NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
AOL Time Warner Inc. has hired corporate branding consultant Lippincott Mercer to help it shed the AOL part of its name in a contract that sources value at less than $300,000.
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| Changing the name of AOL Time Warner won't be as expensive as some other corporate name changes. |
The board of the media and Internet conglomerate voted last week to change the name of the company back to Time Warner Inc., the name of the company bought by Internet service provider America Online in 2001. The company has said it expects the name change, and a switch of the stock symbol from AOL back to Time Warner's old TWX, will be accomplished in the coming weeks.
The contract with Lippincott Mercer calls for the company to look at a new logo, perhaps freshening the one formerly used by Time Warner, or perhaps even deciding to use that relatively simple logo once again. The company does not plan a marketing campaign to publicize the name change.
"We have great brands in this company and the philosophy is the corporate name shouldn't overshadow the brands but enhance it," company spokesman Ed Adler said.
A name change, even just a switch of a corporate name rather than a consumer-recognized brand, can easily cost millions of dollars, said Steve Yastrow, a brand expert and author of the book "Brand Harmony."
"It can easily run into seven figures without much trouble at all when you consider all the places it's presented," Yastrow said. "It's sometimes staggering when you think of a large company and all the places the name is presented."
But Yastrow said switching back to a previous name is much easier, and cheaper, than creating a whole new corporate name, such as Philip Morris Cos.' recent switch to the name Altria, or Andersen Consulting's switch to Accenture.
"It's cheaper to get the message across, going back to Time Warner. The communication challenge is less," he said. "If you go with a name like Accenture or Altria, it costs a lot to introduce a whole new word."
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