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WorldCom by any other name may still be bankrupt, but the company that's become synonymous with questionable accounting wants to dump its tarnished brand and will likely adopt the name of its MCI residential long-distance unit, sources said on Friday.

Faced with the daunting prospect of rejuvenating the WorldCom brand or the costly option of coining a new name, sources familiar with the situation said the easiest option is expanding the well-known MCI brand, which has been drilled into consumers' minds by commercials featuring the likes of Michael Jordan.

"If I were them I'd definitely drop the WorldCom name -- it's associated with world-conquest gone wrong ... blubbering (former Chief Executive) Bernie Ebbers and shady practices," said Mark DiMassimo, head of DiMassimo Brand Advertising.

WorldCom said no decision has been made on its name.

"It's certainly something we're considering, and it's a process that we're taking very seriously. There is going to be a lot of research and thought put into it. But at this point no decisions have been made," said WorldCom spokesman Brad Burns.

News source: Reuters - WorldCom Mulls Name Change to Leave Scandal in Past

But analysts said a simple renaming is unlikely to erase memories of the Clinton, Mississippi company's $9 billion accounting scandal or TV images of its former financial chief Scott Sullivan being led up courthouse steps for his indictment on seven counts of accounting fraud. He pleaded not guilty.

"There's a natural tendency to think it couldn't get worse, and that the damage to the WorldCom brand is over," DiMassimo said. "But whatever they do, that new name is going to have to sail through some pretty turbulent waters."

MORE THAN A NAME

"The name 'WorldCom' has no credibility or viability in the financial market. But the brand name is just a piece of an overall marketing puzzle. They have to retool the company, it's image and advertising and brand," said Yankee Group analyst Berge Ayvazian.

As early as next week, WorldCom's new chairman Michael Capellas is expected to outline for employees his priorities to help the company emerge from bankruptcy. Capellas will sketch a broad strategic framework that will be followed over the next several months with more specific details on job cuts and asset sales, sources said.

Telecommunications industry analyst Jeffrey Kagan said he expects WorldCom to start the restructuring and put to rest the financial problems before formally changing the name "so they don't risk tarnishing the MCI name."

There is some precedent to changing a name to wipe away bad memories: discount airline ValueJet changed its name to AirTran after its 1996 plane crash in Florida killed 110 people.

IS NAME TOO DATED FOR A DATA COMPANY?

The MCI name -- which in the 1960s stood for Microwave Communications Inc. and referred to the spectrum towers that lined highways to serve truckers' radios -- may not mesh with the company's new strategy of catering to the data and Internet needs of large corporations.

In the '80s and '90s, MCI became known as the plucky competitor to behemoth AT&T Corp. that offered cheaper long-distance service. But that discount image may not evoke the image of quality the company wants, analysts said.

"There is a lot of equity in the MCI name, but the question is whether the imagery attached is appropriate for the company as a whole," said John Lister, chairman of the brand consulting group Lister Butler.

"They would have to spend money convincing people that MCI stands for more than cut-rate long distance -- that might be more expensive in the long run than trying to establish a new name," Butler said.

Because of trademark issues, it is exceptionally difficult to create a new name from existing English words, which leads companies to create evocative neologisms like Verizon, Altria, and Diageo.

"A coined name which has no meaning is ironically one of the easiest things to get registered," Lister said.

However, such blank-slate renamings are prohibitively expensive because companies must not only pay millions to a branding consultant, but must also mount large marketing campaigns to educate consumers.

If market research finds that the MCI brand was too tainted by WorldCom's accounting scandal, the company may resurrect one of the lesser known brand names it acquired through its merger frenzy of the 1990s.

One of the company's strongest businesses is its UUNet Internet unit and that brand name will likely remain in place regardless of any changes in the parent company's name, sources said. It is unlikely that the UUNet name would be expanded for the entire company since that brand lacks recognition outside the corporate data market, sources said.

The irony for WorldCom is that reputation problems aside, the company already has a nearly perfect name.

"What's a shame is that 'WorldCom' really was the perfect name. That's what the company is -- global communications. It's hard to find something that says it better," said one source.