Business Name: Will BP Change Their Company Name?
It's probably not out of the realm of possibilities that following the BP oil disaster in the summer of 2010 that BP could change its name in the future. There is no track record for this prediction, Exxon didn't rebrand after Exxon Valdez for example, but at the same time it would be an easy move for the company.
There are considerations either way. On the one hand, regardless of the various grassroots efforts of local boycotts of BP at regional retail outlets, none of them really took off, and even if they would have, it would have had very little impact on BP itself. Like Exxon, retail, as in gas stations, is not a big part of their business. The real money is in exploration, drilling, and refining, so if a few thousand people decide not to buy their gas at a BP station, so what. If this is the case and retail is not a big deal, why spend the money on changing the company name?
On the other hand, having the company name forever associated with an environmental disaster can't help in the brand equity department. What is interesting however, is that in the case of the BP spill, that may not be the case. Let's look at the Exxon Valdez, because it was Exxon's ship, the incident will forever go down in history with Exxon's business name attached to it. The media branded the event as the Exxon Valdez disaster, and it will always be referred to under that moniker.
In the case of the gulf oil spill however, CNN and other media outlets have already branded the incident as "The Gulf Oil Disaster", which historically will ease the pressure on the BP brand; in this case there is no instant affiliation.
So, do businesses routinely change their company brand names after a disaster? Yes, it happens on a regular basis. ValuJet shed their brand after a particularly disastrous crash in the Florida Everglades in the 1990's (although it was also part of a merger). AIG changed its name after it became a symbol of Wall Street greed in 2009 (story here).
So, will BP change its name? It wouldn't be a surprise if they did. There is some realignment going on in the company, possibly the retail side would rebrand. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Other stuff, articles on naming and names:
Stuck. Some free advice on naming your company or business.
Do I Need a .com or an Alternate Extension for My Business Name?
Will BP change their company name?
Hey Man, Is That A Portmanteau?
Some Methodologies for Naming Your Company or Product
Just for Ideas:
- Click here for the Wall Street Journal's innovation award winners from last year, this may give you some name ideas...
Some of our recent names:
- Paintastics (Elmers)
- Verado (Mercury Marine)
- Green Earth Cleaners
- Ignitra (Ignitra.com)
- LevelLife (Supplements)
- ComplyRight
- SilverStar (Osrum)
- Triton
- Trancore Inc.