It’s Rummage Sale season.
If one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, the insurance, health-care and financial industries should find some great bargains in today’s wireless world-basically used names and logos.
For the most part, wireless companies do it right. When two companies get together, they either get rid of one of the names (nine times out of 10, the company that keeps control keeps its name) or they get rid of both names if too many egos are involved. For awhile they may pretend to keep a name (MCI WorldCom was around for a little while, but the MCI reference disappeared about the time talks with Sprint began (because MCI WorldCom Sprint would garner too much attention from the Justice Department, perhaps?) Vodafone AirTouch is still using both names, but one has to wonder how much longer that will continue.
When merging, wireless companies are smart enough to realize they have one too many names and one too many brands, so they dump one. Insurance and financial companies, which are also consolidating at a rapid pace, don’t seem to see any problem just tacking another name on the end. So they end up with names like Salomon Smith Barney and CGU-Hawkeye-But-This-Division-Is-For-Sale-So-Your-Name-Could-Be-Here. Try fitting that in a headline.
At the annual wireless yard sale, there are bargains to be had. In the rarely-been-worn section, you can select from: Aerial, Omnipoint and PrimeCo (not a great name, but its little pink alien was darling and surely some new upstart would love to care for him.)
In the Classics section, these company names and stationery are up for pennies: U S West (now Qwest), TCI and MCI. Be careful, however. Some of these names have been around long enough that they bring a certain flavor with them.
The added bonus of picking up a used name is access to the existing corresponding Web domain name, eliminating the need to invent a silly new word simply for the sake of establishing a Web presence.
Now if VoiceStream actually merges with Deutsche Telekom, one could easily assume another name will soon be up for grabs. (Since RCR’s computer system always wants to hyphenate VoiceStream at the wrong place-VoiceS-tream-I’m all for a new name here.)
Happy hunting!
