the list down to 25 to 35 acceptable candidates. In this process, they should bear in mind that no single name can fulfill all criteria. It is up to senior management to set priorities. Managers might assign points for each desired attribute—with extra points for the attributes that matter most. They might also decide that failure on certain key points will mean automatic rejection, despite the overall score.

Step 6: Conduct Preliminary Legal Search

Although the process of obtaining legal clearances can be long and frustrating, a full corporate designation must be legally cleared, registered, and protected in accordance with statutes governing its use. Depending on the size of the business and its market, a preliminary search must be conducted at the national, state, and/or local level to identify the legal availability of names on the list. (Sometimes the search must be conducted internationally, nation by nation.) It is fairly typical at this point to find that most of the names are already taken. In addition, it is important to secure website URLs. Even if there is no legal entity named “XYZ Inc.,” some domain collector might have secured “XYZInc.com.”

Step 7: Evaluate Graphic and Phonetic Attributes

In the process of narrowing down the choice, managers should begin to get a feel for what it will be like living with each of the names. At this point, they should begin to pay especially close attention to the way the name looks and sounds. The name selected must be adaptable to a variety of media, both real and virtual, visual and auditory—sometimes in many languages.

Step 8: Select Final Candidates

By now, a company may have about a dozen name finalists. At this point, it is time to make a final choice. One way to do this is to take two names at a time and select only one each time—a process called pairwise comparison—continuing to evaluate the attributes listed so far. At the end, only one name will survive. For a guide to pairwise comparison (a technique that can be used for many aspects of integration—not just name choices), see Appendix 9E.

Step 9: Obtain Final Legal Clearance for Use of the Name

Having selected a name, managers should ask their legal counsel to begin the paperwork for obtaining the legal right to use the name and any images and URLs associated with it, pending board and stockholder approval. As mentioned, trademarks have value, so this is an important step.

Step 10: Seek Approval from the Board and/or Stockholders

In most situations, it will be necessary to seek approval for the name change from a board of directors and from owners. In seeking approval, managers should disclose the criteria and process they used to select the new name, and the benefits that a new name may bring.

Step 11: Create a Graphic System for the New Name

Once the name is selected and approved, it will be time to design a graphic system for it, which will include such visual elements as logos, symbols, and type fonts, as well as color palettes, for the name’s expression in all foreseeable applications.

Step 12: Develop a Communications Plan

Managers should decide when to announce the name change, leaving adequate time for updating both physical materials (signs, swag, etc.) and virtual materials (website, social media).  After the announcement, the company should use only the new supplies. The announcement (which is sometimes coupled with the announcement of the merger itself) should be made not only through the usual channels of communication, but also in special mailings or meetings tailored to specific stakeholder concerns. The company should be sure to include information about the new name in the part of its website devoted to the merger. One of the FAQs (frequently asked questions) often posted about mergers is “What is the name of the new company?”

In the end, the burden of proof will be on the new owner, who must demonstrate that the values underneath the company name and logo will survive and indeed thrive under a new banner.