Like Dunkin’ Donuts, Weight Watchers, and so many other companies, the former Logic Supply in South Burlington had felt for years that it had grown away from its original name.
So this week the company rolled out its new name: OnLogic, a label intended to show customers that where once the company focused on supplying computer components, now it designs and manufactures products for the industry.
“Part of the reason OnLogic was chosen was it still has a tie to our former name,” said Sara Mellinger, the company’s vice president of marketing. “In fact, a lot of customers would refer to us simply as ‘Logic.’”
OnLogic, which was started in 2003 by Lisa and Roland Groeneveld, specializes in creating compact and hardy hardware that can withstand conditions such as dust, vibration, small dimensions, and temperature extremes that are found outdoors, on factory floors, or as part of machinery.
The Vermont-based company has made a name for itself in the industry, with a location in Taiwan and two in Europe and about 70,000 customer accounts, according to Darek Fanton, the company’s communications manager.
It’s also widely cited in the Vermont business community for its progressive workplace culture, and in 2017 was approved by the Vermont Economic Progress Council to receive up to $757,000 through the state’s Vermont Employment Growth Incentive award, or VEGI, if it finishes an $8.5 million construction project and creates 83 new jobs by the end of 2020. It also was approved to receive up to $238,000 from the Vermont Training Program.
OnLogic’s customers and market are all outside of Vermont, and the new name is aimed at clarifying the company’s purpose for the benefit of those customers. But the company is also hoping to fill nearly a dozen jobs at its Vermont headquarters, so it’s trying to develop a recognizable profile in the community. The new name doesn’t give any more of an indication of the company’s purpose than the old name did.
“That’s really been a struggle for us, the local community actually knowing who we are and what we do,” said Mellinger.
OnLogic officials began talking about a name change four or five years ago, and preparations began in earnest after the company trademarked the new name in the summer of 2018, said Mellinger. Fanton estimates OnLogic spent several thousand dollars going through a rebranding process with the Burlington creative firm Solidarity of Unbridled Labor. There was physical structure – such as the building sign – to replace, and then many conversations with Google to change the company’s presence online.
“That gets very entrenched in every corner of the internet,” Fanton said about the old name. “There’s a physical process you go through with Google; you can get in touch with someone there and have a conversation about what needs to happen.”
He added that the company is contacting any reviewer or other writer who has linked to the company’s website, to send them the new information. Searches under the old name will take the user to the new website, but “there is more value to Google having the links be direct,” he said.
The company also talked directly to customers beforehand, in part to forestall assumptions that the company had been sold.
“We actually did outreach with some of our top-tier customers ahead of time to be in the room with them when we gave them this news, to see how they would take it at that moment,” said Dave Lovegrove, the company’s head of design.
“You don’t want anyone to panic because there is a new name,” Fanton said.
Some very large companies have changed their names in recent years, including Dunkin’ Donuts of Massachusetts, which downsized to just “Dunkin” in 2018. Weight Watchers became WW last year, with the tagline “wellness that works.” Priceline, Restoration Hardware and Michael Kors all changed their names recently. Walmart dropped the hyphen from its name last year, and in Vermont, Fletcher Allen Health Care became the University of Vermont Medical Center as part of a branding strategy five years ago.
It’s worth the expense and the work, said Fanton.
“Should your name very clearly indicate what you do? For some businesses, that’s absolutely appropriate,” Fanton said. “For us, the goal here, is we want people to be aware, but most of our customers are outside of the state.”
