9 Disastrosis Rebrands, from WH Smith to X
The British audience is furious for the Rebrand of the beloved books and the stationery articles dealer WH Smithwhich has been sold for £ 76 million and it will be Renamed as Tgjones by his new owners.
The 480 High Street stores will disappear after being purchased by Modella Capital, owner of the retailer of arts and crafts HobbycraftBut the profitable satellite shops of the brand, in airports, hospitals and railway stations, will remain intact and are not influenced by the sale.
It is not clear whether the name Tgjones is based on a real person, but Modella said that the name was chosen to give the same feeling as the “family” of the venerable WH Smith brand.
However, the British criticized the name of Rebrand “entirely invented” as “cynical and soul” (the original name was based on the name of its founder, Henry Walton Smith, which established the company in 1792).
While WH Smith moves to a new era, we look back to eight other marketing failures:
Twitter Ax
Billionaire Elon Musk renamed Twitter In 2023 and replaced the iconic Blue Bird logo with an X.
The redesign linked to Musk’s plans to build a “all” platform – such as ChinaWeChat or Paytm in India – While encouraged users to reinvent the “whole concept” of the previously known app as Twitter.
THE Tesla The founder tweeted a photo of the new cast of logo on the Twitter headquarters of the headquarters in San Francisco, since the workers have been seen demolished the logo of birds that defined the platform since it was launched in 2006. Musk also reinded the website X.com to Twitter.com and announced that Twitter will soon be available only in dark mode.
But it was not a completely fluid launch, since it was later revealed that Twitter had not been able to guarantee the requested permits to change the signs of the building. Marchi experts also warned that Musk could face legal action for its use of X, since the Rivals Meta and Microsoft are both intellectual property rights (IP) for the letter.
According to reports, the site was blocked in Indonesia after Musk revealed the X logo because of the country’s laws on online pornography and gambling. The user’s reactions have also been mixed.
“The X logo looks like for one of those ridiculous fragile subscription services of the masculinity that would send you like an ax, a bottle of spicy sauce, a small lot of lots and a little shaving oil every month in 2019”, a tweet – or is an X reading.
Royal Delivery email
In 2001 the Royal Mail was renamed as a consign, but did not last long.
“The new name describes the entire area of what the post office makes in such a way that the words” post “and” office “cannot be able, the then chief of Royal Mail John Roberts has revealed the results of a £ 2 million rebrand, adding that the” modern, significant and completely appropriate name “was suitable for the company’s aspirations to become an international postal operator.
The audience did not agree and only 16 months after the deliveries was renamed Royal Mail Plc, reversing what is considered one of the most disastrous company rebranding efforts in recent history.
The strategist who led the handwriting rebrand subsequently defended in an interview with the BBC, explaining why the name was chosen.
Keith Wells, who was the director of Dragon Brands, said: “He obtained the command. He has a link with the signs, so there is this type of royalty-ish in the back of his mind. And there is this adorable definition of the shipping dictionary that is” entrusting the cure of “. This goes back to support trust, which is very important.”
Coke a new coke
“New Coke” remains the point of reference for the launches of bad products, almost 40 years after the Coca-Cola company has decidedly decided to change its secret recipe to obtain a competitive advantage compared to the then pepsi co then during the Cola Wars of the eighties.
The decision has failed, since the drocomes of fans of fans have been devastated by the new taste of the drink, even by launching basic campaigns in the United States to bring the old Coca Cola back.
“It was the people against society – only in America,” said the journalist of the CBS News Bob Simon in 1985. “Coke said he was busy, as well as people. In California they collected signatures, in Seattle they created a hotline.”
Happy with the error of their rival, Pepsi published an advertisement with a girl who asked: “Someone out there told me why the coca -lacle did it? Why did the coca -la -la change?”
The Coca-Cola eventually bent under the pressure and announced that he would report the original taste of Coca-Cola, with the then president of the company that says: “The simple fact is that all the time and money and skills paid in the search for consumers on a new Coca-Cola could not measure or reveal the depth and constant of the emotional attachment to the original felt of the Coca-Cola by so many people.”
