Well, I get their thinking. American + Enterprise + Advise. Sounds all-American, innovative, high tech and high spirited.

Jim Cracchiolo, chairman and chief executive of American Express Financial Advisors, said the name represents the company’s American roots and the company’s “enterprising culture.”

Now how much did it cost them in branding advice?

They might run into some issues legally, given that Ameriprise is an architectual metal work company in Nashville (http://www.ameripriseco.com).

I don’t know about you, but I’d totally run to give up a multi-billion dollar brand to get into a trademark dispute with guys who manufacture brass, stainless steel & aluminum railing components.

http://www.adweek.com/aw/natio.....1000936333

Apparently they’ve been at this naming thing since February!

Even better:
http://www.startribune.com/sto.....19544.html

“Cracchiolo and his executive team selected the new name from among several finalists that survived a process that began last winter with an original list of more than 4,000 names submitted by employees, advisers and a New York naming company.”

“The new name will be launched into the public eye in September on the strength of a $25 million-plus advertising campaign. It meets the original criteria of being personable, authentic and creative and implies the knowledge and depth of an advisory outfit that will be among the nation’s 300 largest independent public companies…”

My reaction to Ameriprise was pretty tepid. I’d be interested to know how much they paid to pry the domain name from the calloused hands of the metal worker. Still, I guess it’s better than RiverSource. (Wonder if they’ll change the ticker symbol?)

Also, if this is a global business, I think they forgot to invite the rest of world to the focus group. American Express sounds pretty patriotic, too, but that brand was established long before we got our current reputation as world bully. Though, if I’m taking milk money from the bully, I don’t care what s/he wants to be called. ;)

In a word – underwhelmed.

And the fonts used for the name presentation look like they went into a Word wizard and used the default, pre-formatted letterhead layout.