“Is Nothing Sacred?”

A question posed by Mr. Al Ries (whom I admire) in his article “From Famous Advertising Name to Meaningless Initials” (www.adage.com, October 1, 2006). He goes on to state, “Initialitis has infected the world of branding.” Mr. Ries is referring to J. Walter Thompson changing its name to JWT (what he calls meaningless initials.)

Yet we live with IBM, BMW, SAP, UBS, MTV, KFC, CBS, ABC, and NBC. All three letter initials. The first six brands mentioned are amongst the top hundred global brands. We will not even get into all the TLAs -- Three Letter Acronyms -- spawned by the dotcom world.

Mr. Ries also writes, “Every powerful brand needs two names. A real name and a nickname. Why is this so? Because the use of nicknames help consumers establish closer relationships with the brands they admire.”

He may have a valid point. However, a few of the most admired brands of “today” are Starbucks, Google, Yahoo!, Apple, and Target.

Back to JWT. The agency is part of the WPP Companies. And, what does WPP stand for?

When Sir Martin Sorrell wanted to build a worldwide marketing services company, he used the initials of his existing company, Wire and Plastic Products Plc, a UK manufacturer of wire baskets. (Raise you hand and pat yourself on the back if you knew this piece of trivia.)

There has to be a reason for the name change to JWT. Must be to create a "global" brand and rid itself of all the regional name extensions/affiliations. Very practical.

Then there is the venerable BBDO, as a "four letter" name for a great agency. Wonder how many of those who work in this global agency can recall the four names the initials represent!