Identity crisis

So Santander is to extinguish the venerable brands it has acquired in British banking in recent years – Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley. The Abbey National roof umbrella is long gone, and the A&L cubes and B&B bowler hats will soon join it in the logo graveyard. They’ll be missed (though in Abbey’s case, not by me – I’m locked in a battle to recover a massive charge they imposed on me for going over my overdraft limit for a few days, despite being a customer for 30 years).

It never ceases to amaze me that businesses spend hundreds of millions and even billions to acquire well-branded companies and then write off the equity they have purchased by imposing an alien identity that means nothing to consumers.

As it happens, Santander is itself a venerable Spanish brand with great impact in its home market, but often the new names are abstract words dreamt up by highly paid consultants – I’m thinking Diageo and Aviva. The latter is particularly ridiculous, replacing brands such as Norwich Union and Commercial Union for something that sounds like a bus operator. To add to the confusion, there’s also a listed company called Aveva, and the French energy company which will soon be building new nuclear power stations in the UK is called Areva.

According to Aviva’s website, the new name is “perfect for us because it’s short, memorable and feels positive and lively.” Sorry, but it’s not – it’s bland and has no branding power of association with the values of the companies it has subsumed.

Have shareholders ever voted down such a waste of money and value? They should do!

John Willman is an award winning journalist. An economic commentator, author and former Associate Editor of the Financial Times. For more information or to contact John Willman, click here.