This is the real name of the IT services unit that separates IBM from its core business.
Soon, the 90,000 employees affected by the change will no longer say they work for ‘IBM’ – perhaps one of the more classic, unambiguous companies ever – but rather for ‘Kyndryl’, a portmanteau whose meaning and pronunciation not immediately clear. .
To explain it only makes it worse. We can conclude that the verdict, based on IBM’s stated logic, is ‘KIN drill’, but the seemingly arbitrary use of Y’s as vowels opens the door to the long-I interpretation: KINE drill?
Googling of the term does not find many alternative uses, although there is a narrow “World of Warcraft” character that bears the name.
It certainly looks like another brand that will join the pantheon of failed, or at least widely mocked, brands. But an expert in the field tells us not to laugh too hard.
“It’s not easy to come up with new names,” said Bernd Schmitt, a professor of marketing at Columbia University and the faculty director of the Center on Global Brand Leadership. “Many good names are already being taken and protected by law.”
Over time, he said, even a name that seems strange to consumers can be accepted and accepted. He points out that Häagen-Dazs are completely made-up words that mean nothing. And Verizon (VZ) – the name of the company formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic in 2000 and GTE – is a myth that the word initially raised eyebrows, but it has become an established brand that few people think of twice today.
Still, the history of Corporate America is bad with questionable branding decisions – many of them direct flops – that have left customers puzzled. Here are some favorite boxes compiled by CNN Business:
Tronc, the name given to Tribune Publishing in 2016, was an attempt by the traditional media company to position itself as a content curation and monetization company. ‘The name did not last longer than those buzzwords, and the Tribune name returned in 2018.
Venator Group, the name the once proud Woolworth Corps adopted in 1998 as it tried to move away from its struggling discount business to the sportswear store. That name was dropped in 2001 in favor of Foot Locker, then its largest chain.
Oath, the name of the Verizon subsidiary created in 2017 to own the assets of Yahoo (which it has just acquired) and the assets of AOL (which it already owns.) The name was abandoned in 2019 in favor of Verizon Media.
Quibi, a name that came and went in just six months, not because the name was so bad, but because the streaming service failed so quickly.
There are also business names that have survived, even though they are probably not yet as well known as the industry names that have replaced them:
Altria (MO), the name that tobacco giant Philip Morris adopted in 2002 because it wanted to be more diversified.
Mondelez International (MDLZ), the name given to the snack food division that Kraft Foods abolished in 2012. Instead of using the name of any well-known brand such as Oreos, Ritz or Cadbury, Kraft referred to Latin as the reasoning for the word made up, saying that ‘mouths’ was derived from the Latin word for ‘world’, and ‘delez’ was meant to be a fantastic expression of ‘delicious’.
Altaba, the name left over from Yahoo after various parts were sold in 2017.
Academy, the second rebranding effort by controversial military contractor Blackwater, launched in 2007 from Iraq. The name Xe initially tried in 2009, before switching to Academi in 2011.
Stellantis, a newcomer to the list, is the company formed by the merger earlier this year of Fiat Chrysler and French carmaker PSA Group (itself a relatively new name for the company that made Peugeot). The made-up word is not as well-known as any of the brands in its portfolio, but it avoids the inevitable political battles that would result from choosing a brand on either side.
Some other names seem to be half too clever, such as News Corp. say (NWSA) news aggregator website Knewz, of Strategy &, the name given to Booz & Co. by accounting and consulting giant PwC. gave when he acquired the strategy consulting firm in 2014. The almost sand in the name is characteristic, but it was also widely mocked at the time.
Still other companies admit their mistakes and go back to their roots. US Steel changed its name to USX when it acquired Marathon Oil, it returned to American steel (X) after it was again divided into two companies.
Federal Express was the original name of the delivery company that changed its name to its stock symbol. FDX, when he tried to broaden his offer and then moved back to his popular nickname, FedEx (FDX).
Maybe this is what will eventually happen Alphabet (GOOG). Google changed the name of its holding company to Alphabet in 2015 to indicate that it has become more than its most famous brand. But although Alphabet is a real word, its popular adoption is hampered by the popularity of the word Google.
“Google has become part of the language,” Schmitt said. “It’s so established that it’s understandable why people would still use the name.”
Ultimately, the success or failure of a business name depends a lot on the success or failure of the business itself, Schmitt said. Google did not crush Bing because Google was a better name than Bing. The actual product won on the market.
“It’s the product that ultimately determines the success of the brand,” he said. “The name is almost decoration. If Google had failed, we would have mocked the name.”
