We may be tempted to think that brands were just invented some decades ago by the modern man. But from times immemorial, Stone-Age men and women were inscribing specific marks on potteries they manufactured and distributed through barter. These were the very first brands.

What about the name a brand carries? Is again this modern techno, homo-oeconomicus who has invented naming, the art and science of devising names for objects, products and services?

In the Holy Quraan (as in the Bible), we learn that God, ?Allah? in Arabic, creates Prophet Adam (Peace be upon him) from clay as the very first human being and from whom all other beings will be generated thereafter. (Hey, does this not ring a bell about mass production or the movie ?Matrix??). Anyway let?s proceed? In Arabic, the word ?Allah? means The Power. ?Al? is the article: ?the?, while ?lah? means Power. Adam, means sounding clay, mud but also Humanity: these point out to the very origins and identity elements of Prophet Adam. So we should consider God as the Boss of the very first Naming organization then! He has found a great name for Himself and for His created being!

This is just a glimpse to show that branding and naming have origins further than we may think of. Let?s now come back to this modern techy-driven man. As human beings we take great pride in naming things. From flora, fauna, to towns, mountains and seas, from planets to babies, and pets to cars ... We find names for practically everything!

Naming is a professional discipline. It is a full-fledged process. Not just a creative impulse as many would believe. In the naming process, the linguistic component has a key significance, especially in a context of global marketing where products and services are traded across borders. Alcatel, the French telephony company had a hard time to penetrate the Middle East markets as Al-katl means to kill, in Arabic! Can you imagine your brand being associated with such a thing as killing? The brand is condemned to death before even being born! Multiply this by the number of dialects and languages that exist across the world and you will have an idea about how complex marketing and branding may be.

What about Mauritius? Do we have this methodological reflex or do we just dream of a name and take it as sacred? At times it just starts with the letter of our surname or initials. At other times we just dream of it while in a number of cases it?s the name of our first child. There is no marketing sense in such approaches which above all limit the scope of expansion of the brand and its further development in other markets.

In the vicinity of the Cyber City zone for instance, a new Spar has opened its door in the midst of an emerging ICT community. Its name is Super Spar. Would Cyber Spar not be a better name and at the same time be in tune with what we are trying to build there? This would have made much sense to this local Silicon Valley community. What was the process behind choosing this name? Was it coined just because the prefix ?Super? connects to Supermarket? Was a list generated and Super Spar chosen or was it the only name found?

Are we ready then to take the challenge of having the end in mind and start by thinking strategy first, as Stephen Covey teaches us, before putting emotions or other subjective parameters in our business dynamics?

Ashraf Oozeerally Managing Director eye_dentity [email protected]