What’s in a name – well quite a lot actually. Quirky IPA names – which have you noticed?
It’s a small point but can make a big difference. I’ve noticed that in recent weeks, maybe a few months, three important agencies have changed their names to good effect. BOI (Board of Investment) Mauritus is now playing with the brand name Invest Mauritius. No big deal? Well, yes! There are several BOIs out there: Mauritius, Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, 
Kurdistan, even Jordan come to mind. They stick with the BOI name for historical and bureaucratic reasons, opinions of perceived value of a BOI, or maybe beacause they have not thought about the broader marketing implications. Mind you the current BOI Mauritius logo which has been around for several years, and lost its “Mauritius” strapline more than two years ago, is perhaps overdue for a revamp.
Conversely, a couple of agencies with an acute interest in marketing and branding realise that their first unique efforts may be more effective if simplified. That’s why Vision Nottingham is now known as Invest in Nottingham, and Interes has moved on to Invest in 
Spain.
So what is to come – who’s next to change? Well, it might be OSEC which is of course 
errr, Organisation für Schweizer Aussenwirtschaftspromotion. The website explains it a bit better www.locationswitzerland.com But the OSEC name is confusing. Why not change it so that Americans, Koreans, Chinese, in fact any non-Swiss business person can understand it? Well, perhaps because it was established in 1927 as a Swiss business network, it has 1,300 members and 7,000 customers – all of them Swiss. OSEC were empowered by the Swiss parliament just over a year ago, to promote investment as well as trade. It may be another year or so before the branding, like with Invest in Spain, gets sorted out.
Meanwhile a lot of things have been happening in Germany. On 1 January this year Germany Trade and Invest was formed. It is the new foreign trade and inward investment agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. This came about through the 
merger of the German Office for Foreign Trade and Invest in Germany GmbH. Just a year previously Invest in Germany has merged with the Industrial Investment Council, the IPA for the five former East German states.
FInally here, a substantial economy that could do with a branding makeover is Ontario. Invest Ontario, right? No! Typing “Invest Ontario” into Google gives you as number one search result the website www.2ontario.com. What does that mean? On visiting www.2ontario.com one is faced with a bewildering arrangement of as many as ten brands and organisations, but an IPA dealing with inward investment is not one of them. Don’t get me wrong – the website has some very interesting information integration features if you’ve got the time to study them. And the homepage navigation is different and quite interesting. But for sure you cannot easily find the organisation that will be the right one for foreign investors.
However, things are happening! A little note appears at the top of the website if you consider clicking it. It states that www.investinontario.com is indeed on its way. Time will tell us soon if the website address change also results in a brand name change and an organisation change too.
