/one minute reads

GenOn Switched Off

Recent news of the acquisition of GenOn by NRG set us thinking about names.  When we created GenOn back in April 2010 following the merger of Mirant and RRI Energy, we liked the combination of generation and “always on” – reliability being the impression we wanted to create.

When you’re thinking about a name, think about the picture it can create in the minds of your audiences or at least how easy it is to say.

Now GenOn is going into a company with the acronym-like name NRG. A clever name because it says something and can be trademarked, whereas “Energy” can not.  

If you are considering an acronym, while it is simpler, and may make sense as part of a transition strategy, to reduce something that is complicated down to a few letters (e.g. for 10yrs Credit Suisse First Boston became CSFB), it’s a more powerful branding statement if you can make that acronym more “name-like”. For example we renamed securities industry regulator NASD as Finra (Financial Services Regulatory Authority) which is far easier to say and sounds like a name rather than a collection of easily forgotten letters.

Goodbye GenOn!

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