There may be several reasons why a company, a team or an organization may be considering changing their brand name.

As time goes on, more and more derogatory terms used as sports team  mascots are being recognized as disrespectful and even banned. Last month Etsy announced that it will ban any redskin branded items from their site.

When the terrorist group used the same name as a mobile wallet, the company decided it time to rebrand.

And years ago a candy diet aid rebranded after the epidemic  with the same name was in the news.

Figuring out the best new name takes time and effort. Brainstorming. Lists with pros and cons. Double checking what’s available. What can be copyrighted? What doesn’t work when shortened to a nickname.

While it is nice to get buy-in from the stakeholders, but often it takes a while before the fans are ready to accept a new mascot name.

After the decision is made, implementation involves working the checklist.

Hopefully the name that is selected is far superior to the one that you let go… and the new name doesn’t cause additional problems beyond the initial change.

Special thanks to my friend and professional cartoonist Richard Marcej.