Brand Management Sakshi Gupta

18P107
Case Analysis: Selecting a new name for SCPT

Name development is the third step as part of the strategic brand development plan which aims to ensure that
the brand SCPT(here) presents the correct, desired and wholesome image to all stakeholders of the
organisation which further strengthens its brand equity.

The need for a new name:

 Internal confusion regarding the name
 Tough to recruit new employees and build a corporate culture
 Wanted to clarify their identity to external stakeholders
 Was not a customer friendly name, too long and sounded too corporate
 The name didn’t represent their mission, vision or the capability of a national company

Process of name development:

In this process, a long list of names is prepared based on the generic criteria decided by the consultant
company, L&M, and the brand image criteria set by the company SCPT. These names then go through
multiple rounds of screening before passing the final hurdle of legal availability of the trademark.

Generic criteria:
 Non-limiting: The name should not limit the company in 
 terms of new business opportunities
 Brief: The name should be short to ensure consistent usage and afford ease of use in application
 Distinctive: The name should be unique and memorable
 Verbally & visually appealing: The name should be euphonically pleasing
 Industry appropriate: The name should be appropriate for the industry
 Linguistically appropriate: The name should be free of negative connotations
 Phonetic: The name should be easy to pronounce and spell. 

 Legally available: The name should be legally available to register as a trademark and corporate name


Brand Image Criteria:
 Leading player: The firm wanted the name to represent the name of a leader strong firm that ensures
optimism and trust among stakeholders

 Forward-looking: the name should not be very short-sighted but give indication of a cutting-edge
forward looking firm and not an old-fashioned one.

 Accessible neighbor/problem solver: since SCPT was into real estate and financial services, it wanted
the new name to make the firm seem more approachable and consumer friendly

 Customer oriented: SCPT wanted the name to represent how the firm was a customer oriented,
approachable firm and not too corporate

The team started with 800 names, out of which 75 were shortlisted.
Only 23 could pass the preliminary legal trademark screening
the shortlisted names were closely scrutinized leading to 4 names and additional 6 names which were later
added on the suggestion of the core team.

ARCHSTONE; the final name selected fulfilled the following criteria:

Descriptive by the use of the word ‘stone’ which gave it a reference of a property name
 Invented name which was legally available and also non limiting and forward looking
 No legal issues regarding trademark, domain name or clash with another player
 Agreement among the core team
 enhance our already strong operating culture
Brand Management Sakshi Gupta
18P107
 Sounds mature and stable as a brand