THE NAME GAME

Well, Reggie Dwight became Elton John, Marathon became Snickers and British Telecommunications became BT so that we could all phone home.

But I must admit I never realised how much angst was involved in changing names until the big decision to create Empica - formerly known as Martin Powell Communications.

Martin Powell Communications was born in January 1998, having been conceived at a pre-Christmas party. It was a quick and difficult birth so not much thought was given to its name - it was easier to just name it after the father - me!

I never really liked having this fast-growing entity using my name much. Especially when people at meetings would say: "Get Martin Powell to do that" or "Martin Powell has done this." Most of the time my reaction was to think "not likely" or " no I didn't", especially when one of my highly competent colleagues was better at the particular task than me.

Of course at the beginning it was just me.but for many years now we have been a team and the name needs to reflect that. The public relations world is full of highly competent sole-practitioners - but this business isn't one of them - some of our clients quite like dealing with someone other than me day to day!

I always wanted to create a brand. Of course Martin Powell could be a brand - like Calvin Klein, John Lewis or Gianni Versace - but who would buy my fragrance range or underpants or want me to organise their wedding gifts.

That's why Martin Powell Communications has become Empica, and I get my name back. Of course Empica will mean little to people at the moment - but hopefully everyone will soon learn to love the way we aim to do things. Empica has my initials at its heart and will have all the old values that we have always stood for - plus some new ones as well.

Empica is effectively 10 years old and a proper grown-up company. It is a bit like Reggie Dwight casting off his pub pianist image to become the global superstar Elton John. We aim to be better and appeal to more people (and make more money) but at the end of the day we still play the piano well and wear funny glasses. We don't, but you know what I mean.

Of course like with Marathon changing to Snickers there will be those who won't like it (some have already told me that in no uncertain terms). Certainly ditching the "Communications" bit will mean that people stop asking me if I "do telephones". Hopefully those who work with us will see only changes for the better.

It has taken a lot of hard work and a lot of thought to get to this stage, and sometimes we have had to wonder whether it is worth it.

For those who don't realise it an "Em" is a letter width and a "pica" a measure of height in print. So, Empica combines these measures with the initial letters of Martin Powell. We aim to give people measurable results for their money.

Now, as long as nobody gets in touch to say Empica means something obscene in Igbo or Danish or something, we are off and running and ready to build a brand that can be a real force in the media.

But we also know that the reputation of Empica will have to be earned and that people will judge us on what we do.not what we say. We aim to do things that will impress people so that Empica gains that reputation quickly.

Martin Powell

Media Watch:

The McCartney's divorce settlement has been a heaven-sent opportunity for my friends the sub-editors who write headlines. There has been "A Hard Day's Fight"; "We Can't Work It Out" and "She Love You No No No". Even the Times used "Yesterday" as a headline over a forlorn Sir Paul. Funny though, nobody so far has used the most poignant and apt title: "Money Can't Buy Me Love"...

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