Impiric, M2 Universal, B Com3. What do these names have in common? If you guessed they were three hot new Internet startups - go to the back of the line.

Despite their webby feel, they are, in fact, the names of boring, old-economy communications-services firms that still do most of their business in the ho-hum world of traditional, analogue media.

Until late last month, Impiric was Wunderman Cato Johnson, the direct-marketing arm of New York-based Young & Rubicam Inc. On March 1, M2 Universal became the new corporate handle of Initiative Media, the media-planning and buying arm of Toronto's MacLaren McCann Canada. And on March 14, B Com3 was unveiled as the appellation for the newly formed holding company that encompasses Chicago-based Leo Group and New York's MacManus Group. Japan's Dentsu is a 20% stakeholder in the combined entity.

Such moniker makeovers are in no way confined to the communications field. Take Vancouver's Vengold Inc. In mid-Feb, the mining company turned Internet incubator renamed itself Itemus Inc. About the same time, Toronto's Onyx Computers Inc., a hardware reseller moving into the e-solutions business, changed its name to Onx Inc. and adopted a jazzy new logo featuring a stylized 'X'.

What gives? Why are companies racing so frenetically to rebrand themselves with names that suggest Internet savvy? It's simple really. The new economy is where it's at, and the new economy views old-economy names to be a lot like striped ties. If you're wearing one -- if you're wearing any tie at all, for that matter -- you don't get it.

Flat out, say corporate naming specialists, if you want Net denizens and Web entrepreneurs to perceive your company as being part of the e-revolution, pay close attention to your corporate I.D.

"It's crazy, really, but the medium is so young and every brand on the Web is so new, you actually can get rewarded for changing your name," said Will Novosedlik, a partner at Toronto- and Boston-based corporate identity and Web development firm, Russell Inc.

Even Russell, which began life a decade ago as a package-design company but has shifted its focus to the Internet, is considering a name change.

"These issues are on the table for us, too," said Mr. Novosedlik. "There's no question."

But doesn't the concept of abruptly killing off what just a few months ago was a perfectly good corporate identity conflict with just about every known rule of brand-building? Look at the example of Wunderman Cato Johnson. Lester Wunderman, 79, one of the inventors of traditional direct marketing, founded the agency in 1958. He's a giant of the business, and over the years his name has been an incalculable benefit in attracting clients and winning accounts.

Taking his name off the door would have seemed foolhardy until recently. But Impiric's new management is intent on driving the agency deep into the world of Internet marketing and sophisticated customer-relationship management.

Internet wiz kids don't care about traditional direct marketing, and old-economy business people want to work with wiz kids, or at least with companies that appear to be with it. Bye bye Wunderman.

With so many new and old companies rushing to create up-to-date identities, there are bound to be problems.

"Naming is not a creative exercise these days," says Naseem Javed, head of Toronto's ABC Namebank International. "It's become a highly tactical manoeuvre." Companies have to ensure they don't become lost in a sea of other names.