Brief
Bayes Business School (formerly Cass) is part of City, University of London and is a leading global business school in Europe. In June 2020, the School committed to changing their name after thoroughly researching the source of Sir John Cass’s wealth and his links to the Atlantic slave trade.
In order to take the views of the wider School community into consideration, the School launched an online platform so students, staff and alumni had the opportunity to contribute their own name ideas. However, this internal process resulted in only a small number of names passing due diligence checks.
Nucleus was engaged to explore and propose further name candidates for testing, within a very tight timeframe.
Solution
As a top-ranked business school, the team was aware of potential reputational damage, which required careful management.
Name candidates were required to meet a set of stringent requirements, including the high probability of securing trade mark registration in key territories and regions including UK / EU, UAE, Hong Kong and China, avoiding any factors that might delay registration.
Nucleus was also asked to create names that would act as a foundation for the brand proposition – supporting and enhancing the school’s future brand strategy and market positioning. We also considered the brand architecture of the University, and the length of the previous name (only four letters) within the current branding system.
Using our robust naming methodology, Nucleus worked with the team to create two viable name candidates to add to the existing shortlist for testing. We also analysed and rated each candidate, as part of a rigorous, complex decision-making process.
Results
Our input helped to define the School’s final preference for the name Bayes (after the English mathematician and theologian Thomas Bayes). The School launched the new brand in September 2021, which has been met with positive responses by both the press and the higher education sector.
www.bayes.city.ac.uk