- Forced by a court ruling, Andersen Consulting had only 80 days to create a new global brand identity after splitting from its parent company, Arthur Andersen.
- The high-stakes process involved an unprecedented “brandstorming” contest where all 65,000 employees were invited to submit name ideas.
- The name “Accenture” was ultimately chosen by 2,500 senior partners, likely due to its familiarity (starting with “AC”) and its strategic meaning, “accent on the future.”
- In the 25 years since the rebranding, the company has seen explosive growth, with revenue soaring from $11.44 billion to nearly $70 billion.
A Race Against Time
In August 2000, a court ruling delivered a bombshell to Andersen Consulting: the firm had to completely change its name by January 1, 2001, as part of its acrimonious split from parent company Arthur Andersen. This left the global consulting giant with a mere 80 days to conceive, vet, and launch an entirely new brand identity across 47 countries—a task that would become one of the most painstaking corporate rebrands in history.
The story, recounted by Anthony Shore, the Global Director of Naming at Landor Associates who led the project, reveals a process born from crisis. “Andersen Consulting was no ordinary client, and this would be no ordinary assignment,” Shore recalled, noting the immense pressure to create a new global identity, from signage to business cards, in record time.
Breaking All the Rules for a New Brand
Faced with an impossible deadline, the company abandoned conventional wisdom. Most corporate naming projects are top-secret affairs, but this one was unfolding in the public eye. In a highly unusual move, Andersen Consulting decided to crowdsource ideas from its entire workforce of 65,000 professionals through a company-wide “brandstorming” initiative.
Shore admitted his initial skepticism about company naming contests but embraced the challenge. “I began to feel a personal responsibility to find the right name among their lists,” he said. The process was relentless. Instead of taking weeks for development, new names were presented every few days without the luxury of prior legal screening, a risky approach that became business as usual.
The Monumental Vetting Process
The scale of the project was staggering. A massive list of 550 names was sent to attorneys for a full legal screening. An astonishing 51 of those names cleared—a number far exceeding a typical project. Each of the 51 candidates then underwent rigorous global market research and a linguistic check across 65 languages to ensure no unintended or negative meanings slipped through. “To this day, I don’t think any naming project in history has been vetted so thoroughly,” Shore stated.
The Final Vote and the Power of Familiarity
In October 2000, the 51 vetted names were presented to 2,500 of the firm’s senior partners in Miami for a final vote. The name “Accenture” emerged as the clear winner, leading the next-best option by a wide margin. The company’s CEO, Joe Forehand, was already a supporter of the name.
Shore believes the name’s success was rooted in its familiarity. Andersen Consulting was often shortened to “AC,” which was also its web domain. “Accenture” was the only finalist that started with “AC,” providing a subtle link to the company’s heritage while also offering a strategic vision as an “accent on the future.”
Twenty-five years later, the gamble has paid off spectacularly. The company has grown from 65,000 employees to nearly 779,000, and its annual revenue has skyrocketed from $11.44 billion to $69.67 billion, cementing the rebrand as the project of a lifetime.
Image Referance: https://fortune.com/2025/10/26/the-story-behind-accenture-name-arthur-andersen-25th-anniversary/