You couldn’t make it up …

Once again, I’m indebted to the committee that sits regularly to provide me with a rich seam of material on rebranding horror shows.

And they come along regularly enough to prove that when it comes to corporate largess, big business certainly knows how to burn through their hard-earned cash.

In the last year, we’ve seen Jaguar, HBO Max, and the G.F. Smith tying themselves up in knots trying to explain how they’ve raided their piggy banks to pay for some truly dreadful rebrands.

However, one that almost slipped through unnoticed was Abrdn, the 200-year-old fund management group, formerly known as Aberdeen Asset Management.

After nearly four years of fighting a losing battle, they’ve thrown in the towel and have gone back to Aberdeen.

Why?

To “remove distractions”, as the company so euphemistically put it.

How much that little caper cost, we’ll never know, but it’s a pretty safe bet it’ll have plenty of noughts on the end of it.

If the big boys can make such an utter Horlicks out of their rebrands, it’s surely a lesson to think very, very carefully before you start butchering yours.

Just a side thought.

If you had to lay your hands on a vector copy of your logo, how quickly could you find it?

Checking up on your Media Library to see where it’s stored and who’s looking after it could be a very valuable use of your time.

Because it’s never needed until it’s needed, and that’s when the brown stuff really hits the air conditioning.

Until next week.

Alec