Brand Expert: Hewlett-Packard Needs a Name Change

One of the first things new Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman ought to do is change the company name, brands expert Clive Chajet told IBTimes.

I'm confused: what is the company name? Is it Hewlett-Packard or is it HP? Chajet asked. Everybody always calls it HP.

Indeed, on its own announcement of Whitman's election as CEO, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer maker said, HP Names Meg Whitman President and CEO. Yet Hewlett-Packard is its legal name.

Chajet, owner of his Chajet Consultancy, is one of the world's top brand advisers. Between his firm and as former chairman of Lippincott & Margulies, he devised dozens of international company names including:

Citigroup

Xerox

Infiniti

Humana

Continuum Health

Enron

Allegis

Basically, the new boss has to communicate change, Chajet told IBTimes. She has to determine what the company really does and what the brands have to do with each other.

The consultant, author of Image by Design, said he doesn't know enough about HP to suggest a new name. And, he acknowledged, not every change works (Enron or Allegis, the ill-fated umbrella for United Airlines, Westin and Hilton Hotels as well as Hertz Rent-a-Car).

I don't even know how many brands and images they own, Chajet continued. Whatever they come up with can help close the gap between their current image and the current reality.

Chajet is a director of Wendy's.

HP shares traded at $21.83, down 4.25 percent, at midday Friday.