Four letters of regret

Five years after Dixons Group rebranded to DSGi, the company is retracting and going back to its former name (DSGi to revive Dixons Retail group brand, MarketingWeek.co.uk 24 June).

It has cited the relative anonymity of the new name among the City and its supplier community as its reasons for the switch, but this anonymity could have been avoided if the company had set out clear, demonstrable objectives for the rebrand from the outset.

It is essential that any company considers the motivation behind a rebrand – whether it is driven from within the business or by the City – and then clearly communicates the reasons to the relevant stakeholders.

If we take Aviva’s transition from Norwich Union as an example of a successful rebrand, it was clear that the reasons behind the change were to demonstrate the company’s growth.

DSGi’s rebrand, on the other hand, was a papery thin initiative. It lacked a clear purpose and using a four-letter acronym rather than a proper name eliminates the human element of the brand, making it seem even more abstract and distant.

Daniel Dumoulin, Sundance