On branding and birds
Or the value of birds 🐦
If you’re new, welcome! This week we find ourselves talking about branding. It’s not what I was planning to focus on in this issue, but the news kind of made it so. If you have thoughts or impressions, please share in the comments and thanks!
Branding
As this week started, I saw an article on Engadget about how Elon Musk was said to be retiring the Twitter brand and replacing it with an X. Really?
wrote about it more detail on Monday in .
I’ve long thought the Twitter bird is one of the best Web 2.0 logos. Over the years, whenever I see the Facebook blue f and the stylized Instagram camera and the Twitter blue bird in a shop window or on a website or piece of marketing collateral, I find myself thinking how easily recognizable and distinctive the Twitter icon is.
It fits its origin story. From Jack Dorsey, one of the cofounders of Twitter:
We came across the word ‘twitter,’ and it was just perfect. The definition was ‘a short burst of inconsequential information,’ and ‘chirps from birds.’ And that’s exactly what the product was.
On Monday, Jack Dorsey, posted this:
I appreciate the elegance of the design. Many people questioned the wisdom of abandoning such a well-known and recognizable brand. One headline:
As the week continued, it seemed like the rollout wasn’t going smoothly:
And then this realization about the new logo:
Twitter's new 'X' logo looks suspiciously like a generic Unicode symbol
Here is the Unicode symbol for reference: 𝕏. Did he really just use an open source character as the new logo?
Then this:
Twitter abruptly took the @x username from the guy who originally had it.
Oh, and it turns out Twitter (now known as X Corp apparently) doesn’t actually own the trademark. According to the Wall Street Journal (gift link):
The rebrand could do more than just agitate former employees. It could invite legal challenges for X Corp. The company doesn’t own the rights to use the letter X on social media….There are thousands of trademarks in the U.S. associated with the letter X, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The Wall Street Journal didn’t find any X trademark registrations by X Corp.
On NPR, Steve Inskeep asked:
INSKEEP: What becomes of the old logo?
KERR: Well, the little blue bird is gone off the website. The Twitter sign is off the San Francisco headquarters, and people are making all these jokes about, do we tweet or do we Xt (ph)? And so it really shows how ingrained Twitter language has become and the word tweet. And now Musk is just walking away from all of that brand equity.
How much is that brand equity worth you might ask?
Well in April 2022, Brand Finance, a brand valuation consultancy, ranked Twitter the 26th most valuable media brand in its global rankings. Its managing director, Richard Haigh said at the time, “Musk’s interest in Twitter, and the billions he is prepared to invest in it are the consequence, in large part, or [sic] the strength of its brand.”
And the change from Twitter to X?
“Musk’s move wiped out anywhere between $4 billion and $20 billion in value, according to analysts and brand agencies.”
-TIME
Already, back in May, Fidelity was indicating Twitter had lost two thirds of its value since Elon Musk acquired it in October 2022. (WSJ gift link) This implied a then-current value of ~$15 billion. For those that prefer math:
2006: $0 - Twitter founded
2022: $44,000,000,000 - Acquired by Elon Musk
2023: $15,000,000,000 - Current estimated value per Fidelity in May
2023: <$12,000,000,000> - Midpoint of value destroyed by rebrand in July
2023: $3,000,000,000 - Implied est. value of original $44,000,000 investmentI wish him well.
Because the blue bird has been relieved of its duties over at the company formerly known as Twitter, it seems only fitting to shine a light on a Portlandia sketch in this week’s Media Embed.
📺 Media Embed: Put a Bird On It!
If you’re not familiar, Portlandia was a satirical American sketch comedy show created by and starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein that ran for eight seasons on IFC (2011-2018). This 2011 sketch gave rise to the catch phrase “put a bird on it!” and will take 1m42s of your life and not give it back. (But, seriously, if you’ve never seen it, go ahead and click the play button ▶. You just might laugh! :)
Go deeper:
Oral history of Put A Bird On It! (Entertainment Weekly)
I hope you have a great weekend!
Be well,
-Bryce