What’s in a name?
We often get asked what the name Omni means and where it comes from. The word ‘Omni’ is Latin and it means ‘all/everything/one’. At Omni Academy we deliver courses and professional qualifications in Beauty, Aesthetics, Holistics, Massage, Nails, Make up and more, all under one roof. So the name felt like a fitting way to represent that. But for those of you who don’t already know, we weren’t always known as Omni…
Our Background
The Academy was founded in 2008 by industry expert Carolyne Cross. When we originally opened our doors we were known as Isis Beauty Academy. Isis was an Egyptian Goddess who is famous for empowering women through education. This was a perfect fit for the type of training we deliver at the Academy and at that time, our students were mostly women. Nowadays our classes commonly have male and female students across the subjects we teach. A great indication of how our industry and the market continues to grow, develop and evolve with Male Grooming treatments and ambassadors now a huge part of it too.
In 2015 World News started to report the rise of extremist attacks which were often carried out by a Terrorist group who became widely known as ISIS. Sadly the name quickly became intertwined with negative connotations and recognised for reasons which started to become damaging for our Academy. We experienced prank phone calls, slanderous posts across social media and even abusive remarks directed to us on the street. Despite trying to ride the wave and hoping it would pass we realised it was time for a change.
Coming up with a New Name
Over the last 7 years our company and our brand had become established and was building a solid reputation for delivering unbeatable, high quality training and qualifications within the Beauty industry. Rebranding was something none of has had any experience in. It was big task which had to be done carefully and successfully. We were nervous!
Thankfully we had and continue to have a fantastic and dedicated team of tutors and staff who were all on the journey with us. We called a brainstorming meeting to put our heads together and come up with a suitable new name. We stripped back to our strengths as an academy, what we do and what our students get out of their time with us. Turns out that in the end, often our students walk out with much more than the qualification they came for. They develop confidence, self-belief, ambition. It’s joy to see and be part of!
The name Omni came a suggestion from one of the tutors’ husbands! After bouncing it around for a bit, we decided it was the one we would take forward. Then came the fun bit. Working on the look and design of the new logo! We knew it had to something which carried the essence of our existing logo for continuity and to maintain brand recognition but at the same time it needed to be fresh and modern. We worked with a fantastic PR agency who helped us with the transition and with letting people know about the change. This extended not only to our past, present and prospective students but to the wider community as well! We were featured in local and national newspapers, news websites, on the radio and even on the BBC News! It turned out to be great exposure.
So that’s the story behind our name. For anyone who has their own business, there’s always a story. Feel free to share yours with us. We’d love to hear it!
Omni x