SEN to Brand
This just in: Siemens Enterprise Communications is going to do some advertising.
According to Ad-Week, they hired a new firm to spend $90 million on annual media spending. Presumably, this is associated with a major effort to rebrand the company. When Siemens AG spun out enterprise communications in a new joint venture with Gores Group – the new firm had limited rights to “Siemens” as a name. Of course, that could be renegotiated or extended and perhaps it was. I was expecting a rebranding effort to take place sooner (because when you know there is going to be a new name – all branding with the old name is lost money). The new name – and in fact if there is even going to be a new name – is still not confirmed.
The issue of a naming is always difficult – it took us two weeks to agree on our cat’s name. But a new name for Siemens Enterprise Communications would be extremely difficult. First you have to decide if “Siemens” should be in the name (assuming it was even a choice). In Europe, Siemens has a very strong brand. It is probably neutral to negative in the US, but a new name could be much riskier. The other problem is international markets. It is very difficult to come up with a name that works in so many countries – has an available Internet domain and Twitter handle, and doesn’t offend anyone. The last time this happened we got the name Avaya. I don’t know what that cost, but it wasn’t cheap. Avaya didn’t have the option of using its old name (AT&T), and SEN may not have the option of keeping Siemens. Most likely it will be some made up word (as in the case of Avaya) – using real words in company names is both out of style and practically impossible.
New name and logo, rebranding all their literature, products, and contracts – expensive stuff. The $90 million above is the “media spend” – no word on the what the actual rebranding is actually going to cost, but a lot more than $90 million is a reasonable assumption. Just reprinting all those business cards – let’s see 11,000 employees x an average price of $25 = $275,000. That’s gotta hurt. Think of how far $90 million could go in R&D. On the flip side, think of how much SEN has saved over the years on marketing. The poor company never even got a logo.
I wonder what media spends they are thinking of. Maybe they should sponsor my blog? I reach an intelligent audience that’s focused on UC. My site is open (I don’t encrypt the text). I cover voice, UC, collboration, and networking. I normally charge $180M for sponsorship of this blog, but thru Q1, we are running sponsorship programs at half off.
In June 2010, I interviewed the newly hired Chris Hummel – newly hired as a CMO. SEN’s Got A CMO?
Hi Dave, as soon as you come up with a feasible replacement for business cards, we’ll apply that savings to sponsor your blog. 🙂 Cheers, Chris
I hear the rebranding has been postponed due to poor results. With sales people leaving by the dozen and those not capable of seeking meaningful employment elsewhere remaining, it’s not surprising morale (and revenue) are through the floor. And it’s still a sales organisation spreadsheet-managed by commercial bean counters, not aggressive growth oriented sales leaders.