Twitter, a brand name that has been a part of so many social media users' day-to-day conversations for so many years, has been renamed X. This big rebranding decision that also involved?saying goodbye to Twitter's iconic blue?bird logo?by the social networking platform's former?CEO, Elon Musk, has been on the receiving end of lots of criticism and is in fact being termed a mistake by many analysts and brand agencies.
But the damage seems not to be limited to this.
Twitter is also?likely to lose as much as $20 billion?from its brand value.
Twitter¡¯s brand value is estimated at about $4 billion, according to brand valuation consulting firm Brand Finance. The firm values the Facebook brand at $59 billion and Instagram at $47.4 billion. Vanderbilt University estimates Twitter¡¯s brand value at $15 billion to $20 billion, which is comparable to Snapchat, as per a Bloomberg report.
Brand valuation is difficult to determine, and there¡¯s no single approach, which is why estimates vary, said Dipanjan Chatterjee, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc. But several analysts and agencies agreed that the company¡¯s brand has already taken a significant hit since Musk¡¯s takeover. Brand Finance, for example, estimates the Twitter brand has lost 32% of its value since last year.
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Amidst the questions being raised about Elon Musk's decision to rename Twitter and say goodbye to its iconic bird logo, the world's richest person himself tweeted yesterday to clarify the reason behind it.
Replying to a tweet mentioning Twitter in the list of companies that changed their names,?Elon Musk?tweeted the reason behind the rebranding, saying "Twitter was acquired by X Corp. both to ensure freedom of speech and as an accelerant for X, the everything app. This is not simply a company renaming itself but doing the same thing. The name Twitter made sense when it was just 140-character messages going back and forth, like birds tweeting, but now you can post almost anything, including several hours of video. In the months to come, we will add comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world. The Twitter name does not make sense in that context, so we must bid adieu to the bird."
Many analysts and brand agencies are reportedly calling Twitter¡¯s renaming a mistake by Elon Musk.?Twitter is one of the most recognisable social media brands, said Todd Irwin, founder of brand agency Fazer. Bird decals adorn small businesses and websites worldwide, alongside Instagram and Facebook logos.
"It took 15-plus years to earn that much equity worldwide, so losing Twitter as a brand name is a significant financial hit," said Steve Susi, director of brand communication at Siegel & Gale.
Twitter¡¯s popularity has also made verbs like "tweet" and "retweet" part of modern culture, used regularly to explain how celebrities, politicians, and others communicate with the public, said Joshua White, assistant professor of finance at Vanderbilt University.
X will require the company to rebuild that cultural pull and linguistic consensus from scratch. But that may be part of the motivation, so users stop comparing Twitter post-takeover to what it was before. "It¡¯s an exceptionally rare thing¡ªin life or in business¡ªthat you get a second chance to make another big impression," Twitter CEO Yaccarino tweeted.
¡°Twitter¡¯s corporate brand is already heavily intertwined with Musk¡¯s personal brand, with or without the name X, and much of Twitter¡¯s established brand equity has already been lost among users and advertisers,¡± said Jasmine Enberg, an analyst with Insider Intelligence.
It¡¯s ¡°completely irrational from a business and brand point of view,¡± said Allen Adamson, co-founder of the marketing and brand consulting group Metaforce. He called it an ¡°ego decision¡± on the part of Musk. ¡°To me, it¡¯s going to go down in history as one of the fastest unwinding of a business and brand ever.¡±
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