BYE BYE BIRDY

Sending things to Space? Weird names for children? Selling flame-throwers? He’s done some pretty weird things, but this might just be Elon Musk’s weirdest.

Guest post by Brand Geenie

Elon Musk announced, in what feels like a very Gen Z level of laid back, that he was rebranding Twitter to X. The new name has been chosen to reflect the company's future plans to become an "everything app" that will be powered by AI and have an unlimited level of interactivity (as well as a nod to Musk’s ongoing obsession with the letter). 

But when your original brand name is being used as a verb, you know you’re onto a winning streak. So who in their right mind would write off 16 years of brand building by simply sharing a new logo? 

Twitter is one of the world's MOST recognised brands. And whilst the business has struggled to grow in recent years, if it was in a ‘guess the logo’ round of a pub quiz, you’d be hard pushed to find many people getting it wrong. A popular way to share news and information quickly, it’s been widely used by ordinary people, celebrities, businesses, and journalists alike (my 82 year old Grandmother is an avid Twitter user). 

Over the years, the platform has come under fire for spreading misinformation and its inability to monitor online harassment and abusive behaviour. Perhaps why so many people breathed a sigh of relief when they joined the newest social media platform, Threads. Although I’m sure it won’t be long before the internet trolls come crawling out of their caves. 

So, it’s easy to understand how a totally new name could help to distance the company from its past controversies and potentially make it more appealing to a wider audience. But how effective will that be when most of the brand's recent controversy stems from Elon Musk himself?

Now the joke may be on me BUT, the thought of being in Twitter’s brand and marketing team right now, fills me with a toe curling level of cringe. It’s not the idea of a rebrand that’s negative, in fact I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. I also don’t think that this move will serve to upset Twitter’s user behaviour right now either, instead I think the delivery damages its credibility amongst professionals. 

Let’s be real, no one cares about a brand as much as the brand and marketing team do. But there's a good reason we’re the fun police.

“NO you can’t use that RANDOM font on social media. YES the colour palette does need to be adhered to in print.

Please STOP using words that don’t represent the correct tone of voice in Reels.

And please, DON’T use a blue button on the app saying ‘TWEET’ when our brand is now called ‘X’.”

You get the picture.

It’s easy to forget that everything is brand. Not just the logo. Not just the name. Every customer or user touch point should be considered BRAND. So, making effectual changes to the business structure and (hopefully) positively impacting the user experience is great, but communicating that internally and externally in a cohesive campaign, well, that my friends is the brand sweet spot. 

What I would have been really excited, impressed and engaged with isn’t the hope of future improvements but instead a f**k off, integrated launch of both form and functionality. Because otherwise, why should we care about X? Why should I care you’re doing a rebrand when the only change I can see is in a tiny circle on my screen. When it comes to brand, the proof is in the pudding and currently all we’ve got is a half removed Twitter sign on a building and a website redirect. 

So what were the inner workings of Twitter when it came to the logo launch? Because in all honesty, that’s all this was. Did the team want to hold off? Did they have a mega plan and Musk just didn’t want to wait? In my opinion, Musk never does anything without a motive. He’s been playing the role of internet puppetmaster for a while now, so surely there’s a reason for this style of announcement.

There’s no doubt in my mind that the future for X looks technologically advanced, which based on recent years of growth, it needs. With a clear emphasis on change, only time will tell how successful it’s new branding will be. But until that arrives on my phone, as a user and brand geek, I’m not particularly enamoured. It feels like they’ve chased a modern moment of hype for what could have been a really respectable move into the future.   

Ultimately, the impact on Twitter's brand equity will depend on impending changes and how well they are received by the public. If the rebrand is successful, it could revitalise the platform and make it much more competitive in the social media landscape and beyond. On the other hand, if the rebrand is unsuccessful, they’ve pulled the plug on a well known and long standing reputation that'll be one hell of a BIRDen to deal with.

The end.

About our Guest Blogger: *Brand Geenie

Turning wishful thinking into strategy and storytelling. Find out more