Last week I talked about choosing a name for your business and creating a brand around the name of your business. While it is possible to create a brand around your business name, the question becomes, where your business is named after you, is it a good idea to name your brand after yourself?
There is no correct answer here. The answer depends largely on your future goals for the business. When we want to start a business, we are encouraged to go through the process of writing a business plan, but there’s little or no mention of an intellectual property strategy for the business. Given that intellectual property is quickly becoming the one of the most important components of a company’s value, it makes sense for every business, large or small, to have an intellectual property strategy. The growth of the value of intangible assets in S&P 500 companies is widely reported and stands at 90% as of 2020.
For small businesses, especially those grinding in the digital space, intellectual property management is crucial.
It almost doesn’t matter what your business name is if you are not creating a brand around the name. So while you name your business after yourself, you might think twice about naming your brand after yourself. As I’ve already mentioned, your decision will depend on a number of factors including what your future goals for the business are.
Why You Should Not Name Your Brand After Yourself
The most recent cautionary tale for not naming your brand after yourself is Hayley Paige Gutman, known simply as Hayley Paige, a social media influencer, who may lose the right to use her name and trademarks in her name because of an agreement she entered into with JLM Couture. In December 2020, when news of the conflict between Gutman and JLM Couture was reported, I made a brief post on LinkedIn warning that Gutman’s situation was, “A reminder to always have a lawyer, knowledgeable in your business area, negotiate and vet your deals before you sign an agreement with a more established business. The balance of power is in their favour, and their lawyers will draft agreements to suit their interests, not yours.”
This is not the first time that the founder of an eponymous brand has lost the ability to use their name after contracting with another business. The late handbag and accessories designer, Kate Spade, changed her name to Kate Valentine when she relaunched another fashion brand, to distinguish it from the Kate Spade brand which she had sold, and was being operated by, Liz Clairborne Inc. Although Kate Spade’s change of name was a voluntary decision when she wanted to re-enter the same space that the Kate Spade brand occupied, the result is the same.
Almost 20 years ago in Lagos, there was the famous Robert’s Cafe on the Island. Robert’s was the brunch destination for me and many of my friends. The owner of the eponymous cafe entered into an agreement with some investors and things quickly turned sour. I don’t remember the details of that deal but if my memory serves me correctly the original owner Robert was frustrated out of the business and eventually set up another spot in another name.
The moral of the story is, if you have expansion plans that include bringing in investors and losing ownership and control of the business, then naming the brand after yourself is not the best idea.
Another reason against naming your brand after yourself is to give the brand some autonomy so that its success is not tied to your person. Having a brand too closely tied to your person, with your name, may make it difficult for the brand to form an identity separate from you. This means that your personal highs and lows may define the brand, which could translate to losses in the brand’s value and revenue depending on what is happening in your personal life. It also could mean that if you are providing services, clients expect high touch interaction with you, and you alone. Using only a part of your name such as only your first, middle, or last name can give you more flexibility in terms of keeping your full name as a person separate from the business brand.
Naming your brand after yourself may also make necessary re-branding and branching out into new business areas difficult. You also have to worry about how changes to your name due to a marriage, divorce, or other life-changing events may affect the brand.
Again, what you decide will depend on your strategic goals for your business and your exit plan. But keep in mind that naming your brand after yourself may affect the scalability of the brand.
Why You Should Name Your Brand After Yourself
You might decide that your brand is so tied to your person that no other name could represent it. You may also have developed a personal and professional reputation in an area of business and wish to leverage that personal reputation for your brand.
Naming your brand after yourself is certainly the easy choice when you are starting out because you don’t have to agonize over coming up with the right name. And, if you have a unique name, you don’t have to worry about a competing brand name that is similar to yours.
Whether you choose to name your brand after yourself or not, a brand specialist can help you define your brand identity.
