Reputation Matters: From Twitter to ?? - When a rebranding IS NOT a rebranding

So, the saga of Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter took a not-so-unexpected turn when he announced that he was renaming and rebranding the company to ??.

And in case you were wondering, in the branding, instead of using an 'X', he opted to use the Unicode character - '??' (U+1D54F). I know. Quite creative, right?

The problem is that since taking over Twitter, Elon has sacked the vast majority of staff who were responsible for the integrity of the platform, he's not paid bills to service providers, he's disabled content moderation protocols and limited the usage of Twitter to people who were not subscribed to his Twitter Blue programme, which he is pitching hard to everyone to join.

In trying to run this business, Elon has not left his personal views at the door, a critical sin, which has created huge risk - financial and reputational for him and this and his other companies.

Elon is stuck with a half-broken Twitter that advertisers don't want to spend money on, and users do not want to subscribe to because it is buggy, and the lack of content moderation means that advertisers' reputations are at increased risk.

To try and save the company, instead of investing in fixing the service and experience that users would get, which would attract advertisers, Elon opted to recruit Linda Yaccarino, a respected media executive and former chair of advertising sales for NBC Universal.

To date, all we hear are about her calls with advertisers, rather than iterating and improving the service.

There appears to be no strategy or tactics. Everything is reactive, and these are the blunt optics - chase money rather than fix the problem. And this is a reputational problem not just for Twitter and Elon, but also the Silicon Valley way of management.

All that said, his vision for creating a global public town square is a valid one. He also, in my opinion, is right about creating a Super-App, even though these 'apps' are hitting a wall in Asia.

In opting to say that he is renaming and rebranding Twitter, he appears to not understand the risks that come with this move. Namely:

1. Resentment From Existing Users: Rebranding can lead to a backlash from loyal users who were comfortable with the pre-Elon brand and service.
2. Lack of Credibility: After each disastrous action by Elon at Twitter the rebranding might not be enough to restore trust. Stakeholders, including advertisers, may see this as just a cosmetic change or a way to avoid dealing with the underlying issues.
3. Risk of Inconsistency: If the rebranding isn't done comprehensively across all channels and customer touchpoints, it can lead to confusion, diluting the impact of the rebranding efforts, something we are seeing as we speak.
4. Cost and Resources: Rebranding requires significant resources, including time, money, and effort. It also requires experienced branding, advertisers and communicators, skills that Elon has signalled he doesn't believe add value. From his late-night tweets, we get the feeling that he is not branding guidelines or playbook.
5. Market Perception: The way that Elon and Linda announced it appears like an act of desperation rather than a strategic move, something that further damages his and Twitter's perception.
6. Ineffectiveness: Rebranding, in some cases, may not fix the reputation issues, especially if these are deeply rooted in the company's culture, product, service or operations. Elon just doesn't listen.
7. Failure to Communicate Effectively: Were advertisers and other stakeholders consulted? The one thing we know is that Elon does not have somebody who can speak truth to power to him.

At this stage, his options are limited. He needs somebody to save ?? from the owner.

Yes, ?? can become the global town square - IF a team is allowed to create positive experiences as users and advertisers want; it can become more than a text-based platform - IF each new offering is built, tested and released in a timely manner; it can become a Super App - IF new services are added after user research and testing.

The Financial Times 's Hannah Murphy , Cristina Criddle and Ivan Levingston have a great article that is worth reading.

One thing is certain. Reputation matters and ?? Elon and Linda have a lot of work to do if they are to rescue Twitter from themselves.

#strategy #branding #riskmanagement #twitter #reputationmanagement