For an engaging, powerful brand name, read Killian's 16 Rules for renaming.

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ihob, Amazon, and other logo smiles

A surprising number of people asked me during the past few weeks if I was in any way responsible for the “ihop/ihob name change.” It was asked half-jokingly since they know I’m in the re-naming business, but always asked in the tone of “can you believe they’re doing something that stupid?”

I pleaded not guilty, but I had to tell them they had fallen for a head fake. The whole “flipping the p to a b” stunt, disguising it as a permanent name change, was executed with a straight face to drum up awareness for adding burgers to the menu. As a PR exercise, the “b is for burgers!” was a textbook case for getting a free-media multiplier for the rebrand message.

Very smartly done. I still ain’t gonna eat there.

The International House of Pancakes morphed into IHOP long ago, and it’s a gathering place for future diabetics to load up on whipped-cream-smothered meals. Popular as that concept may be, synthetic maple syrup does not spring immediately to mind as a dinner option. A franchisee might do well at breakfast, okay at lunch, and then be very, very lonely the rest of the day.

The answer: Burgers! Hey, nobody thought of that before. You can be sure they’ll find a way to load 31g of sugar(s) into each entrée somehow.

The biggest reason not to actually make the name change is, of course, the enormous brand equity they have in the name and logo mark, which features a sunny isn’t-sweetness-sweet? smile. The O and P create a raccoon-like eyes-nose, over the curved lipstick smear. Flipping the last letter would wreck that. The mark has for years reassured toddlers that no, bucko, you won’t have to endure broccoli here. 

There are an uncountable number of logos featuring a smile, a fairly obvious design option for almost any service business that’s not a funeral home. They aren’t always well executed, but the IHOP one is cheerily done. 

Another one we respect is Amazon’s, which uses a smile for the usual we’re-so-friendly reason - but it’s also an arrow that points from A to Z, indicating, well, a-to-z completeness. What can’t you buy at Amazon? That nuance is about as subtle (and therefore as interesting) as the “hidden” arrow in the e-x of theFedEx logo. Once you see it, you appreciate it.

My favorite (at the risk of immodesty) is a logo we created for Child’s Voice, a school for children born with severe or total hearing deficits. After being surgically fitted with a cochlear implant, the school’s amazing teachers and astounding program teach them to hear, and speak, and even sing. (I vividly remember sitting in a class of 4-year-olds who were happily belting out a song – on key.) These kids graduate to get streamed into first or second grade, in regular classrooms, with no aides, no sign language and no special accommodation. Many excel in school and life, as you’d expect – they’ve already been diligent, successful learners before the age of five! 

Anyway. Our logo turned the D into a big joyful smile, and the apostrophe represents where a cochlear implant goes, behind the ear. We added what I think of as a kick-ass tagline, too: “You’ll be hearing from us.” 

So, no we didn’t do the ihob stunt, but if you’ve been thinking about a rebranding, renaming or logo rehab project, let us hear from you. Here is where you should start.