MORE BUSINESSES TAKE TO PLAYING THE NAME GAME

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 24, 1993                   TAG: 9301220217
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: F-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DONNA SHAW KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
MORE BUSINESSES TAKE TO PLAYING THE NAME GAME
Would petulant tennis star Ivan Lendl, who bubbles with enthusiasm in his Snapple commercials, look as cheerful plugging a beverage named Unadulterated Food Product?
Given the scandals of the last decade, who feels completely comfortable investing in anything dubbed "savings and loan?"
And while we're talking financial institutions, who got the bright idea to name a bank after the Bowery, whose moniker is synonymous with bums and flophouses?
Forget that stuff about sticks and stones, and names never hurting anybody. In the world of business, a name can make or break you.
Last year, 1,285 companies changed their names, according to a survey by Anspach Grossman Portugal Inc., a national consulting company specializing in "identity management."
That was a 20 percent increase over 1991, ending a three-year downward spiral and providing "a promising indicator of business renewal," according to Joel Portugal, a partner in the company.
"After 23 years of monitoring the pace of corporate name changes, we find that they tend to mirror broader underlying business trends," he added. "The last time we saw an uptick as we have this year was in 1982, when the American economy was poised for recovery."
What's in a name change? Plenty, according to the survey, which included companies listed on the New York, American and NASDAQ Stock Exchanges; major subsidiaries and U.S. operations of foreign corporations; and private corporations.
In 1992, 70 percent of the name changes were prompted by strategic business moves such as mergers, acquisitions, spinoffs or reorganizations, Anspach found.
Some companies changed their names to jettison unwanted images.
Gulf Resources & Chemical Corp., for example, became Gulf USA, getting rid of the word "chemical," which is considered "unfriendly these days," according to Portugal.
Kansas Power & Light Co. adopted "an environmentally aware moniker more appropriate for the '90s and beyond," renaming itself Western Resources Inc.
Most active in The Name Game were financial institutions, which accounted for 30 percent of the changes.
Bowery, for example, became more wholesome-sounding by switching to Home Savings of America.
Then there was Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan Association, which changed to Fidelity Federal Savings Bank in "an apparent effort to distance itself from a phrase that has become for many synonymous with pain and suffering," Portugal said.
Manufacturing and industrial companies were ranked second in name changes for the year, with 279. But the biggest rise was seen in the health-care industry, whose 141 switches was an increase of 143 percent over 1991.
Portugal said his award for "best new corporate brand stemming from a name change" was a tie between Snapple Beverage Corp. and Sprint. Before the switch, the companies were called Unadulterated Food Products and United Telecommunications, respectively.
Other companies invented new words to describe themselves. Control Data, for example, became Ceridian Corp.
Not to pick nits, but what the heck is a ceridian?

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB