Another day, another win against Woke. Inc. UK asset manager “Abrdn” has now rebranded itself to “Aberdeen Group” after it was ridiculed for removing the problematic vowels from its name in 2021 by previous CEO Stephen Bird. Shck, that was a mrktng error, with the firm losing £6 million in 2023, and Bird abruptly leaving the firm in September last year…
Renaming to the firm from “Standard Life Aberdeen” to “Abrdn” was dubbed among “the most calamitous corporate rebrands in history”, though Peter Branner, the chief investment officer last year, opted to whinge about the backlash instead, saying:
“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.”
Financial News bosses helpfully told the firm to “Gt ovr it”. Now new CEO Jason Windsor has said the switch to bring back the vowels was “a pragmatic decision marking a new phase for the organisation, as we focus on delivering for our customers, people and shareholders” and will avoid “distractions”. I.e. the era of woke is ovr…
Sarah Pochin at Reform Scotland’s manifesto launch event: “I really wanted to come on in a Reform tartan burka, but apparently I wasn’t allowed… One day let’s do one of these events not live-streamed. We’ll do all the naughty stuff…”