Swiss companies choose absurd project names for renovation projects
«Rainbow,» «Songbird,» or «Route 51»: Swiss companies consistently choose project names that sound bizarre or euphemistic for their downsizing or restructuring projects. A compilation by the *Handelszeitung* highlights dozens of examples and the measures behind them.
A prominent recent example is Migros' Fast Forward downsizing program, which aims to save CHF 120 million. Postfinance called its reduction program Victoria, the Six Group PIP-Personal Improvement Program.
"Ideally, the project name is a symbolic image that appeals emotionally to the employees who are to implement it. It should create a vision," says Stefan Vogler, brand expert and head of studies at the HWZ. Most of the project names used fail to achieve this purpose. In particular, martial-sounding names that contain the word fight, victory or war are a no-go.
If the project names are absurd or completely incomprehensible (such as the Notenstein conversion project Papillon), this drives the cynicism of the employees and they rename the projects. For example, the Lufthansa modernization program 7to1 is mocked internally as "Anti Aging", the IT project Share of the chocolatier Camille Bloch as "Fat Bertha".
Frustration and cynicism among employees can only be avoided if the top manager explains the meaning of a name and a redundancy program is not called "Bright Future", for example.
