Abrdn backtracks on controversial rebrand

Abrdn plc has changed its name to Aberdeen Group plc, four years after rebranding from Standard Life Aberdeen.

The company has received criticism for dropping the vowels in its name since announcing its rebrand to Abrdn in 2021. Only last year chief investment officer Peter Branner called the backlash “corporate bullying” in an interview with Financial News.

CEO Jason Windsor described the decision to revert back to Aberdeen as a “pragmatic decision”.

“This is a group to be proud of, with a promising future. We will deliver by looking forward with confidence and removing distractions,” he stated.

“To that end, we are changing our name to Aberdeen Group plc. This is a pragmatic decision marking a new phase for the organisation, as we focus on delivering for our customers, people and shareholders.”

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When announcing the rebrand to Abrdn, which was created with agency Wolff Olins, the company said it wanted to be seen as a “modern, agile, digitally-enabled brand”. The business described Abrdn as “a highly-differentiated brand that will create unity across the business”. According to then chief executive Stephen Bird, the new name reflected the “clarity of focus that the leadership team are bringing to the business” in the pursuit of sustainable growth.

However, from the announcement onwards the rebrand was met by controversy, with brand expert Jonathan Gabay telling the Guardian it was “ill thought-out” and “could be pronounced ‘a burden’”.

The latest rebrand comes as Aberdeen announced in its full year results for 2024, in which it claimed greater investment in the brand and marketing had “delivered improved customer awareness”. The company described “high impact marketing” as one of its 2024 highlights when it comes to transforming the business.

The 2023 ‘Say hi to ii’ campaign for its Interactive Investor business – supported by a broader content campaign across multiple marketing channels – helped prompted brand awareness increase from 13% to 25% between Q4 2023 and Q4 2024. Noting this score is still behind that of its closest peers, company now hopes to “close the brand awareness gap by 2026”.

Following the appointment of Verona Kenny to the newly created role of chief distribution officer in October, Aberdeen also merged its sales and marketing teams “to sharpen [its] take-to-market focus”.

Overall, the business saw its adjusted operating profit for the group rise by 2% to £255m, compared to £249m in 2023.