Companies are people too, according to the US Supreme Court . And like people, they don’t deserve to become figures of fun, according to the asset manager formerly known as Aberdeen Standard Life.
From Financial News , with FTAV’s emphasis below:
Abrdn is facing “corporate bullying” by the media following its rebrand, according to Peter Branner, the asset manager’s chief investment officer.
The £495bn fund group announced an overhaul of its brand in April 2021 , which saw it change its name from Standard Life Aberdeen to Abrdn.
Chief executive Stephen Bird said at the time that the new corporate badge would “create unity across the business”. It replaced five different brands that had previously operated independently.
The change to Abrdn has been widely derided. An online poll in 2021 labelled it an act of “corporate insanity” , while others continue to cite the rebrand when discussing Abrdn’s investment performance. Bird defended the rebrand at the time, claiming clients had “fully embraced it”.
Now Branner has joined him. “I understand that corporate bullying to some extent is part of the game with the press, even though it’s a little childish to keep hammering the missing vowels in our name,” he said.
“Would you do that with an individual? How would you look at a person who makes fun of your name day in day out? It’s probably not ethical to do it. But apparently with companies it is different.”
Branner misses the point that silly names are rarely self-inflicted. Dong Energy was teased into becoming Orsted , much as schoolyard taunts drove Ralph Lifshitz to change his surname to Lauren. This is bullying, whereas Abrdn invited derision with a rebrand in the risible tradition of Consignia, Monday and X. Its needless discarding of some vowels contributed to the loss of up to £3bn in market cap. That’s the joke.
All this could have been avoided if Abrdn had just embraced its unofficial merged nickname and formally renamed itself Staberdeen. No one dunks on someone called Staberdeen.
Update: solid work by City AM :
Further reading: — “ Ditch standard life and drop three E’s, indeed a most commendable notion ” (FT)