Naming done really bad: "Aberdeen Asset Management" gone to "Abrdn"

Part of the portfolio since 2021…

Naming agencies often get a HUGE amount of money for finding new names and making sure that brand identity and the legal stuff are in place. Leaving out three “e”s was certainly a very high-priced job. Would love to see the final bill for all of that…

The backstory: Aberdeen Asset Management, founded in 1983 through a management buy-out of an investment trust, and Standard Life, in business since 1825, agreed an all-share merger in March 2017. It completed in August 2017, and the combined group – roughly £300bn of client money on the Aberdeen side alone – went by the name “Standard Life Aberdeen”. Long, yes. But everyone knew what it meant.

In April 2021 the group announced it would become abrdn – lower case, no vowels, making it sound more fancy and, presumably, more “digital”. Then-CEO Stephen Bird said the new name reflected the clarity of focus of the leadership team. The internet reacted with somewhat less clarity of focus and a lot more laughter: one brand expert noted that “Abrdn” could be pronounced “a burden”, and the name was mocked in financial columns across the country. By 2024 the group's chief investment officer was publicly complaining about “corporate bullying” over the name. When your CIO has to defend the spelling instead of the performance, the brand book has failed.

Back in 2021 we wrote: I am sure this will not stay forever – abrdn is a horrible name and I've never encountered anybody who thought it was a great fit.

It didn't. On 4 March 2025, together with its annual results, the company announced its return to “aberdeen”, and a few days later the listed company became Aberdeen Group plc. New CEO Jason Windsor called it a pragmatic decision to remove distractions. The vowels are back, the ticker stayed ABDN – and the share price rose about 11 % that day. Not every rebranding gets such a clear market verdict, in both directions.

Which turns our exhibit into a true collector's item: a souvenir from a brand that lived for less than four years, roughly the holding period of an impatient fund investor.

Museum note: three letters removed in 2021, three letters restored in 2025. Presumably the agency billed twice – once for taking them out, once for putting them back.

Further reading

• Marketing Week – Abrdn backtracks on controversial rebrand (2025)
• Morningstar – abrdn changes name back to aberdeen as it swings back to profit (2025)
• City A.M. – Abrdn boss cries “corporate bullying” over name mocking (2024)
• Creative Bloq – Is the ridiculed “Abrdn” rebrand the biggest branding misfire of 2021? (2021)
• Wikipedia – Aberdeen Group plc
• Wikipedia – Aberdeen Asset Management