It occurred to me today that this time a year ago it was my last day at work before going on maternity leave.  Maternity leave ended abruptly (employers choice, not mine) but that is a story for another time. Our third little girl was born plump and healthy on the 19th July and we were delighted. My mum flew over from Australia and was here for the birth.  I can’t say that being present at the birth was all my mum had envisioned… there was no music or candles and I was less than cooperative, demanding my epidural tout suite!

In January 2013 ideas were germinating around the poor quality of beach umbrellas in the market and hopes emerging that someone would develop sun protection that was stylish, stimulating and of good quality.   After checking what options were available I discovered that block colours, stripes and poor quality is the general standard among beach umbrellas.  I saw the gap.

After the blow out on the name BeachCandy, yesterday was spent in a frenzy trying to think up a name that would develop into a brand, that had significance for us and fitted well with our beach lifestyle.  Beachyhead’s is an exclusive area on the coast where we live,  but the term could also define someone who loves to spend time at the beach. Equally, It could describe the state of someone who has spent the day at the beach: windswept, clear headed and happily tired.

The arguments going around in circles in my head throughout the day were incessant.  If I don’t change the name we risk confusing our customers. In attempting to do what someone is already doing well, we risk the brand being an ‘also ran’ before we cross the starting line. There is an argument that given time is against us (fabric labels and stationary are already printed) we should stay our course, launch as beachcandy in South Africa and rebrand later.  In that event, we would have stock to sell with the wrong name on it for up to a year and would lose the momentum and hype created as a bi-product of innovation.   On the other hand we have invested time and money into the name Beachcandy and must be prepared to chalk these costs up to experience if we change now.

After much deliberation, soul searching and talking with people I trust, we changed the name of the company from beachcandy to beachyheads.

Must update SARCDA forms for company name by 5pm today!

Here are some interesting thoughts on branding if you would like to read more: www.robweir.com/blog/2013/05/power-of-brand-power-of-product-1.html