N.U.I. (Never Use Initials)

When can you use initials instead of your long company name? Never. N.U.I. (Never Use Initials). They don’t mean anything to anyone.

Why? After all your entire company is swimming in content with that long name taking up all that space. It’s easier for everyone to shorten it down to initials, and we all know what they stand for right?

Wrong. Only the people working at your company are swimming in your content. The rest of the world is not.

If you want your name to stick, if you want to build brand recognition, don’t use the initials. If your business name is too long, find a way to shorten it. It it’s obsolete, choose a new name.

Examples: Ford Motor Company is known as Ford (not FMC)
Apple Incorporated is known as Apple (not AI)
Socony-Vacuum Oil Company changed it’s name to Mobile (not SVOC)

“Before you throw away a name in favor of meaningless initials, see if you can find another “name” that will do the job you want done.”

— Al Ries & Jack Trout

Find out why Ries & Trout say using initials is corporate suicide in their book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind.

---

Ries, Al, and Jack Trout. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. Print.