Gill Oliver talks to estate agent Rowan Waller about changing his company’s identity

What’s in a name? Thousands of pounds and the future of your business, if Rowan Waller’s experience is anything to go by.

The father-of-one changed the name of his Summertown-based estate agency from Isis in September last year, to avoid association with a terrorist group.

And nine months on, with business booming at what is now Wallers of Oxford, he believes it was absolutely the right decision.

Some clients now admit they were wary of having boards with the word ‘Isis’ outside their homes.

And Mr Waller, from Cutteslowe, calculates the old name could have lost him up to £20,000 in lost sales.

He said: “I think there was a feeling of ‘I don’t really want an Isis board in my front garden’.

“Your house is such a public statement, so having a sales board outside that’s emblazoned with the word ‘Isis’ was quite a big thing.

“One customer asked me to hold off until I had rebranded.”

Another home owner who had previously turned him down, contacted him months later.

He added: “I told her I had changed the name and she said ‘I have to admit, I wasn’t sure about the name’. I think there may also have been another agent going around saying ‘Isis – isn’t that going to be a problem?’ “Someone told me they had heard that, but wouldn’t say who from.”

Oxonians know the name Isis as the stretch of the River Thames which runs through the city, north of Iffley Lock.

But intense media coverage of atrocities committed by jihadists – formally known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), now Islamic State (IS) has made given the word another, more sinister meaning.

Mr Waller, who managed estate agent Chancellors’ Abingdon branch for five years, launched his own business, Isis Estate Agents on September 1 last year, before the terrorism group had become headline news.

He decided against the name on September 8, before relaunching as Wallers on September 25.

He explained: “When I was getting ready to launch, Isis weren’t massive headline news. “They had just taken over what is a strategically important town in northern Iraq but as we moved into August, they suddenly hit the news.

“I thought ‘Oh my God, that’s going to be a problem and I couldn’t risk it when all my money was put into this venture.”

His pleas to national newspapers, asking them to not use Isis to describe the terrorist group, but to refer to it as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), because of the negative impact it might have on Oxford businesses, fell on deaf ears. The consequent scrapping of his marketing and publicity material, which included 20,000 Isis-branded leaflets and 250 glossy brochures, cost £7,000.

He added: “I was delivering flyers saying ‘Coming soon, Isis estate agents’ and people were saying ‘Ooh, Isis, that’s unfortunate’ and someone really criticised me for it.

“I didn’t want to have to worry about justifying it, so the easiest thing was to bite the bullet.

“But when you are starting from scratch and haven’t got much money, it was a big blow.”

Fortunately, since rebranding, his Banbury Road-based agency has sold 34 properties and he aims to take on his first employee next year.

Of course, as he pointed out, he can never be sure the name change is behind his business success, because he might have done equally well under the Isis moniker.

Electrician Chris Carey, who has been advised to change his company’s name because of associations with a terrorist group, says he won’t ditch “a strong local brand”.

Mr Carey, who runs Kidlington-based Isis Electrical, also plans to carry on wearing a hoodie with ‘Isis’ inscribed on it.

Mr Carey said: “When we go to people’s houses they take the Mickey a bit and say ‘Are you going to blow us up?’ but it’s just a bit of humour. One of the team got some funny looks in KFC with his company hoodie on but I’ve never come across a serious or negative comment.”

Mr Carey, who started his business two-and-a-half years ago, said a business coach tried to persuade him to change the name. But he added: “We’ve been around longer than some Middle East terrorist organisation.

“I like the branding and such that goes with it. I’ve worked for it and what it stands for and don’t feel anyone should give an inch over things like this.”

But Mr Waller has no regrets: “I love the fact we have this river we call the Isis and I feel sad I had to change the name of my agency. “Honestly, what’s the whining of one estate agent about not being able to call his business Isis, compared to the trauma those hostage’s families are going through?”