Naming a brand properly can mean the difference between success and failure. We are surrounded by examples of this, but here’s one:
Unless you’re a student of marketing and advertising, you’ve probably never heard of Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS). Founded in 1964 by a University of Oregon track and field coach and one of his former student runners, BRS was looking to optimize running shoes. The partners considered renaming the company Dimension 6 or Peregrine like the falcon. Fortunately, they settled on Nike, after the Greek winged goddess of victory. Its brevity and hard consonants were winners, as proven with brands such as Kleenex and Xerox.
Starting with white space
The white space surrounding Nike’s unrealized shoe brand provided an opportunity to create its winning identity and the iconic swoosh. Today, practically everyone recognizes the swoosh and what it represents.
We started with a similar white space when developing a name for the newly created Pennsylvania Health Insurance Exchange Authority (PHIEA). At the heart of it, an effective name and brand has everything to do with developing a strategy based on what a brand promises to deliver. That’s exactly where we began our process.
Defying trust issues
Generally speaking, people distrust insurance companies and they distrust the government. We recognized that any name evoking either entity would put us at an added disadvantage right out of the gate. The biggest challenge was developing a brand that would be successful despite this reality.
The name had not only to defy the aura of mistrust surrounding insurance companies and government-related entities but also to build itself as an understanding and empathetic helper. We needed to create a brand that could show it understands how complicated and confusing insurance can be. This brand then had to help people see past the negative connotations they attach to insurance issues and help them find and sign up for a plan with confidence.
Enter Pennie
Selecting the name Pennie was a subtle way to tie in the state exchange and allow the brand to expand and develop its own identity. When you find Pennie, you find something you didn’t expect from health insurance. Instead of complexity, you find clarity. Instead of worry, you have peace of mind. Instead of confusion, there’s understanding. That’s Pennie.
Pennie doesn’t get bogged down in technical terms. Instead, the white space surrounding Pennie is filled with care, warmth, empathy and simplicity.
Pennie has reframed buying health insurance through the exchange as a predictable exercise without the baggage of government or insurance companies. Welcome to Pennie.
