What‘s in a name? Ask Mason Hearn. After 12 years in business (first as McGuire/Hearn and later as McGuire, Hearn & Toms) he became the sole owner of his company and had to decide what to call it. Hearn, who does remodeling, historic restoration, and a small number of custom homes, admits the matter gave him pause. “What happens,” he asks, “when you‘ve built all this equity in the name and then just toss it out?” The more he and his staff looked into the problem, though, the more it seemed like an opportunity. The right name could better define their image and reflect “our recognition that our company was more than the shareholders.” Hearn hired a PR strategy firm “to keep from having all this goodwill and brand equity disappear when we make change” and a design firm to create a distinctive visual identity to go with the new name. Playing on the dual meaning of Hearn‘s first name, they coined a new company moniker that highlighted the capabilities of the team while leveraging the reputation of the boss himself: HomeMasons.

—B.D.S.