Dn’t bully us over our cmpny name, pleads Abrdn exctv

ABRDN has been the victim of “corporate bullying” since changing its company name, an executive at the asset manager has claimed.

Peter Branner, Abrdn’s chief investment officer, accused the media of being “childish” after ridiculing the fund’s decision to drop most of the vowels from its name.

The global investment company, which has £495bn of assets under management, changed from Standard Life Aberdeen to Abrdn in 2021 as part of a major rebrand that triggered a wave of mockery as the press said the company had developed “irritable vowel syndrome” and referred to Stephen Bird, its chief executive, as Stphn Brd.

At the time, the business insisted changing to Abrdn would create a “modern, agile, digitally enabled brand” to replaced five different brands that had operated independently. It also used a logo designed by Wolff Olins, a key agency behind London’s 2012 Olympic Games.

Mr Bird had publicly defended the controversial move months after it was announced, saying: “Good brands get noticed, great brands start a conversation and we’ve started a conversation.”

Mr Branner told Financial News: “I understand 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. How would you look at a person who makes fun of your name, day in day out? It’s probably not ethical to do it but, apparently, with companies it is different.”

It was hoped the rebrand would end confusion after the sale of its Standard Life brand to Phoenix Group.

It was also thought the change was driven by the desire to own its internet domain name while maintaining ties to its origins, given that Aberdeen.com already belonged to a strategy and research business.