When the good folks at Autoweb came looking for a new corporate name that would reflect their dominance in the global data exchange market, they turned to Tungsten Branding. Their recent acquisition of European-based Secorex made them the only provider of truly global data exchange and business automation. The new combined entity serves over 5,000 customers in 40 countries.

One of the challenges when naming an international firm is finding a name that is unique enough to pass all the trademark hurdles, (in this case the U.S., Canada and Europe) and yet still have some semblance of meaning. In the end, we combined the idea of “ubiquity” (Autoweb had become the de-facto standard for data exchange in North America) with the idea of being the “true” or genuine leader in the category. The result was Trubiquity… an international company known for integrating global enterprises. We were able to secure the exact matching .com domain name and the client created the corporate identity.

Their copywriter did a nice job of positioning the new name on the company home page with this statement…

Integrating, extending, all the time, everywhere… Trubiquity.

The official company press release had this to say…

“The name Trubiquity comes from combining the words ‘truly’ and ‘ubiquitous.’ It explains the company’s ability to offer customers a truly ubiquitous business-process automation solution, according to Mimi Miles, vice president of marketing. For several months, we’ve worked to create a new identity,” said Miles. “We chose a name that describes our unique ability to connect organizations and their business partners all the time, everywhere around the globe.”

So when looking for a corporate brand name with truly universal appeal, look no further than the bright minds at Tungsten Branding.

I wrote in an earlier post about the liquidation of CompUSA, and how descriptive/geographic names can be very limiting in the long run. While CompUSA seems to say “We sell computers in the United States,” names like Best Buy convey a key attribute/benefit… that you will always get the best buy on any current product, be it computers or DVD players or flat screen TVs.

The latest victim appears to be another literally named company, Linens & Things. Today’s New York Times reports that the company, which has over 500 stores in 47 states, is putting off $16 million in interest payments, and lost over $242 million in 2007. Is this simply due to the name? Of course not. But company names do speak volumes about the business, and ones like Linens & Things narrowly define the business to a product category, and make it appear more like a commodity based business than a brand.

People desire brands because they provide a sense of affiliation and identification. A dedicated core of customers will readily admit to being “Mac heads” but few would say “I’m a CompUSA addict.” It’s much more acceptable to be a fan of The Gap than The Dress Barn. One of the beautiful side benefits of a strong brand is that it creates demand, and therefore higher profit margins. So in light of the power of a well named, well conceived brand image, do companies go for literal/functional names? Most likely it’s due to the success of starting out well in one small niche and never taking the time to reassess and reposition the brand as it grow and evolves over time. Imagine buying Post-It Notes from Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing vs. 3M? Growth companies would be well advised to take the time to take stock in their image before they find their products, and associated company name, falling out of favor with the buying public.