Recently Elon Musk announced a total re-branding of Twitter, which has stirred up a slew of critical responses. The immediate focus has been on the brand name, “X”. But a re-branding involves much more, especially the impact on the Twitter brand value and its loyal customers, plus what “X.com” will promise to ensure success going forward. While Musk has accomplished so much and is worth billions, this re-branding venture puts him into new territory where there are many critical risks and challenges ahead for re-positioning Twitter as an “everything app”..
Ordinarily there are many issues that cause a company to re-brand itself or its products – e.g. competitive threats, changing customer preferences, new innovations or improvements, potential controversy (e.g. racial implications), seeking a new and/or wider audience, etc. In most cases, it is essential to maintain and build on the current customer base.
Pros & Cons of the New “X” Brand Name
Perhaps the most controversial change is the new brand name, X, which has no clear or meaningful identity. This symmetrical letter alone has many diverse connotations, sometimes negative – e.g. signaling a stop, a mark on a map, a rating for an outrageous movie, revolutionary activists (Malcom X), porn (XXX), etc. On the other hand, there may be some positive emotions emanating from the letter X. The science of “phonologics” shows there is a subconscious relationship between speech sounds from certain letters (e.g. X, Z and C), and emotions These particular letters imply power and innovation, which is why these letters are so often used for pharmaceutical products (e.g. Nexium, Celebrex, Xanax, Zyban, etc.). The letter X is also used often for hi-tech science fiction, computers (Microsoft’s X-Box), cars (Lexus), movies (X-Files), etc.
Musk has always been obsessed with this letter X. His rocket company is SpaceX, he wanted PayPal to rename itself X.com, a Tesla sports utility car is Model X, even one of his son’s nickname is “X”. However one letter like X does not immediately lend itself to visual social media graphic symbols the way that Twitter had succeeded – e.g.. with a bird as its logo, tweets referring to posts, tweeting was posting, and sharing another person’s post was retweeting. As of now, Must is apparently planning to just use neutral words such as “post”.
A good brand name should ideally reflect the product or service itself, such as Facebook, or even an emotion tied to a promise (e.g. Pampers). Right now “X” means nothing in particular, albeit with several diverse connotations. But maybe X is indeed appropriate for a business that will offer such a multi-faceted line of products and services, which consumers may perceive as innovative and powerful.
The Challenges Of An “Everything” Brand
The ultimate goal of any branding initiative is to develop and sustain a strong relationship with its customers, one steeped in loyalty and trust. Normally American culture and consumers are accustomed to single service apps, not multiservice apps that promise benefits for a variety of needs. However, this is not the case with multi-faceted “super apps” in Asia, such as the dominant WeChat in China. This is effectively the operating system of daily life in China, a one-stop shop to read news, talk with friends, order pizza or pay the landlord. Similar super apps include South Korea’s KakaoTalk and Japan’s Line.
Musk’s concept of X becoming the next “everything app” has yet to be defined precisely, although it may be similar to these super apps in Asia. Linda Yaccarino, the new CEO of X, expressed this idea: “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments, banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, service and opportunities.”
However there will be many challenges ahead for this proposed idea:
- The current Twitter base of customers may decline, creating a fragile foundation for expansion.
- The “X” brand name communicates so many mixed signals that it could confuse potential customers
- Meta/Facebook becomes too formidable a competitor, especially with their new “Threads” platform
- The heightened scrutiny of tech giants by regulators may become a hurdle for X
- Musk’s emphasis on unlimited free speech may attract too much misinformation, alienating advertisers
- American consumers may resist such one-stop shopping all under one brand.
Elon Musk has been hugely successful in the technology world, but he has yet to prove himself in a broad scale consumer market.
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