Back in early 2020, before the pandemic, we changed our name from Beverly Cornell Consulting to BC & Associates Marketing. This brand and the name change were important for several reasons.
1. My Marketing Business Grew
Back in 2011, it was just me, my computer, and the internet. I used Google Meet, then Skype and now Zoom to meet with my clients all over North America. We grew in marketing activity and task scope and in the sheer number of clients. Then we grew as a team. I hired my first marketing assistant in 2012 and here in 2022, we have five Marketing Associates. It wasn’t just me making all the marketing magic happen and it felt selfish calling the company just my name. This is an amazing problem to have. I am so incredibly grateful for the growth and change.
2. My Name As A Business
I caution anyone who wants to name a company after themselves. It’s weird. I mean, I understand that in the beginning, I was the brand and in many ways, I am still a huge part of the brand. But signing my name to emails as Beverly at Beverly Cornell Consulting was just plain weird and seemed very egotistical. It just didn’t feel right. I had to change it.
3. I Wanted Marketing In The Name
Beverly Cornell Consulting didn’t speak to what we actually did. Sure, it said consulting but what does that mean? It is so hard to pick a name. This is the list I used to rebrand.
- What do you do?
- Does it say what you do?
- Is the name taken on domains and social?
- Do you like it?
- Look at mock-ups for logos – does it even work?
It was a big decision. But I wanted to change from an independent consultant to an S Corp and once I registered my name I didn’t want to change it, at least for a while. And having a web domain name that says what you do also helps with your SEO.
4. Name & Colors Were Important
I wanted to still use some of the colors on my BC logo but I wanted to take this opportunity to modernize it too. If you know me, you know I love purple, fuchsia, and turquoise. So I looked up these colors and what they mean. As a female business owner, who works primarily with women business owners, I wanted the logo to be feminine.
Purple
Represents: Royalty, Luxury, Celebration, Education, and Elegance
Being a color of royalty, purple is mostly used to represent religious institutes and educational organizations. It is seldom used for commercial services unless it can clearly represent the main essence of the company it stands for. Chocolate is one food that is often represented by purple logos. There’s no need to shy away from purple and limit it to represent feminism, luxury, and beauty only. You can pair it with other colors and create a palette. For example, purple and yellow logo designs are popular and exude different meanings.
Blue
Represents: Professionalism, Trust, Authority, Power, and Loyalty
Blue is used in corporate logos as it creates a sense of security while showing loyalty and professionalism. This color is used by various businesses related to software, finance, the pharmaceutical industry, government, and banks. While you can create a logo with just the color blue, you can also accompany two colors in a design such as a red and blue logo.
Pink
Represents: Feminism, Innocence, Youth, and Beauty
Pink is often taken to be a feminine color, which is why it is popularly used in logos related to beauty, fashion, and others. It is also used for companies dealing with children’s clothes and accessories. Because it is playful and innocent, it is not suitable for the corporate or industrial unit.
I love all the meanings. I loved all the colors. How could I use them all?
5. Symbols Matter
I was getting closer. But I wanted to use symbols instead of words if possible. Symbols have power and universal meaning. Using symbols uses a shared language in a shortened way. Names should be as short as possible. We shorted Beverly Cornell to BC, and I added and Associates to represent my team and marketing to show what we do. But it was SOOOO long! The only symbol we could use was & for and. So I started looking up the ampersand. What is the history? What does it mean? Why do we use it? And wow, it was so interesting.
The history of the ampersand:
Traditionally in English, when spelling aloud, any letter that could also be used as a word in itself (“A”, “I”, and, “O”) was prefixed with the Latin expression per se (‘by itself’), as in “per se A”. It was also common practice to add the & sign at the end of the alphabet as if it were the 27th letter, pronounced as the Latin et or later in English as and. As a result, the recitation of the alphabet would end in “X, Y, Z, and per se and“. This last phrase was routinely slurred to “ampersand” and the term had entered common English usage by 1837.
Usage of the ampersand:
Ampersands are commonly seen in business names formed from a partnership of two or more people, such as Johnson & Johnson, Dolce & Gabbana, Marks & Spencer, and Tiffany & Co., as well as some abbreviations containing the word and, such as AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph), A&P(supermarkets), R&D (research and development), D&B (drum and bass), D&D (Dungeons & Dragons), R&B (rhythm and blues), B&B (bed and breakfast), and P&L (profit and loss).[15][16]
In film credits for stories, screenplays, etc., & indicates a closer collaboration than and. The ampersand is used by the Writers Guild of America to denote two writers collaborating on a specific script, rather than one writer rewriting another’s work. In screenplays, two authors joined with & collaborated on the script, while two authors joined with and worked on the script at different times and may not have consulted each other at all. In the latter case, they both contributed enough significant material to the screenplay to receive credit but did not work together. As a result, both & and and may appear in the same credit, as appropriate to how the writing proceeded.
In APA style, the ampersand is used when citing sources in text such as (Jones & Jones, 2005). In the list of references, an ampersand precedes the last author’s name when there is more than one author. (This does not apply to MLA style, which calls for the “and” to be spelled.[20])
The phrase et cetera (“and so forth”), usually written as etc. can be abbreviated &c. representing the combination et + c(etera).
The ampersand can be used to indicate that the “and” in a listed item is a part of the item’s name and not a separator (e.g. “Rock, pop, rhythm & blues and hip hop”).
The ampersand may still be used as an abbreviation for “and” in informal writing regardless of how “and” is used.
Why I chose the ampersand:
I love that it shows being joined and closer collaboration and shows a combination, as part. I also felt that the idea of & is key to what we do. We don’t just do marketing, not just a task in the singularity that would help a business succeed. We offer a clear strategy.. and we work with the small business owner, our team, and our technology and tools to accomplish their goals. That is a lot of ands.
Final Name and Logo
Building a brand is hard. Changing your name is hard. Picking the perfect name is hard. I am not sure this is the last name we will ever have but the idea of a collective, a team of marketers working together to help our clients grow with my guidance is the goal.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand
