Hw cn brnds sty cl? Nt by drpping vwls, one in every of Britain’s largest funding corporations concluded this week, when it introduced it was including again the “e’s” to its title 4 years after dropping them.
The 200-year-old firm is now known as aberdeen group, successfully reversing a call to rebrand as abrdn in 2021 in a bid to pitch itself as a “trendy, agile, digitally-enabled model.”
The choice 4 years in the past was extensively ridiculed. Jason Windsor, who took over as chief government final yr, mentioned on Tuesday that it was time to “take away distractions” — lower than two months after saying he had no plans to alter the title.
Company rebrands will be crucial to signifying a technique shift however in addition they include dangers when corporations veer too removed from their goal. Aberdeen’s vowel-dropping rebrand was simply the most recent instance of an organization reversing course after a brand new title didn’t raise its efficiency or its repute with prospects.
The Perils of Chasing Developments
Eradicating vowels from model names or utilizing a reputation with a intentionally misspelled phrase was not unusual within the 2000s, particularly amongst fashionable expertise corporations. Companies together with Grindr, Flickr, Tumblr and even twttr, as Twitter (now X) was initially known as, embraced the aesthetic. However in the present day, that type can look old-fashioned and embarrassing, mentioned Laura Bailey, a senior lecturer in linguistics on the College of Kent.
Typically, when corporations attempt to seem fashionable, “by the point they get to it, it’s been round for too lengthy,” Dr. Bailey mentioned. “It’s like your dad and mom doing it — it doesn’t appear proper.”
In terms of monetary corporations, she added, one other side to contemplate is: Do these companies wish to be cool, or ought to they go for a reputation that tasks safety and accountability?
A Historical past of Rebranding Misses (and Some Hits)
Through the years, there have been a number of failed rebranding efforts. In 2009, PepsiCo U-turned lower than two months after Tropicana, its juice model on the time, launched new packaging that featured a glass of orange juice as an alternative of its well-known orange with a straw poking out of it. Indignant prospects described the brand new look as “ugly” and resembling “a generic discount model.”
A yr later, Hole took even much less time to reverse course after unveiling a extensively panned new brand for its shops that dropped the well-known white lettering on a blue background that the model had used for many years. The retailer took a few week to return to its authentic rendering. “OK,” the corporate mentioned in an announcement. “We’ve heard loud and clear that you just don’t like the brand new brand.”
Britain’s Publish Workplace in 2001 was extensively mocked when it renamed itself Consignia. The chairman, Neville Bain, mentioned on the time that the brand new title would mirror that the workplace delivered far more than mail. Consignia lasted for a few yr earlier than the Publish Workplace title was restored.
Some company rebrands have been efficient. In 2012, Kraft Meals selected Mondelez Worldwide as the brand new title for its snacking enterprise — which incorporates manufacturers akin to Oreos and Philadelphia cream cheese — from almost 2,000 names urged by workers. “Mondelez” was an invented phrase that mixed “monde,” the French phrase for “world,” and “delez,” a made-up phrase supposed to recommend “scrumptious.” So, “scrumptious world.”
In 2001, Andersen Consulting turned Accenture after splitting from Arthur Andersen, the accounting agency. The brand new title was chosen from 5,500 choices, which have been whittled all the way down to 500 after which 10 earlier than the agency finally went with Accenture “as a result of it implies accent on the longer term,” The New York Occasions reported on the time. Regardless of some skepticism, the model has endured and the corporate has grown right into a consulting behemoth with a inventory market capitalization of about $215 billion.
Are Lowercase Letters a Good Factor?
Aberdeen has not utterly gone again to its authentic title, selecting to maintain its brand all lowercase. That places it in keeping with a development of youngsters not utilizing capital letters when texting, Dr. Bailey famous.
“It appears extra pleasant, or nicer,” she mentioned, including that corporations typically attempt to change their names to be extra casual to venture a private picture, slightly than that of a giant company. Nonetheless, they danger setting themselves up for an additional state of affairs by which their title will look old-fashioned in a yr, she added.
