DIAL “L” FOR LIME

Nov 17, 2008 Features / Columnists, Tony Deyal column

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It started with Prince.  He changed his name to “TAFKAP” (The Artist Formerly Known As Prince).  Now it is Beyonce’s turn.  She is changing her name to Sasha Fierce, and her new album will be named “This Is Sasha Fierce”.  Her reason? (I hesitate to use the word “rationale,” because it connotes a state of mind that does not seem applicable in this instance). 

“I have someone else that takes over when it’s time for me to work and when I’m on stage, this alter ego that I’ve created that kind of protects me and who I really am,” she explained.

“Sasha Fierce is the fun, more sensual, more aggressive, more outspoken side, and more glamorous side that comes out when I’m working and when I’m on the stage.”  Interestingly, her first album, “B’Day” was released in September 2006 to coincide with her 25th birthday, and it went straight to the top of the charts. 

The first single of the album, a song which also went to the top of the charts, is “Irreplaceable.”  Clearly, this does not apply to her name.

Beyonce is not the first celebrity to go through what in business would be deemed a “rebranding” process.  Ringo Starr was “Richard Starkey”.  Ray Charles kept his first two names and dropped his surname, “Robinson”.  Vanilla Ice was “Robert Van Winkle”. The Notorious B.I.G. would not have been as big a star had he used his real name “Christopher Walker”. 

Tony Curtis was plain “Bernard Schwartz”.  Shania Twain is “Eileen Edwards”. Snoop Dog is “Calvin Broadus”.  Arnold Dorsey became “Engelbert Humperdinck”. Prince, the original nomenclature nomad, started life as “Prince Rogers Nelson,” and changed that 743 times.  He is now contemplating a further change to “Bob”.

I suppose the unavailability of “Bob” is what caused Cable and Wireless (C&W) to change the name by which it is known in the Caribbean to “Lime”.  After all, given its British antecedents, the name “Bob” would have been great for the old C&W.  It means “twenty-four cents” or “shilling,” and would have symbolised a major rate reduction. 

They could also have tried replacing the “&” sign with an “O” because the name “COW” would have been a historical flashback to the fact that the West Indies operations of the big Brit multi-national was a cash cow which it milked without let, hindrance or customer satisfaction for years upon years. 

But the group settled for “Lime,” which has provoked some speculation among the curious, something I have always been, and the idle, among whose ranks I have through sheer misfortune recently fallen, plummeted really.

“Why they change their name?”  A friend asked.  I explained to him this was not as unusual as it sounds.  The Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, when it chose to venture out into the wider Caribbean to explore greenbacks and greener pastures, changed its name to “RBTT”.  It was said at the time that the Bank was afraid that the “Trinidad and Tobago” in its name would be a handicap, because of the link in some parts of the world between people from that country and confidence tricksters, or “Trickydadians”. 

Thus the official name became “RBTT,” which eventually became, in those countries into which the company had ventured, “Run Before Trinis Takeover”.  Did it work?  Was it worth it? Let us look at other examples.

Kentucky Fried Chicken became “KFC” when “fry” became a bad word. KFC continued to sell the product, but without the stigma.  Now it is going to change its name to “Kitchen Fresh Chicken”. 

An excellent example of circular thinking is the story of Cincinnati Bell Inc.  Richard Ellenberger, then-chief executive of Cincinnati Bell Inc, who told investors in November 1999 that his company’s name change to Broadwing Inc. symbolized its new image. 

According to Peter Robinson in “Igor”, Ellenberger boasted: “The broadwing hawk soars at about 1,000 feet above its prey.  And when it strikes, it strikes.”  What struck instead was fate.  From the major local-phone company in Cincinnati, Broadwing plummeted, losing $4.9 billion over three years by trying to become a national Internet provider.  Then Broadwing reverted to the name Cincinnati Bell, which spokeswoman Libby Korosec said was easier to explain to the public.

“We all thought, gee, how about Cincinnati Bell?” said Korosec. “That’s what we are.”
In 2007, some 2,346 companies adopted new names.  Now, in 2009, we have the year of the Lime.  I explained to my friend that it is highly appropriate.  C&W is a British company, so that its key owners are people who would be termed “limeys”, hence the name is consistent with its parentage. My revelation shook him.  He looked squashed and more than a little punch drunk. 

I softened the blow by pointing out that there is an ‘Orange’ telecommunications network in the UK.  I also explained that the term “lime,” or the verb “to lime”  means “having a good time with pleasant company” emerged from colonial days when the planters invited their friends for pre-prandial drinks out on their verandahs. 

Since citrus (particularly lime) juice was essential in the prevention of scurvy, limes were added to alcohol, and eventually people invited their friends for a “lime”. 

While C&W would never have qualified as “pleasant company”, I am sure the name-change from Cable and Wireless West Indies was not a response to a sudden scurvy epidemic.  In fact, the company explained that “Lime” represents the company’s four services, Landlines, Internet, Mobile and Entertainment/cable television. 

The company’s executives have revealed that the rebranding “was a break from the old, telecommunications monopoly which had become unpopular by the time the sector was liberalised earlier this decade.” 
One of the vice-presidents of the organisation boasted, “We changed everything.” 

We have to hope this is true. You don’t want to peel the lime and find the same sourness, the same bitter fruit beneath.  Just like its predecessor, this lime could be the pits.  If you have the same people doing the same things the same way, nothing would have changed but the name. 

People want value for money, respect for them and their rights, and good, prompt, economical service.  If “lime” symbolises the mentality of the company as well as the reality, and neither of these changes, this is one lime that could go sour and join Broadwing Inc in the dust of history. 

*Tony Deyal was last seen saying that LIAT has now named its in-flight magazine “LiME”.  If C&W sues LIAT, it would not only be a juicy story, but would permanently sour relations between the two Caribbean companies.

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