{"id":3503,"date":"2018-10-05T15:36:14","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T20:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.atom.com\/blog\/?p=3503"},"modified":"2025-08-05T12:19:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T17:19:31","slug":"ram-dass-name-resonate-audience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atom.com\/blog\/ram-dass-name-resonate-audience\/","title":{"rendered":"Brand Names Matter &#8211; Ram Dass vs Richard Alpert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 1967, renowned and controversial ex-Harvard professor Richard Alpert left America. After running experiences and studies involving psychedelic drugs, Alpert set out to India. When he returned, he returned as Ram Dass<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This move, while influenced by spiritual practice, was essentially rebranding. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Richard Alpert was born to an upper-class Jewish family in Massachusetts. He was well-educated, obtaining three degrees and eventually teaching at Harvard. Eventually, however, his life shifted, and he became a spiritual guru adored by millions. The second name, Ram Dass, fits his niche, as Hinduism has greatly influenced his teachings and appeals to a spiritual community. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ram Dass means \u201cservant of God.\u201d It is powerful name that aligns with Ram Dass\u2019s values as well as the values of the people who follow his teachings. In fact, when at one point Ram Dass considered reverting to his birth name <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesunmagazine.org\/issues\/384\/who-hears-this-sound\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Richard Alpert<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, his publisher would not let him because he had already built a solid brand and following around the name Ram Dass. He has been using this name for most of his life, now. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This case study illustrates the importance of having a relevant name. A strong name not only appeals to the business or person who uses it, it speaks to the audience\u2019s values. This is why <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atom.com\/blog\/audience-testing-is-key-to-unbiased-customer-validation\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">audience testing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a vital stage of name validation. As much as you like a name, you will have trouble engaging with an audience if your name does not resonate with their values. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take the time to consider what you aim to accomplish and who you are trying to engage with as you <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atom.com\/blog\/develop-perfect-business-name\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">develop<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> your business name. Though Ram Dass did not choose to be born with the name Richard Alpert, taking on a new name was still a rebranding decision in some sense which, at least in him publisher\u2019s eyes, was an important element in building his very successful international personal brand. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Try to avoid clumsy renaming and rebranding processes when it comes to your business by aligning with your values and the values of your target audience. In this way, you will be like Richard Alpert and find a new name that will help you switch your customers\u2019 perception, and a name that will help you succeed.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1967, renowned and controversial ex-Harvard professor Richard Alpert left America. After running experiences and studies involving psychedelic drugs, Alpert set out to India. When he returned, he returned as Ram Dass This move, while influenced by spiritual practice, was essentially rebranding. Richard Alpert was born to an upper-class Jewish family in Massachusetts. He was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":3504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[835],"tags":[655,654,656,657],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Brand Names Matter - Ram Dass vs Richard Alpert - Atom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Richard Alpert changed his name to Ram Dass, which means \u201cservant of God.\u201d It is powerful name that aligns with Ram Dass\u2019s values as well as the values of the people who follow his teachings. A strong name not only appeals to the business or person who uses it, it speaks to the audience\u2019s values.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atom.com\/blog\/ram-dass-name-resonate-audience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brand Names Matter - Ram Dass vs Richard Alpert - Atom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Richard Alpert changed his name to Ram Dass, which means \u201cservant of God.\u201d It is powerful name that aligns with Ram Dass\u2019s values as well as the values of the people who follow his teachings. 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