SYMBIA

Situation

Jodie Rogers Ltd. (JRL) was a small human resources consultancy based in the UK, focused on improving team performance by helping each individual on that team thrive.

In mid 2020, JRL was looking to expand dramatically. They wanted to expand their service offerings from live and in-person to online and evergreen, and expand to a global footprint by hiring facilitators beyond Jodie herself.

To credibly offer thee new services, the team worked with me to find a new name that captured the essence of their company, while expanding beyond Jodie’s own personal identity. Working directly with the founder and her design team, I developed their new name and wrote their launch website.

Creative Approach

I developed 500 names across three creative territories:

Character spoke to the fundamental idea of unlocking human potential that permeated JRL's work

Anagram spoke to the reciprocal relationships between people and teams that were core to JRL's approach, and hinted at the possibility of refactoring them into a new form.

Pepper spoke to JRL's aesthetic advantages, and the fun and pizzazz that Jodie and her coaches brought to their engagements.

After several spirited rounds of discussion, validation, and prioritization, the team landed on a name they were all excited to move forward with.

Outcome

The team chose

Symbia

A coinage from “Symbiotic,” this name spoke easily to the client’s ability to work well with teams, but also the symbiotic relationship between those teams and the people that made them up. Using such a scientific term as a root lent an air of credibility, and ending in “a” rather than “o” nodded to the femininity that the client wanted to convey.

Justification

Since relaunching under this name in mid-2021, Symbia has successfully expanded from a one-woman show to a global network spanning five continents.