Alphabet Soup
July 14, 2010 by Maureen Wall Bentley · 3 Comments
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One of the first eye-openers I had when moving to the Washington, DC, area some 20 years ago was that virtually every organization in the vicinity has an acronym. Whether a military entity, high-tech company, government agency or association, they all are awash in unfathomable letters. Sure, we know the FBI and IRS, and we all have USB ports in our laptops, but have you ever hear of NASPGHAN (North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition) or MANPADS (man-portable air-defense system)? Even a Beltway veteran like John McCain can be overwhelmed by this lettered nonsense (see video clip).
But before we start feeling too superior, let’s admit that the insurance industry is not much better. Industry associations, agents, brokers, vendors and companies all use a plethora of acronyms for their products, services, committees and the organizations themselves. Typically it starts as a convenience when typing an internal document or naming a file, but soon enough we’re using the acronym with customers, prospects and partners.
And those acronyms are not helping your brand.
Why? Because brands are built on emotion, and it’s hard to get warm and fuzzy about a bunch of letters. Which is why the National Association of Realtors—in a bold break from the association pack—doesn’t promote itself as NAR, but as Realtors®. NAR is an anonymous, meaningless entity; Realtors are people.
And there’s a second, more tactical reason to avoid acronyms: Most of the letter mixes used in web addresses are already taken; www.NAR.org, for example, is the home of the National Association of Rocketry. And, finally, some acronyms can be unintentionally offensive, such as Friends University, which never abbreviates its name.
When Aartrijk worked recently on rebranding the AMS Users Group, we gave great thought to how any full name might be abbreviated by members, partners, employees and media. The Network of Vertafore Users was selected in part because most liked the nickname NetVU, and www.netvu.org was available. As we work with other rebranding clients, we’re patently avoiding introducing new acronyms into the soup.
Take a look at your organization’s own communications. Are you using an unpronounceable acronym when one or two words would better convey your story? If so, you may be holding back the power of your brand. Think about it.
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Good stuff Maureen. In addition to brand acronyms, the insurance industry is notorious for coverage acronyms. One example is BI. This can mean Bodily Injury or Business Income. Probably means some other things I just can’t think of the right now. Why are we so ashamed of our names?
I was staff organist for many years at IBT. This is a church in Henderson KY that everyone still refers to as IBT. I mean you never hear anyone say or refer to the church other than IBT. That stands for Immanuel Baptist Temple Henderson KY. So many times we work for brand recognition but fail to recognize the need for remembering what the name stands for. IBT is so stamped in people’s minds in this community that often times when I hear people saying IBT, I try to kindly remind them that stands for a church Immanuel Baptist Church. It is not that difficult to say.
Whenever I work with my insurance clients I try to stay away from using (both spoke and written) acronyms. I think it dilutes our professionalism and makes us proud that we can use such acronyms and know what they mean and others do not or may not.
I know Aartrijk Group worked hard to come up with NUVUE. I don’t think it really did anything except confuse and gave more crazy acronyms to an already confusing industry. Basically the website and traditions of the organization are the same.
What IS the future of user groups anyway?
Nibby, thanks for weighing in. Realistically, people will almost always try to shorten a name, so we simply recommend that organizations anticipate that tendency and come up with a nickname that is easy to say, easy to remember and has a related URL available. (On that note, i-baptist.org/.com/.net are all available.) Will we see you at Brand Camp this year?