The NY Times has an article here about Y.M.C.A. changing its name to “The Y”. As you can imagine, the thought alone has us cringing. Do you remember the loss of money the AT&T switch caused?
Following some quotes from the article with comments. We could not resist:
The organization previously known as the Y.M.C.A. is henceforth to be called “the Y.”
Good luck in the fight against Yahoo and its Y!
In search online, were YMCA owns all top ranks, now they will be up against anything related to the Y chromosome, The Y Yoga label and of course The Y! Music store, the Y! Sports blogs, etc.
What is the sense in trading a strong, positive monopoly against a weaker position?
One of the nation’s most iconic nonprofit organizations, founded 166 years ago in England as the Young Men’s Christian Association, is undergoing a major rebranding, adopting as its name the nickname everyone has used for generations.
“It’s a way of being warmer, more genuine, more welcoming, when you call yourself what everyone else calls you,” said Kate Coleman, the organization’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer.
In accordance to this, BMW should change to Beamer? Because people call you Bob, you should change your name from Robert? Of course not. Having a friendly nickname is great and those, who use it, feel better.
The challenge, Mr. Disend said, is to continue to make consumers and donors aware of the history, tradition and meaning behind the letters. “It’s particularly a danger in the nonprofit space, where the story and awareness of the history and mission is critical when trying to raise money,” he said.
If Mars was not able, to establish “Masterfoods” as its company name, what makes the management believe, they will succeed? It will be interesting to see, how many donations YMCA will loose thanks to this ludicrous action.
According to the article, membership at YMCA has been flat since 2003. In this situation, Fiddling with the brand and logo is a classic answer of advertising people without any sales and marketing knowledge and sense.