When a company like Weyerhaeuser decides to change their name, it’s sort of a big deal.
You should have seen how many meetings we had at Fine Homebuilding just to come up with a name for our new blog. I can’t imagine the kind of discussion that brings about a name change for a company that employs 10,000 people across 10 countries, makes $6.6 billion in sales, and is one of the largest forest products companies in the world. I’d say there’s a tiny bit riding on that name, no? Can you imagine being the one to raise your hand in that board meeting and suggest a name change … again?
Well, a few years back, Weyerhaeuser slowly transitioned into a new name: iLevel. At first it was subtle; secondary to Weyerhaeuser. Then it slowly crept up in prominence until one day you were raising an LVL on your shoulders and looked at the label and went, “Hey, what’s iLevel?”
Maybe that’s the exact thinking that brought about the latest change, announced earlier today: “Our customers and vendors know us best as ‘Weyerhaeuser,’ so we are returning to what is most familiar to them,” said Larry Burrows, senior vice president of wood products at the company. Either that or Apple is going to come out with a level, and they want the name.
Beyond the primary name change, the company says that they will also be beefing up the name recognition of their TrusJoist products. I’m sure the rest of the Weyerhaeuser/iLevel/Weyerhaeuser offerings will remain true to their high quality reputation, but I’ll tell you one thing that I’m not thrilled about as a journalist … Weyerhaeuser is much harder to spell than iLevel. I wonder what their web address will be?
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