With brand names playing a vital role in promoting products, the newly formed outfit of ex-Trikaya Grey's Alok Nanda, is the order of the day. And the Britannia account is just one of the few.

Says Alok Nanda, managing director of Alok Nanda Company: ``Advertising campaigns may come and go. But you cannot change the name of a brand. So, it is far more important to invest on a name alone.'' Thus, recognising the importance of innovative brand names, Nanda has recently floated a new outfit called-Cognito-a first of its kind naming company which exclusively focuses on generating names for products, corporates and dot.com companies.Innovation seems to be the name of the game in the Indian market place. For its client Raheja Hathway Group, Cognito has recently completed a namingproject. ``We have developed a name-Globus-for Raheja's retail chain stores across the country. Incidentally, we are the first naming company across the Asia Pacific region barring Japan,'' claims Nanda.

According to Nanda, Cognito is a joint venture between Alok Nanda & Company and ORMAX, a well-known market research company headed by Vispy Doctor. Cognito has also bagged the naming projects of two dot.com companies recently, informs Nanda. ``To attract the Netizens, you certainly need innovative domain names. And it's far more challenging to develop domain names,'' adds Nanda.

It was in September 1999 that Alok Nanda, the former hotshot creative director of Trikaya Grey launched -- Alok Nanda Company -- a creative brand consultancy. ``Our objective is to offer creatives and brand strategies to our clients. Our focus is on three vital areas, namely Internet marketing, retailing strategy and corporate communications,'' explains Nanda.

In the Indian dot.com industry, Alok Nanda Company has recentlybagged a host of advertising accounts which include, Lexite.com, 73 coffees.com, Vindia.com and automartindia. ``Ever since its inception, we have been handling the ad account of Sharekhan.com. For our dot.com clients, we offer Web strategy, Web designing, Web navigation and Web advertising,'' informs Nanda.

The company has also developed retailing strategies for its clients such as Bombay Stores and Crossword. As for its offline advertising, the company is in the process of rolling out a new print campaign for its client V Channel. The new print campaign includes five creatives, informs Nanda.