A Riverland high school that needs to change its name is creating a stir among social media users — but a marketing expert says it's possible to get people to accept a new brand name.
Glossop High School is required to change its name by the Office of the Surveyor-General when it combines its split campuses into a Year 7–12 school at Berri in 2022.
It will close its campus at the the smaller neighbouring town of Glossop, where it was founded almost 80 years ago.
The school has released four potential names for community consultation: Moorundie, Catherine Spence, Howard Florey or Riverland Secondary College or secondary school.
Locals are being encouraged to vote for their favourite, submit feedback or suggest their own name before the September 11 deadline.
Many think an obvious option is missing from the shortlist.
"Hmmm … it's in Berri and it's a high school … what could we possibly call it? I know! Schooly McSchoolFace!" commented one Facebook user.
Shortlist appears to come up … short
Claiming Riverland in its title has been seen as a affront to other regional high schools at Loxton, Waikerie and Renmark.
"Don't you think calling it Riverland Secondary College is a bit disrespectful to LHS, WHS and RHS?" one Facebook user commented.
The inclusion of an Indigenous name was well-intentioned, but some thought the use of a Ngarrindjeri name could be divisive as Berri was not traditional Ngarrindjeri country.
Naming it after a prominent South Australian didn't seem local enough.
A social media user asked: "If naming after a person, what about someone who made a large contribution in the area?"
Others just want the name to stay the same.
"This is unbelievable. Generations of families who went here. I'm all for change but do they have to take everything away?"
Name changes need time
Senior marketing scientist at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Ella Ward, was not surprised the community had reacted strongly to the name change decision.
"We call it status quo bias, which means people prefer things to stay the same," Ms Ward said.
"The people that go to the effort to express those opinions are people with a strong emotional valance, they either feel really positive or really negative about it."
"Typically, we would recommend avoiding change unless absolutely necessary; Glossop High School is an example of necessary change."
Tricks of successful rebranding
But Ms Ward said keeping other branding, including colours and logos, was important if a name was going to be changed — like the successful name rebranding of Safeway to Woolworths supermarkets.
"That was a success [because] the lettering stayed the same, the colouring stayed the same … and there was a lot of support to help people learn about the change," she said.
She said other examples included the current separation of Drakes and Foodland and the change from Greater Union Cinemas to Event Cinemas.
But it doesn't always work.
In July, SAFM Adelaide reclaimed its name after changing to Hit 107 in October 2014, and, in 2010, international clothing label Gap reverted to its original logo just 48 hours after attempting to rebrand.
Ms Ward said community acceptance of a name change would happen once people had time to make new memory links.
"In time, I'm sure, we will see a generation of students who didn't even know it was called Glossop High School."