Facebook in Meta
Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook became a destination in October 2021 to report its future as a “metaverse society”. A metvers is defined as “a digital reality that combines aspects of social media, online games, Augmented reality (AR)Virtual reality (VR) and cryptocurrencies to allow users to interact virtually. “
While the technological billionaire insisted on the fact that the rebrand had nothing to do with the crisis of public relations during what is now remembered as the worst year of the absolute destination.
From the statements, the revolts of the US Capitol were organized on the social media platform to the accusations of Frances Haugen transformed in employees, Facebook’s reputation took a strong beating in 2021.
And the new name has not helped.
According to a report by the Harris survey, public trust in Zuckerberg’s company decreased significantly after the announcement that would have been known as a destination. Prim experts also said Insider Meta should do a “fundamental work” to regain this trust.
PWC on Monday
One of the four large accounting companies, PricewaterhouseCoopers has changed the name of his consultancy arm on Monday in what is widely considered a big branding error.
“Monday is a new identity on which to build the future of our company, and will have meaning and will defend something,” said the then CEO Greg Brenneman of the company, announcing the new name which, apparently, evokes images of “Fresh Thinking, Donuts, Hot Coffee”.
However, the brand was a flop as it could not capture the essence of the work of PWC and caused a widespread confusion – and the derision – by members of the public and the press.
“The day of the week previously known how Monday would like to announce his change of name to get away from PWC consultancy. Subsequently he will be known as Tuesday Eva,” a person joked.
Reporting on the new name of PWC, CNN money He said a spokesperson for Wolff OlinsThe agency that led the 110 million dollar brand, “it was not possible to immediately reach the day, that is”. The rebrand was finally overturned.
The new Hershey logo
The well -known chocolate company in 2014 presented a logo that resembled a “Succhio di S ***” while the abandoned design continues to entertain TikTok users nine years later.
When Hershey began to try to create a fresh and modern interpretation of his beloved kissed icon, he replaced a photograph of their Silver Hershey kiss with an animated version, brown and a gray curlicue to represent his packaging.
“The new brand will have an impact on all visual aspects of how the Hershey company presents itself,” said the company in a declaration at the moment“From consumer communications to websites to the interior design of its office spaces and to the appearance of its retail stores”.
The amused customers quickly pointed out that the logo had ended up looking like a Cacca Emoji, an unpleasant association to be done with a chocolate brand.
Sunny delight in Sunnyd
The soft orange drink launched in the United Kingdom in 1998 was once considered a threat to pepsi and coke. However, a poorly studded advertising in the middle of regulatory control brought gray storms for sunny delight, since the sales of drinks fell from a maximum record of £ 160 million to measures £ 6.8 million by 2010.
The food commission launched a campaign against Sunny Delight, claiming that it was bad for children later It has been reported that a baby in Wales has become yellow from drinking 1.5 liters of drink.
“This is an excessive consumption and consumption on that staircase would lead to a yellowing of the skin due to beta carotene, in the same way to drink too much carrot juice or orange juice,” said a company spokesman at that moment.
The conditions of the girl, caused by beta -carotene who gives the drink her color, emerged at the same time when Sunny Delight was leading an advertising campaign with a pair of snowmen that turned orange. As a result, Sunny Delight’s popularity, according to reports, consumers lost their appetite for the bright and sweet yellow drink.
The Cardiff City football kit
In 2012, the then owner of the club gave the kit a badly conceived remake.
He decided to put the team, nicknamed the Bluebirds, in a red kit and changed the logo from a blue bird in a red welling dragon.
“The change of color is a radical and some would say a revolutionary move that will be welcomed with discomfort and apprehension by a number of supporters, as well as being seen as controversial by many,” said the former manager Alan Whiteley. “For those who would like to say that this was not a decision that was made lightly or without much thought and debate.
The fans reacted and the blue kit was restored, with the approval of the owner of the Vincent Tan club.
