Name changes for re-branding purposes are usually risky and costly propositions. In some cases they are inevitable and the right thing to do: for example, Arthur Andersen turned into Accenture after the Enron scandal, and now GMAC bank is changing its name to a more upbeat Ally Bank to distance itself from troubled General Motors.
In other cases the name change is a calculated gamble: replacing a familiar but boring name with a new, more memorable and brandable one. Sometimes this gamble pays off handsomely: just read the success story of the Big Ass Fan Company (formerly known as the HVLS Fan Company).
If your new brand name is a catchy word, but completely unrelated to your line of business (like Apple or Yahoo!) effective branding (or re-branding) usually takes time and money…or a lot of creativity.
An example of creativity in action is how a company called GotVMail (a small business voice mail service provider) is going about changing its name to Grasshopper:
To spread the word fast and accelerate the name recognition of their new brand, they decided to mail FedEx packages to “5,000 of the most influential people in America” (there must be a typo somewhere since I received one 
containing a handsomely designed bag full of chocolate-covered grasshoppers (they are a popular snack in Thailand).
Written on one side of the bag is this dare: “You’re a risk-taker, a dream-realizer. What’s left to do that you haven’t already done? Eat a grasshopper.”
Attached to the bag is a tag with an individual serial number (mine is 3248 of 5000) that says: “Entrepreneurs can change the world. Join the movement now! grasshopper.com/idea.”
While it’s still too early to quantify the results of this campaign, it is undeniable that it has already generated a significant amount of buzz: one excellent example of how the right combination of creativity and social media savvy can make a message go viral. (Update 08.20.09: the campaign was a complete success. Jonathan Kay, Ambassador of Buzz at Grasshoper has let us know that they have now published a comprehensive case study with the quantitative results of the campaign).
Did you try one of the “Hoppers…”?? Even better I will be interested to see how your wife holds up to the Grasshopper Challenge! Keep us posted…
The grasshopper thing was clever, got them as well…I ate one, did you?
@jonathan, @adam: I’m waiting for my wife to come back from a trip to see who eats one first, but I’m definitely going to try them…