The rebrand was a process we had labored over for several years, as we wanted to somehow highlight the word “coach” as part of our identity.

It was a difficult decision, and one made after a lot of thought and consultation with some of the top brand advisors in the world, including Al Ries and Laura Ries (Al helped popularize the “positioning” concept with Jack Trout).

In addition, we surveyed more than 200,000 business owners across the globe, mostly in NZ, Australia, the U.S. and the UK to see what they thought about a series of names and what the implication of rebrand would be.

In the end, we tested at least 12 other names and logo combinations, and consulted with a number of trademark attorneys all over the world.

All this told us that changing the name from from Action International to ActionCOACH was the smart thing and the right thing to do. Not only did the name capture the original essence of the company when I started it, we owned the word “COACH” as part of our brand.

It has proven to be a great decision – and it received 100% backing of our franchisees when we unveiled it at one of our global conferences (a feat that I’ve never heard of before or since in terms of agreement on a rebrand).

Since that time, we have been able to greatly leverage our brand across a number of platforms, and it has given our clients and potential customers a better understanding of what ActionCOACH does. As importantly, it has helped with our SEO efforts online.