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| Thestar.com > News |
| Jul. 19, 2002. 01:00 AM |
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Braxton is the one among
thousands |
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That's the choice as Deloitte Consulting sheds
auditor name |
By Isabel Teotonio
Business
Reporter |
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Ledoitte, Adroit and Can of
Whup Ass Consulting.
Although catchy, the names were too kitschy for Deloitte
Consulting, which rejected them, along with thousands of other
suggestions, before announcing yesterday that it will be renamed
Braxton.
Unlike other consulting giants adopting new names in the
scramble to create an identity apart from the accounting firms they
grew out of, Deloitte settled on the trademarked name of a business
it acquired in 1984.
"We wanted a real name, not something invented," Brian
Fugere, chief marketing officer for Deloitte Consulting, said,
referring to rivals such as Accenture Ltd., Sapient Corp., Scient
Inc. and Viant Corp. "The world is tired of coined, invented and
whimsical corporate names."
But Naseem Javed, the head of the Brampton-based ABC
Namebank, which came up with such monikers as Telus and Celestica,
disagreed.
A global consulting firm with more than 15,000 employees
servicing more than one-third of the Global Fortune 500 companies
and about $3.5 billion (U.S.) in annual revenues should choose a
name that will allow it to grow as an icon, he said.
"Braxton is just a name from their archives — they're going
backwards rather than forwards," he said.
"The rules for corporate naming are: It must be unique,
powerful, one of a kind and, most importantly, it must convey who
you are. What does Braxton say? It's a nice name if you're a
bookkeeper living in Oshawa, but to say it's a corporate name?"
"While the sky is falling on the accounting and corporate
image ... this is voodoo accounting meeting voodoo branding."
Deloitte's branding advisers, Interbrand, made the
recommendation after reviewing their own proposals and those of
Deloitte employees. Nearly four thousand names were submitted.
Contenders were divided into three categories: trademarked names
Deloitte owned, real words and made-up monikers. Among the 40
short-listed names tested internationally, Braxton outranked them
all.
"In the linguistic and cultural evaluations we did, Braxton
conveys stature, longevity, seriousness and consummate
professionalism," said David Martin, president of Interbrand in
North America. "The word has that property and allows us to tell our
story from the start. Most of the name changes get in the way of
telling the story. People get into debates over the word that's
chosen ... . With many new names, you end up stirring controversy."
The move last year by Andersen Consulting Ltd., formerly of
Arthur Andersen LLP, to change its name to Accenture left many
scratching their heads in response to the confusing hybrid for
"accent on future." And last month's decision by PwC Consulting, an
arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, to change its name to Monday
raised many eyebrows. KPMG Consulting Inc., which split from KPMG
LLP, is also in the works of developing a new moniker.
In February, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLP was the last of the
Big Five accounting firms to announce it was shedding its consulting
unit. It's scheduled to become a privately owned company once
negotiations are complete by year's end.
In the wake of Enron Corp.'s collapse, accounting firms were
urged by lawyers and corporate-governance experts to separate their
audit and consulting operations.
But mere separation wouldn't suffice for clients who wanted a
complete severance, said Fugere. Deloitte Consulting and other
leading management firms joined the race to ditch their association
with the accounting companies.
"In an era of corporate governance and responsibility issues,
the choice of an authentic name that's real and timeless is resonant
today," said Fugere. "It's right for the times."
It was purely coincidental, he said, that the name was
released the day after a $6 billion class-action lawsuit was
launched, alleging Nortel Networks Corp. overstated late 2000
revenues and its auditor, Deloitte & Touche, failed to stop it.
Deloitte's three-month search for a new name will be followed
in a few weeks with the release of a new company logo and a $60
million brand promotion.
"In a professional services environment, your people are your
brand," said Fugere. "The name is just a vessel." |
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