There is just something about the institutions I associate with. They keep changing names. Now my Ititu Secondary School is no more. It is now called St. Angela Merici Ititu Girls Senior School. Worse still, it is now a girls’ school, and they obviously changed the school uniform too.
My university transcripts have three different names. My admission letter was from Western University College, a constituent college of Moi University. Then somewhere in second year, we became Western University of Science and Technology (WUST) as preparations began for getting our own charter and delinking from Moi University. Things moved in quick succession and rumours started flying that we would become Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST). That name sounded so off to us.
We even went on strike. When we came back, it was barely a week to exams, and the first thing you saw before reading the exam questions was the new logo and name we had rejected. I still attribute that psychological torture to my failure to get first-class honours.
After campus, I joined one of the local churches in Nairobi, an English-speaking congregation known as Nairobi Pentecostal Church (NPC) Thika Road. A few years later, the church’s expansion plans required a name change that could go beyond Nairobi. We became CITAM Thika Road. It was actually a nice shift because CITAM was already our slogan anyway (Christ Is the Answer Ministries).
But yesterday I learnt that because Thika Road now has several congregations, we shall now be referred to as CITAM Roysambu.
Culture and Communications
In my culture, they say a name cannot prevent a child from growing. But I now understand why such a saying existed. We have some very interesting names in my community. Why would someone name a child King’ang’i (crocodile), Mbiti (hyena), or Nzoka (snake)?
During my postgraduate studies in culture and communication, I researched naming practices in my community and discovered that parents sometimes gave “bad” names to their first batch of children so that if misfortune struck and the children died, the later children with “better” names would survive. Child mortality rates were very high in those days because healthcare was nowhere near what it is today.
Names, therefore, carried fear, hope, symbolism, and survival instincts.
The same applies to organisations. A name is important because it carries identity, perception, memory, and emotional attachment. Rebranding can have significant effects on stakeholders, especially those who have emotionally connected with the previous identity. Even when change is necessary, people naturally resist it at first because names become part of familiarity and belonging.
One organisation that handled rebranding quite well was FedEx. Before becoming FedEx, the company was officially known as Federal Express. However, customers, employees, and the public had already shortened the name to “FedEx” in everyday conversation. Recognising this organic shift, the company officially adopted FedEx in 1994. The move modernised the brand, simplified communication, and aligned the official identity with what people already recognised and loved. It became one of the most successful corporate rebranding examples globally.
If your organisation outgrows its identity, do not fear rebranding. Failure to rebrand at the right time can cause stagnation or even make a brand slowly fizzle out.
The rebranding process often involves
- Evaluating the Need for Change
Understanding why the current brand no longer fits the vision, audience, or growth direction.
- Researching Stakeholder Perception
Listening to customers, employees, and partners to understand emotional attachment and expectations.
- Defining the New Identity
Clarifying the mission, positioning, values, visual identity, and messaging of the new brand.
- Communicating the Transition Clearly
Explaining why the change is happening and helping people emotionally connect with the new identity.
- Implementing the Change Consistently
Updating logos, colours, websites, uniforms, communication materials, and customer touchpoints.
- Allowing Time for Adjustment
People rarely embrace change instantly. Consistency and patience help the new identity settle naturally.
Wonderful. I am also interested in culture, communication and community développement and through my connections with the local communities specially, I learned about why sayings exist in communities? And how strongly they are involved in people psychosocial behaviour.
Cultures have a great lmpact on community développement because they communicate résistance, rejection, engagement, resilience, etc.