Name change of A-Squared Anti-Malware v5

Name change: Emsisoft Anti-Malware
Farewell a-squared! As of version 5.0 "a-squared Anti-Malware" will now be called "Emsisoft Anti-Malware".

This change is being made for the following reasons:

Too many non-English speaking customers have problems correctly speaking the name "a-squared".
Although the name "a-squared" is unique worldwide it says nothing about the nature of the software.
Product names that are too long have proven somewhat confusing in the past.

More info Read here: http://www.emsisoft.com/en/kb/articles/news100412/

 

I really liked the name A-Squared, maybe they should have just called it A2 Anti-Malware.

 

And now, English speaking customers can have problems trying to correctly speak the name Emsisoft. (MCeeSoft?)

 

I preferred A-Squared. It was a well established and known brand name in computer security as well.

 

The name "Emsi" comes from the initials of the founder "M C".

Code:

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/company/about/

 

And a-squared Free is now called Emsisoft Emergency Kit

 

Wow a real shock

 

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;"



From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1600

 

How'd that work out for Romeo and Juliet?

 

Well...Yeah...but....
OK,not so good.

rat

 

Yeah, A2 was getting known in the security community

 

From a branding perspective, Emsisoft is much better.

You have (for example, not sure if this is what they'll be called):
Emsisoft Anti-Malware
Emsisoft Mamutu
Emsisoft HiJackFree
Emsisoft.....

you'd tell people, download a-squared free, they'd say, 'where from', from emsisoft.com. Now you can say, download Emsisoft's Mamutu, and they'll know where to go.

Either way, Mamutu, HiJackFree (free), Anti-Malware (free and paid), are all exceptional products.

 

Hi,

Having been in the design and branding industry for the last 6 years, It is a common problem when a one product company matures into a product range.

A2 was a good a name for their main product for several reasons, becasue it told something of the unique capacities of A2 AntiMalware
- two blacklist engines
- heuristics plus intrusion prevention (A2 IDS = Mamutu)
- community voting (of intrusions) plus surf protection based on risk stats

Then the company expands its product range and faces the following problem
a) do I continue to build value into the A2 name
b) do I start to build value into the company brand (which serves as an umbrella brand and value endorsement of other products)

When you are planning an IPO (get a quatotation on some stock exchange) to raise more funds for product development (or acquire cash to buy OA) the option B is a viable option.

A better option is often to rename the company to their main product (rename Emsisoft to A2). This (renaming Emsisoft to A2) comes with some re-branding costs and the issue that you have a product brand and an umbrella brand with the same name. There is a solutions for this by making your umbrella brand the general identifier with a funtional qualifier to pinpoint a product, example

- DefenseWall HIPS
- DefenseWall Personal FW
- Comodo Time Machine
- Comodo FW
- Comodo Internet Security

For A2 the best option was not easy becasue of their existing other product names (Mamutu would become A2 Mamautu this should also be renamed to A2 Intrusion Protection = family name plus product function descriptor).

That is why they choose for EmsiSoft problably (indeed pronounced as as M-C -Soft).
Before IPO it is better they have to find a name
a) which sounds nice in several languages (preferable their main markets),
b) which is not owned by some one else
c) relates to security when trying to Google it
d) does not have negative associations in their main markets
e) here is where the free consult ends

Regards Kees

 

Kees, well combined!

Indeed we had the problem of 1 company name + 2 brand names (a-squared and anti-malware). The full name "Emsisoft a-squared Anti-Malware" is far too long, so we had to make a cut and remove one of them. As "a-squared" is the only part that does not tell you anything about the product, it was clear which part is to be removed.

Emsisoft is the company name as it always was, but nobody realized it because a2/a-squared was in the focus. Actually we never used the term "a2", only "a²" many years ago, until we realized that English keyboards don't have the ² key.

Anti-Malware is the product name, along with others like Mamutu, Emergency Kit, MalAware, BlitzBlank, etc.

While we expect to have some loss by giving up "a-squared", we think it is the best decision for the long run.

 

Christian

Nothing better than an explanation of the number one MC of MCsoft (CEO of Emsisoft)

You might need to send out an e-mail asking your support guys to remove the A2 icon and A2 tagline from their avitars/forum identities and remove A2 icon and old logo of Troy anti trojan of web site banners

About the possible loss of brand recognition with A2: when your marcom department does it correctly and your product/web designers do a nice job you might even get substantial media coverage as a bonus

 

Impressive,just impressive!

 

I'm not English, but I never ha some problem to read or speak A-Squared ! . But I understand the brand problems explained in the emsisoft post.

 

And now for the new icon

 

Neat,great explanation.


@Case: when I am fully sober, I will get this:"MC of MCsoft (CEO of Emsisoft)"


rat

 

When you have to explain a word joke it has gone sour

Emsi in German is pronounced MC in English

Christian is CEO (Chief Executive Officer) as such he is the MC (Master of Ceromony of MCsoft)

 

If you didn't say that I wouldn't notice. I may not be from England or America myself, but I'm from Sweden and personally good at foreign languages in general.