Who gets the advantage in the name game?

I refer to your bracing leader (DW 3 March: Will Cordiant strike the right note for Saatchi?).

The real difficulty which Saatchi & Saatchi plc faces is not so much whether Cordiant is a suitable replacement name for the parent company. It is that its flagship agency continues to be called Saatchi & Saatchi, even though recent events demonstrate that these are the very words – and individuals – with which the agency wants to be least associated. Compounding the problem, clients know that the Real Thing is available in a rival agency with virtually the same name.

Similarly in the design sector, it cannot always be easy for Michael Peters Ltd to have to promote or present itself to clients knowing that one of the agencies it may be pitching against is headed by Michael Peters himself. In this latter case at least the two agencies trade under different names.

Mark Lee, Partner, The Partners, London EC1