Why we chose Macawly in the first place…
It took me ages to find the right name for my company. At the time, I wasn’t exactly sure what the company would do in the future. I decided to call it something neutral without limiting our future potential. Focusing on the core values of the business as opposed to its service to clients seemed like the only choice I had. Eventually, I came across a bird called the Macaw. Its characteristics nicely fit with what I wanted my company to stand for. Macaws’ core values perfectly reflected my company culture:
- Uniqueness – each macaw has unique feather features
- Collaboration – all Macaws work in flocks
- Passion – all Macaws mate for life
Challenges with Macawly
Unfortunately, my brilliant analogy was not as clear as I thought it was. In fact, nobody has ever said: ‘Macawly? I love how your name relates to all core values of macaws!’. And of course, no one realised that Macawly comes from a Macaw. The closest answer I got was that Macawly sounds like ‘my colleague.’ It kind of does, but this is not what I meant!
Also, there were a couple of other problems with the name…
- People thought (and probably still think) that my surname is Macawly (it isn’t)
- Nobody can spell it
- Macaulay Culkin
As a result, even though I like the story behind the brand, the name never gave it away. Someone really clever once told me: your brand is like a joke, if you need to explain it – it’s not a good one…
Flocking in the right direction
Our brand name had to change… it seemed like the story behind the brand is correct but its representation is poor. We needed something simple and easy to remember. This is how the idea of FLOCK was born. From now on we will encourage everyone to flock alongside us and aim to make the phrase ‘flocking’ a representation of ‘googling’ in the HR industry; things Macawly was never capable of. It is a different name but gives away the same story more effectively than before. We do have competitive bird websites and even one HR solution called flock but… FLOCK it! We aim to be the highest-flying flock there is.
Our new core values
Importantly, the core values behind the brand remain the same. Now, our brand (hopefully) makes them easier to understand!
Birds live in large flocks. Thanks to teamwork they are able to thrive in the jungle. Every organisational culture is the result of human interaction and collaboration. Like birds, only companies able to create an effective and robust culture can survive in the market (or the jungle). At Flock we collaborate externally with organisations and individuals to help companies to create the prosperous cultures that motivate all employees.
Every flock is unique. The feather pattern of some birds is as unique as a human fingerprint. At Flock we know what each company and each individual is unique and we strive to help people to leverage their uniqueness for their own benefit. This is why we operate in a truly unique and innovative way to tailor our solution to our clients’ needs.
The majority of birds commit to one partner throughout their entire lifetime. At Flock, we aim to spark the same passion between employers and employees. Life-long commitment driven by aligned passion and motivation is our goal that we envision to create for the society. At Flock, we are all passionate about this vision.