You may have heard that the NBA New Orleans Hornets are considering a name change. Next year they reportedly will be playing as the New Orleans Pelicans, Mosquitoes, Bull Sharks, Mud Dogs, or the Rougarou – a legendary werewolf-like creature from the swamps of Bayou country. Why make a name change? For one, the Hornets franchise is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets moved to New Orleans in 2002. Hornets do not describe the city of New Orleans. The new names have a connection with Louisiana or the Big Easy. The second reason is that there is new ownership of the Hornets. The New Orleans franchise was purchased by a local businessman, Tom Benson (who also owns the NFL New Orleans Saints) from the NBA, which had purchased it from the previous owners to keep it from moving out of town after years of losing money. It’s a new day and most of what is associated with the Hornets’ past is not pleasant. The new ownership decided to rebrand the franchise to be more reflective of the area and to cut ties with the ugly past. The third reason is that the Hornets have never had a huge fan following; neither in Charlotte nor in New Orleans. Club merchandise sales are huge cash cows for a franchise. For instance, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s merchandise sales are the fifth highest in the league in 2012 according to Fanatics.com.  In 2006, the Hornets played in OK City because their arena in New Orleans had been damaged by Hurricane Katrina. When they went back to New Orleans, Oklahoma City petitioned for a franchise to move to their city permanently. The Seattle Supersonics came calling. Oklahoma City changed the franchise name from the "Supersonics” – a name which was associated with Seattle’s aeronautics industry – to the "Thunder”, associated with Oklahoma’s volatile weather. The name change was a success in merchandise sales. It did not hurt that the team was also successful. Following suite this year has been the Brooklyn (formerly New Jersey, formerly New York) Nets, which have seen a 3,000% jump in merchandise sales from July-October, comparing this year to last. So rebranding makes all kinds of sense.

But does it really matter that the name makes sense? For those with a long basketball memory, you might suggest that there are other franchises that are branded with totally nonsensical names. Go no further than the Utah Jazz. The original NBA team in New Orleans was the Jazz, which moved to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1979. Salt Lake City is not exactly a hotbed of jazz. It might have made more sense to rebrand the franchise the Salt Lake City Lakers. That would be more logical than calling the franchise in Los Angeles the Lakers. I have been to Los Angeles and do not remember there being any lakes there. Why didn’t the LA Lakers change their name when they moved from Minnesota – the land of 10,000 lakes - in 1960? The bottom line is that brands do not have to make total sense as long as they are memorable for the consumer. If I say the Lakers are playing the Jazz on TV tonight, you are not confused by what I am talking about. You know that I mean a professional basketball team from Los Angeles is playing another team from Utah. You would not be confused into thinking anything else because the branding works without making any sense. The same is true of your products and services. If you eat a Subway sandwich for lunch, are you confused into thinking you have to eat it on an underground train in a major metropolitan area? If you do a Google search, are you thinking about 10¹⁰⁰, the origin of the name (googol), or are you simply looking for a search engine? As long as the brand comes to mean your product or your service, it does not matter that it makes logical sense. Name it something catchy. Name it something easy to remember. Then get the brand in front of your target market just as often as you can. Help them make the association between your brand name and your product.

When does rebranding make sense? If you want a fresh start because your current brand has come to mean something other than what you intended it to mean (in the Hornets’ case, a team that could never win wherever it was located), then rebranding makes a lot of sense. If no one is buying your old brand, give rebranding a try. But if the current brand is still selling well, don’t change it even if it does not make logical sense. This is marketing, not advanced Lexicology. In branding I don’t want the customer to think, I just want them to remember.

The Pelican Brief, Why New Orleans needs this mascot change, by Carles, www.Grantland.com, December 11, 2012

NBA licensing revenue climbing, by Terry Lefton, Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal, October 29, 2012