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It is never easy operating in 13 countries under 10 different brand names. It was inevitable, therefore, that Observer Group, the Swedish parent of media monitoring agency Romeike since 1999, would look to rebrand under one global name. And that name is Cision.

'We were delivering the same service under different brand names, such as Bowdens in Canada and Bacons in America, each with a different way of positioning itself in the marketplace,' explains Bruce McGill, head of marketing at Romeike. 'But it was becoming increasingly clear that, in order to develop on a global level, clients required a service provider that looked, sounded and acted the same right across the company.'

The decision to rebrand was not taken lightly, however. Romeike was founded by Parisian newspaper seller Henry Romeike after he saw an artist paying for back copies of an edition mentioning an exhibition of his work, and dated back to 1852, while Bacons had a 50-year history.

'There is heritage and history, and an element of nostalgia associated with Romeike that meant the brand was a tremendous asset,' explains McGill. 'But it was also a hindrance. There was a perception of the brand and what it stood for that was at odds with what it did now. It had become associated purely with press cuttings - but Romeike had moved on significantly.'

Chicago-based Landor, which counts FedEx, Proctor & Gamble and Kellogg's among its clients, was appointed last year to handle the £3 mn rebrand. 'Landor mapped out how we felt the Romeike brand was perceived today and how we wanted it to be perceived in the future,' explains McGill. 'We had to identify our brand values.'

These values were built around thought leadership, a partnership approach, integrated service offering, actionable insight and performance. Over the following six months, Landor was tasked with finding a name associated with these values.

'There are three approaches to naming a company,' says McGill. 'There is the empty vessel, like Romeike, which doesn't indicate what the company does; the full vessel, like News Extra, which sort of does; or the halffull vessel, like Observer, which implies it.'

Observer opted for the empty vessel approach. 'Landor generated many name candidates,' says McGill. 'We had to consider whether they were memorable, had any negative connotations in the countries where we operated and were legally viable. We also had to consider whether the domain names were available.'

Many suggestions fell by the wayside, including LuMate, which Romeike staff pointed out would sound like a toilet brush to its UK-based clients. 'Cision doesn't mean anything specific,' says McGill. 'We felt it fitted all our criteria. It is now up to us to give it a brand identity. Cision brings together all our different cultures.'

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