Flickr.com, CCL, Odalaigh

Ellen Wallace from excellent Geneva-based newsletter GenevaLunch sent me this article from Reuters.com: “Chicago icon’s new name may take time to stick”.

According to Reuters, “On Thursday, the 36-year-old Sears Tower becomes the Willis Tower, named after the world’s third-largest insurance broker, Willis Group Holdings Ltd.”

Where I can relate to the fact that the new owners want to associate their name with a Chicago landmark (especially after paying 24 M USD a year in rent money), things may turn out to be more tricky than they expect.

It would seem the name change has unleashed a huge backlash from Chicago residents, who vehemently opposite it. On itsthesearstower.com, over 35000 signatures have been gathered in an effort to stop Willis from changing the name.

Still, Willis seems undaunted by the public outcry, and – so far – has continued to press on with its PR-campaign, resulting in today’s name change.

As Europeans, we may at times be puzzled by US corporations’ tendency to brand everything they sponsor – from business schools to baseball stadiums – but that’s not really the point here. The core questions is: is Willis rapidly alienating a core segment of its target audience by sticking to its guns – whilst creating a potential PR-nightmare ?

An important part of the campaign against the name change relies on social media – through a clever use of Twitter (524 followers), MySpace (405) and Facebook (> 122000 fans across all groups), the campaign hopes to build enough momentum to get Willis to reconsider.

Interestingly, I did not come across any Facebook-groups that supported the change, and even in Willis’ own Facebook-group, all seems eerily quiet …

In spite of the recent videomessage and related PR-copy on their website, Willis seems oddly absent from the whole debate. In my mind, there are five things they could have done more effectively to counter consumer backlash:

• Engage in genuine and open dialogue around why they support the name change, and explain their rationale behind it;
• Listen to the arguments of the name change opponents in order to better understand their motivations;
• Use social (as well as traditional) media as a two-way communications channel to interact and participate in the dialogue;
• Try to work towards a mutally acceptable solution that takes into account all relevant stakeholder needs;
• Finally, thank the general public for their concern and input, and proceed as agreed – but this time, with the consent of the public

In an earlier blogpost, I wrote “As brands become increasingly part of the public domain, with consumers expecting interaction rather than carefully crafted marketing campaigns, authenticity in dialogue may become a key component of successful brand building.”

So far, Willis has made no effort to address this movement head-on, by engaging in dialogue or participating in the conversation. According to Reuters, “Plumeri, for one, said he does not mind tongue-in-cheek references to Willis Tower as “Big Willie.”

If he’s not careful, Big Willie may not be what the public chooses to adopt as a new moniker …