Implementing feedback the right way
by Alicia Hager on 16·11·2021
When you meet someone new, one of the first questions you ask is, ‘‘What’s your name?’’. Your name is your identity, it is one of the most basic, yet important components of who you are.
Personal and working relationships can’t flourish if you are unable to determine a person’s name, and companies are no different.
One of the biggest risks when a company decides to rebrand is losing clients to confusion. Many firms will give their customers plenty of notice and a thorough explanation as to why they are rebranding, and what they will be rebranding too. However, there will always be a handful of clients that ‘slip through the net’ and state that they have failed to receive any of the rebranding correspondence.
There are many reasons why a company might rebrand. They may wish to differentiate themselves from another business, change due to a different company strategy, or they may rebrand simply because they would like to give themselves a refresh. Whatever the reason, when rebranding, it is always important that your name makes sense.
One recent rebranding example came earlier this year from Standard Life Aberdeen. They confirmed that they planned to rebrand throughout 2021, with their new name due to be etched across all client-facing businesses globally. This name was, ‘Abrdn’.
Stephen Bird, the chief executive of Standard Life spoke about the rebrand of Standard Life Aberdeen, ‘’ Our new brand Abrdn builds on our heritage and is modern, dynamic and, most importantly, engaging for all of our client and customer channels”.
Bird was of course enthusiastic at the rebrand, but the obvious omission of the letter ‘e’ within the name was made a mockery of online. Various posts over social media appeared, some regarding it as a ploy to target young people on social media platform, Tik Tok. Whilst others commented that the name likened itself to the conundrum section on Countdown. It was safe to say that the announcement of ‘Abrdn’ caused quite a stir, however one could also argue that it was a clever marketing ploy.
That said, the name caused confusion with its customers, and it fell under scrutiny by brand expert Jonathan Gabay, who said, ‘’This is ill thought-out, they are a financial company. What they do for customers is look at details, getting rid of vowels and letters makes it look like they’ve skipped over the most basic details in their name.” Laith Khalaf, an analyst from AJ Bell, argued further, ‘’The fact that Standard Life Aberdeen has actually had to explain how to pronounce the new name won’t be lost on financial advisers up and down the country, whose clients may well think they’ve punched a typo into a hastily written report’’.
Gabay and Khalaf do raise some important points; Abrdn may be looking to focus on a modern and digital world, however it’s customer’s priorities may lay elsewhere, specifically with ease of use. A company starts with a name, and the name needs to be obvious and easy. In Abrdn’s case, it’s a name which leaves you pausing in thought at the search bar, as you try to spell Aberdeen incorrectly. It’s a name that flags you on spellcheck. It’s a name that may pay dividends through clever marketing, or it may simply leave its customers confused and filled with hesitation.
Further reading
https://www.thetradenews.com/standard-life-aberdeen-rebrands-as-abrdn/
https://www.indy100.com/news/standard-life-abrdn-new-name-twitter-b1837576
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/26/standard-life-aberdeen-to-change-name-to-abrdn