Hw cn brnds sty cl? Nt by drpping vwls, one in every of Britain’s largest funding companies concluded this week, when it introduced it was including again the “e’s” to its identify 4 years after dropping them.
The 200-year-old firm is now known as aberdeen group, successfully reversing a choice 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 broadly ridiculed. Jason Windsor, who took over as chief govt final 12 months, mentioned on Tuesday that it was time to “take away distractions” — lower than two months after saying he had no plans to vary the identify.
Company rebrands will be important to signifying a technique shift however in addition they include dangers when corporations veer too removed from their objective. Aberdeen’s vowel-dropping rebrand was simply the newest instance of an organization reversing course after a brand new identify did not elevate its efficiency or its repute with prospects.
The Perils of Chasing Tendencies
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 However immediately, that model can look outdated and embarrassing, mentioned Laura Bailey, a senior lecturer in linguistics on the College of Kent.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 mother and father doing it — it doesn’t appear proper.”
With regards to monetary corporations, she added, one other facet to think about is: Do these companies need 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)
Over time, 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 a substitute of its well-known orange with a straw poking out of it. Offended prospects described the brand new look as “ugly” and resembling “a generic cut price model.”
A 12 months later, Hole took even much less time to reverse course after unveiling a broadly panned new emblem 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 emblem.”
Britain’s Put up Workplace in 2001 was broadly mocked when it renamed itself Consignia. The chairman, Neville Bain, mentioned on the time that the brand new identify would mirror that the workplace delivered far more than mail. Consignia lasted for a few 12 months earlier than the Put up Workplace identify was restored.
Some company rebrands have been efficient. In 2012, Kraft Meals selected Mondelez Worldwide as the brand new identify for its snacking enterprise — which incorporates manufacturers equivalent to Oreos and Philadelphia cream cheese — from practically 2,000 names prompt by staff. “Mondelez” was an invented phrase that mixed “monde,” the French phrase for “world,” and “delez,” a made-up phrase meant to recommend “scrumptious.” So, “scrumptious world.”
In 2001, Andersen Consulting grew to become Accenture after splitting from Arthur Andersen, the accounting agency. The brand new identify was chosen from 5,500 choices, which have been whittled all the way down to 500 after which 10 earlier than the agency ultimately went with Accenture “as a result of it implies accent on the longer term,” The New York Instances 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 fully gone again to its authentic identify, selecting to maintain its emblem all lowercase. That places it according to a development of youngsters not utilizing capital letters when texting, Dr. Bailey famous.
“It appears extra pleasant, or nicer,” she mentioned, including that corporations generally attempt to change their names to be extra casual to challenge a private picture, quite than that of a giant company. Nonetheless, they threat setting themselves up for an additional situation through which their identify will look outdated in a 12 months, she added.
