“Just how important is a name? My simple answer to this is, nothing will be used for a longer period of time or more often than a company’s name. It’s not just a creative exercise. It’s a strategic one.”
- David Placek, Lexicon, The Globe And Mail, May 2014
- David Placek, Lexicon, The Globe And Mail, May 2014
The search for a name, beyond the hastily chosen Fiberlane identity, was launched in November 1997, a few months after Terry Brown joined Mike Hatfield at this telecommunications manufacturing startup. The duo collaborated with Lexicon Branding based in Menlo Park and Sausalito [1]. Almost $50,000 was invested to find a brand for the Fiberlane team; a brand that could be described as a symbol with a long-term potential to symbolize the company as well as the promise and personality of the product.
Lexicon believed, as Terry came to appreciate, that a great name uses semantics, phonetics, and sounds to deliver a message, an attitude, and a personality, all within a second.
This argument was rooted in an Intel example. The Intel Pentium brand did not directly communicate the notion of a powerful microprocessor, but it was once the global standard for power computing. Pentium eliminated the era of naming Intel’s microprocessors using engineering nomenclature, such as 4044s or 8088s. This new Pentium brand rolled off the tongue and symbolized superior microprocessor performance.
This argument was rooted in an Intel example. The Intel Pentium brand did not directly communicate the notion of a powerful microprocessor, but it was once the global standard for power computing. Pentium eliminated the era of naming Intel’s microprocessors using engineering nomenclature, such as 4044s or 8088s. This new Pentium brand rolled off the tongue and symbolized superior microprocessor performance.
Branding Requirements
The work on Fiberlane’s brand strategy came to a head on February 27, 1998. Terry outlined the communication objectives for the brand.
First, the new brand had to be highly correlated with advanced technology, speed, and massive bandwidth. The latter point addressed Vinod Khosla’s notion of the arrival of the “Terabit Tsunami.” Fiberlane’s solution would overcome the frustration of service providers unable to deliver the desired bandwidth and speed that their customers sought.
Second, the new name must support responsiveness, availability, and problem solving. Terry wanted the company portrayed as “can do.”
Third, the company moniker must carry the simple, confident, straightforward, “can do” message that Terry insisted upon.
The work on Fiberlane’s brand strategy came to a head on February 27, 1998. Terry outlined the communication objectives for the brand.
First, the new brand had to be highly correlated with advanced technology, speed, and massive bandwidth. The latter point addressed Vinod Khosla’s notion of the arrival of the “Terabit Tsunami.” Fiberlane’s solution would overcome the frustration of service providers unable to deliver the desired bandwidth and speed that their customers sought.
Second, the new name must support responsiveness, availability, and problem solving. Terry wanted the company portrayed as “can do.”
Third, the company moniker must carry the simple, confident, straightforward, “can do” message that Terry insisted upon.
Fourth, the corporate name must connote a serious, innovative attitude. After all, Fiberlane was building carrier class products that could not fail in the telecom network.
Fifth, the company was to be portrayed as a change agent and intent on “facilitating change in the industry and becoming critical to its customers.” Accordingly, the new name must be distinctive within the industry, symbolizing that it would, as Terry further argued, “Either make the rules or change the rules.”
Last, but not least, the new name had to suggest a company that possessed a creative attitude.
Developing the Brand
As Lexicon listened to this array of objectives, they kept “Team Fiberlane’s” focus on the idea of brand as a concept, as a predisposition to buy, as a promise. Extending this concept of brand further, Lexicon highlighted that a brand is all about beliefs, expectations, and promises. Imagery of a vessel suggested that a brand must have the ability to carry a message, an idea, and a promise. In fact, Lexicon argued that the focus needed to be less on whether a name is immediately understood and liked by customers, and more on “the name’s potential as a vehicle to weave an ongoing story that is larger than the brand itself.”
The brand became Cerent (pronounced SAYR-ent) for the company and Cerent 454 for the product, both of which were unveiled in mid-1998.
The brand story was captured by the product’s ability to break the bandwidth bottleneck in the constraining metropolitan optical transport network. In fact, the Cerent solution marked the inauguration of a whole new product category that uniquely addressed this multi-billion dollar market it helped to define – Multi-Service Provisioning Platform (or MSPP).
In less than two years, the Cerent brand was valued in excess of $7 billion and the underlying product became larger than life.
They did it right!
Fifth, the company was to be portrayed as a change agent and intent on “facilitating change in the industry and becoming critical to its customers.” Accordingly, the new name must be distinctive within the industry, symbolizing that it would, as Terry further argued, “Either make the rules or change the rules.”
Last, but not least, the new name had to suggest a company that possessed a creative attitude.
Developing the Brand
As Lexicon listened to this array of objectives, they kept “Team Fiberlane’s” focus on the idea of brand as a concept, as a predisposition to buy, as a promise. Extending this concept of brand further, Lexicon highlighted that a brand is all about beliefs, expectations, and promises. Imagery of a vessel suggested that a brand must have the ability to carry a message, an idea, and a promise. In fact, Lexicon argued that the focus needed to be less on whether a name is immediately understood and liked by customers, and more on “the name’s potential as a vehicle to weave an ongoing story that is larger than the brand itself.”
The brand became Cerent (pronounced SAYR-ent) for the company and Cerent 454 for the product, both of which were unveiled in mid-1998.
The brand story was captured by the product’s ability to break the bandwidth bottleneck in the constraining metropolitan optical transport network. In fact, the Cerent solution marked the inauguration of a whole new product category that uniquely addressed this multi-billion dollar market it helped to define – Multi-Service Provisioning Platform (or MSPP).
In less than two years, the Cerent brand was valued in excess of $7 billion and the underlying product became larger than life.
They did it right!
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
- Mark Twain
- Mark Twain
[1] Lexicon, in February 1998, as Terry Brown selected them, had 15 employees with the majority working across the technology sector, according to Computerworld. Its founder, David Placek, hails from Santa Rosa, California, a city, which is also considered part of the once-thriving Telecom Valley.