Latest news with #PeterBranner
Telegraph
05-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Customers don't want pointless rebrands, they want decent service
The 'crprt ctstrph', or for those of us who still cling to the old-fashioned notion of keeping the vowels in sentences, the 'corporate catastrophe', is finally over. The asset management giant Aberdeen has decided to restore its 200-year-old name after it rebranded itself as Abrdn in one of the most widely mocked image overhauls of all time. It is a welcome return of traditional values. But it is something else as well – a return to common sense and a defeat for a self-indulgent managerial class that ignored customer service, and returns for investors, in favour of a faddish modernity that did nothing for anyone. If it was meant to modernise the business it was not a great success. Four years ago, Aberdeen, heir to a long tradition of high-quality Scottish financial services, rebranded itself as 'Abdrn'. Even amid some stiff competition for the silliest corporate rebrand of all time, this one was right up there with the very worst of all time. Stripping out the vowels from its name simply left an unpronounceable word soup that meant nothing to anyone. It was so widely mocked that the firm's chief investment officer, Peter Branner, was last year reduced to whinging about 'corporate bullying ' (or presumably 'crprt bllng'), as if the firm was being victimised for a disability instead of rightly criticised for a stupid decision. This week, it has finally decided to restore the vowels to their right and proper place. Its new CEO John Windsor, who took over the top job back in December, conceded that the rebrand had been a 'distraction ', which is putting it mildly, and that the company would go back to its old name, spelt correctly. It is hard to see how it had much choice about that. If the removal of the vowels was meant to turn it into a slick, high-powered money machine, it hadn't worked. The share price has fallen by 33 per cent over the last five years, while rivals such as M&G were up by 12 per cent. Savers were not rushing to put their money into a dynamic, forward looking asset manager. Instead, they started to suspect the company was run by people who were slightly weird, and a bit dim, and those are hardly the qualities you are looking for in someone who is looking after your pension or ISA. It would be very easy to mock. Indeed, it should probably be compulsory. Making fun of corporations is one of the best ways of keeping them under control, and stopping them from becoming too arrogant. And yet, the return of Aberdeen's proper name is emblematic of something bigger and more important than just the restoration of the correct spelling, as important as that is. In reality, the rebrand was the peak of a period of corporate self-indulgence. It was sadly typical of a managerial class that trashed the history for their own organisations, and was more interested in appearances than actual results. It came from the same mindset that gave us endless governance codes, that devoted huge amounts of time to ' unconscious bias' training sessions, that made diverse pronouns compulsory on email and name-badges, that debanked any one whose views it did not approve of, that took a fashionable stance on every passing cause, and that flaunted their woke progressivism at every opportunity they could. Of course, customers never cared about any of that stuff, and nor did shareholders. They just wanted businesses to deliver a decent product at a fair price. Who knows, perhaps bringing the vowels back could be the start of bringing back plenty of other common sense ideas, like working from the office most days of the week, hiring people on merit and prioritising profits over social activism. If so, many companies might find their performance has started to improve. One point is certain. Now that it has been consigned to history, the Abrdn name won't be mssd.
The Independent
04-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Arbdn re-rebrands as aberdeen after four years of jokes and ‘corporate bullying'
Fund managers Abrdn are now to be known again as Aberdeen, four years after a vowel-less rebranding from Standard Life Aberdeen. The initial change in 2021 saw the group try to engage itself in a new digital age to 'symbolise the free-flowing movement of money,' as it was put, but the name-change was largely only notable for the mockery aimed at it. Peter Branner, chief investment officer, last year claimed that the criticism the company received amounted to 'corporate bullying' and suggested it wasn't 'ethical' to joke about - leading to further comments from Financial News that the business should 'gt ovr it'. With former CEO Stephen Bird now having departed and Jason Windsor in place since October 2023, aberdeen (now with a small 'a') are rebranding once more to 'remove distractions' and mark a new phase for the organisation. Along with the name-related issues the company suffered, of more importance was the outflow of funds they were managing: £1.1bn removed by customers in 2024, an ongoing trend. But crucially, that rate is slowing, and the group reported profits of £255m last year, after attracting around 35,000 new customers to the interactive investor platform it owns. The positive news from their trading update saw shares increase by upwards of 12 per cent in early trading on Tuesday, before falling back slightly to over 10.5 per cent by noon GMT. Mr Windsor will hope that is the signal for a turnaround in the share price of the FTSE 250 company, which has been on a slow decline 2021 and is 37 per cent down over the last five years. However, it is up 26 per cent in 2025, including Tuesday morning's surge. Assets under management and administration grew by 3.3 per cent to £511.4bn as of December 31, with aberdeen declaring an unchanged full-year dividend. Aberdeen also recently announced they were hiring Siobhan Boylan as CFO and executive director, due to arrive in the summer from Nat West's private bank, Coutts. On changing name - the fourth in eight years, following the original merger between Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management - Mr Windsor said: 'This is a pragmatic decision marking a new phase for the organisation, as we focus on delivering for our customers, people and shareholders.'
Telegraph
04-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Abrdn to bring back vowels after disastrous rebrand
Mr Windsor said: 'Talking about the name was a distraction. The name is there to enhance the reputation and how the group is perceived by customers and shareholders, and make it easier for us to get out and be proud about what we are and why we do it. 'We made a very small change in one respect and a big change in another. 'Now is the right time for us to do that so we can get out with confidence and talk about our business. I've asked our marketing team now to go out and make the most of it.' The company will change its trademark and registration at Companies House immediately to reflect the shift. While many rebrands cost millions of pounds, Mr Windsor said the business 'had not spent any more at all on it' and the redesign had been done internally by marketing managers at the company. It marks a change of tone by senior management at the FTSE 250 fund, who previously accused critics of unfairly attacking its name. Peter Branner, the company's chief investment officer, said last year the backlash had amounted to 'corporate bullying' and accused the media of being 'childish' for ridiculing the name. The company was rebranded as abrdn in 2021 from Standard Life Aberdeen, which was created out of a 2017 mega merger between Aberdeen Asset Management and insurer Standard Life. It means the change to Aberdeen Group will be the third renaming in five years. Mr Windsor downplayed the significance of the multiple brand names, saying that the name had remained the same when spoken. He said: 'I joined the group that I've always pronounced Aberdeen. Everybody else calls [it] Aberdeen and we're not changing it. 'The name in my mind as a verbal expression is not changing. This is a good name for the company. We are just trying to change the way we spell it out so it's not a distraction. 'The brand has real relevance across various markets. It's been around for 40 years. It actually transmits really well. When you turn up in Singapore, Beijing and New York, actually it works.' Adjusted profits grew for the first time in three times, rising 2pc to £255m, despite a 6pc fall in revenue of £1.3bn. Profits were boosted mainly by a reduction in costs, with Aberdeen slashing £100m last year. Around £35m from its defined benefit pension will also be used to fund its defined contribution scheme – delivering a £35m boost to Aberdeen's capital because it can take the money from the pension scheme instead.
