Rebranding is difficult however there is no such thing as a excuse for disemvowelling

When Vladimir Putin determined to invade Ukraine in February, the workers at a smallish journey enterprise greater than 1,500 miles away in England have been busy with different issues.

Their outfit specialises in what it calls unforgettable experiences for younger individuals — educating in Thailand, South African skydiving, Ibiza partying — and Ukraine had not been excessive on its radar.

However it quickly was as a result of, all through its 14-year historical past, the enterprise had solely had one title: Invasion.

“We couldn’t function with that title,” says Nick Steiert, the legislation faculty graduate who co-founded the Manchester-based firm. There have been too many “adverse connotations” as a result of individuals immediately considered Ukraine.

So it was, that Invasion final week entered the notorious halls of the company rebrand, a step that usually triggers derision, suspicion and bewilderment in kind of equal measure.

As of Thursday, Invasion turned Intravelr, a cross between its previous title and Intrax, an older, bigger US journey group that purchased Invasion final 12 months.

“It’s a disgrace,” says Steiert, who named the corporate after the large metropolis “invasions” or getaways for legislation college students that he used to organise whereas at college. “However equally this additionally represents a brand new alternative.” 

I’m positive it does, and never only for Invasion, or Intravelr as we should now name it.

Its story additionally affords an opportunity to contemplate among the dos and don’ts of rebranding, beginning with motivation.

Intravelr, in contrast to different rebranders, had a great motive to alter its title. It was a sufferer of occasions, as was the US firm, Isis Prescribed drugs. The biotech group was based in 1989, lengthy earlier than the acronym for the Islamic State jihadist group turned a family title and correctly turned Ionis Prescribed drugs in 2015.

That places each it and Intravelr effectively forward of the pointless and actively dangerous rebrand, nonetheless greatest epitomised by the pricey and much-mocked 2001 choice to rebadge Royal Mail as “Consignia”.

“The brand new title describes the complete scope of what the Submit Workplace does in the best way that the phrases ‘put up’ and ‘workplace’ can not,” the group claimed, earlier than conducting an abrupt U-turn the next 12 months.

Tribune Publishing, writer of the Chicago Tribune newspaper, took solely barely longer to ditch the much more terrible title it got here up with in 2016: Tronc. It was passed by 2018.

Intravelr additionally will get factors for devising its new title itself, slightly than hiring costly exterior consultants. Fortunately, it has didn’t comply with Weight Watchers, which in 2018 ditched a superbly understandable title for 2 letters — WW.

And Intravelr is a fairly recognisable title for a journey firm, so it ought to keep away from among the ridicule that greeted Refinitiv, the title dreamt up for the buying and selling and knowledge enterprise spun out of Thomson Reuters.

“What’s a Refinitiv?” individuals requested, a lot as they as soon as questioned what to make of Accenture, which was Andersen Consulting.

Alas, Intravelr has dedicated one severe blunder.

The reality is, there’s completely nothing fashionable or hip about stripping completely serviceable vowels from names

It has succumbed to the egregious development for disemvowelling. This can be a firm that offers with travellers, not travellrs. Why on earth did it should dispense with a second “e” in its new title?

“Initially we needed to be referred to as Intravel,” mentioned Seiert, however that title had already been taken.

That led to the concept of Intravelr, minus the second “e” as a result of “we thought that it might simply speak to a youthful viewers”, mentioned Seiert. “It’s just a little bit rebellious,” he added, and it sounds “a bit extra fashionable, a bit extra hip”.

I suppose it was this kind of considering that persuaded the UK asset supervisor, Commonplace Life Aberdeen, to alter its title final 12 months to Abrdn, a reputation that was not merely unintelligible however required clarification about find out how to pronounce it. (It’s nonetheless “Aberdeen”, the corporate mentioned.)

The reality is, there’s completely nothing fashionable or hip about stripping completely serviceable vowels from names.

The tech journal, Wired, printed an obituary for the letter “E” way back to 2013, having noticed the march of Flickr, the picture sharing app; Grindr, the courting app; Tumblr, the running a blog app and far more.

On the upside, all these companies are nonetheless going almost a decade later. I want the identical for Intravelr, lacking vowel and all.

pilita.clark@ft.com