More name change misery and mixed up dates

14th August 2019

Joe Bush

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Steve Rogerson looks at some of the news that may have missed the front page. There are lots of reasons for companies to change their names, most of them irrelevant and erroneous, as I have pointed out many times before. It is much better in almost every case to keep the original name - a name that your customers know and has respect in the industry. OK, if the name has become tarnished for some reason, then maybe fair enough.

However, if you are going to change your company’s name, at least go for one that is memorable, easy to say, that sort of thing. Please do not do what Toshiba Memory Europe has done. It has changed its name to one that is not even clear how to pronounce. The company is now to be called Kioxia. The press release that announced this even had to write it phonetically (kee-ox-ee-uh). Are they going to do that every time the company’s name is mentioned?

So where did the name come from? The company explained: “Kioxia is a combination of the Japanese word kioku meaning ‘memory’ and the Greek word axia meaning ‘value’. Merging memory with value, Kioxia represents the company’s mission to uplift the world with memory, which forms the foundation of the company’s vision.” So that’s clear then.

Actually, one company that should consider changing its name is German mobile payments firm Wee, especially if it decides to launch in an English-speaking country. This line from a recent press release caught my eye: “Discounts collected in the form of wee can only be consumed in stationary retail shops.” Oh dear.

I use a local Nottingham company called GH Cityprint for doing my business cards and so on. I had an email from them warning those who had their ‘amazing’ desk calendars to be careful in July as it had the dates mixed up. I could not check this as I don’t have one of their desk calendars.

Obviously, my business card business is not large enough to warrant a free faulty calendar.

If Microsoft’s machine reading comprehension data test is anything to go by, Chinese company Alibaba has developed machine learning technology that is better at reading than humans. This might seem very clever, but beware. What it really means is even more machines replacing real people in customer service roles and even more customers tearing their hair out in frustration when they can’t get answers to their queries.

Picture: What do you think of when you see this picture? I am willing to bet that the thoughts are not romantic, yet this is the picture Anchor Vans sent me to illustrate a story about its latest survey that tells us that nearly two-thirds of adults have had sex in a vehicle. I am not one of them, I hasten to add, and I am too old now, apparently, as the key age group for in-vehicle frolics is 35 to 44. Thinking about it though, what picture could they have sent that would be fit to publish?