It's a marketing blunder only a billion dollar company could make. Pitney Bowes (PBI) announced that they were merging the vestiges of MapInfo and Group 1 into a single division called Pitney Bowes Software. Let me try to articulate this travesty of marketing without offending Reis and Trout:

1. MapInfo had one of the more recognizable brand names in the geospatial business and was proud, as Mark Cattini, the former CEO, told me once was "the only 'pure' mapping company" in the geospatial arena. So now, Pitney Bowes comes along and slaps vanilla icing on top of the company name and the market awareness it had built employing the "location intelligence" tag line in which MapInfo invested so heavily, taking with it a unique position in the minds of many prospects.

2. Group 1 Software, though not having a particularly well-defined corporate identity, made lots of noise positioning themselves as both a "business intelligence" and "business geographics" solution provider. Its solid business model of providing address validation and geocoding software made it one of the standards in the geodemographic industry. It stands to lose that position with the prospects by now having to remind both new and old customers what they offer.

3. "Merging the businesses is both a natural evolution and an exciting step forward for Pitney Bowes," said Leslie Abi-Karam, executive vice president and president, Document Messaging Technologies." Merging, yes; destroying their identity, NO. It's made it nearly impossible to distinguish the unique selling proposition of the combined entity that, while as separate companies, positioned themselves in an emerging industry that has enormous upside potential. By sanitizing the new division name they've relinquished any possibility of brand significance.

4. In my mind, a marketing icon has crumbled. For anyone who cares to remember, back when MapInfo was recognizable by the 1-column inch ads with a yellow background run in PC Magazine in the early 90's touting this new "PC mapping software" they were shouting in directions the GIS industry couldn't touch. Advertising in a consumer magazine? It was just unheard of at the time especially when GIS software was selling for tens of thousands of dollars, MapInfo 1.0 was selling for $795 occupying both the low-price competitor position and using an operating system that was scoffed at by its UNIX brethren.

I'm sure there were other extenuating reasons for the name chosen by PBI. However, the name recognition they are surrendering under the guise of corporate unity seems pointless. Sure, they want to combine other marketing software solutions the company now has in addition to MapInfo and Group 1. But, here is a wonderful opportunity to capitalize on the fact that each entity within Pitney Bowes contributes powerfully to an overall marketing solution suite in geocoding, visualization, channel marketing, CRM...and location intelligence. I think I'm more dissappointed that we are losing solid voices for the "location intelligence" movement. Vox clamantis.

Reis and Trout said it best in The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing when they stated, "All that exists in the world of marketing are perceptions in the minds of the customer or prospect." What kind of perception is PBI creating with this new name?