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Scottish Widows is killing off the enduring “widow” fashion featured in its branding for many years, because the £200bn week insurer and pensions supplier makes an attempt to modernise the trade.
Owned through Lloyds Banking Crew, Scottish Widows stated it was once “phasing out” the widow fashion and can in lieu significance a virtual emblem of a girl dressed in a disguise.
The top of the human widow, old within the corporate’s promoting for the reason that Nineteen Eighties, is the untouched instance of a company rebranding reflecting a shift to digitally targeted products and services. Deborah Moore, daughter of the overdue actor Sir Roger Moore, was once the primary widow.
“Customers will be so accustomed to that brand — will they recognise the new one?” requested Andrew Hagger, founding father of client finance web page MoneyComms.
“Is there a danger that people think of this as a new brand and forget the heritage of the old one?”
Hagger added that the significance of a crimson silhouette in lieu of a human fashion “risks dehumanising” the logo, which has existed since 1815. The walk was once first reported through Citywire.
Chira Barua, govt of Scottish Widows, stated: “One in four people in their twenties don’t have a pension and 38 per cent of adults are not on track for a minimum lifestyle in retirement, so we need to revolutionise the way people interact with longer-term savings to close that gap.
“Since we started building the app and digital tools, we’ve had phenomenal uplift in engagement and see this as a game-changer in helping people take the right steps now to get the retirement they want.”
Barua stated the brandnew Scottish Widows logo is aimed toward feeling “more intuitive in digital channels like our app, but with a new look and ‘digital widow motif’ to bring it into a new era.”
James Daley, founding father of client staff Fairer Finance, stated: “The Scottish Widows brand has been around a long time and is based on the human story. There’s been a different widow for decades — it’s the end of an era. The human element is relatable to a lot of people.
“The question is, will the new brand resonate with customers? Once you remove the human element, the brand becomes a bit irrelevant.”
Alternative firms that modified their logo come with asset supervisor Abrdn. The investmrent staff rebranded from Usual Year Aberdeen in 2021 through disposing of the vowels from Aberdeen. The corporate stated on the age that the brandnew identify was once “part of a modern, agile, digitally-enabled brand”.
Then again, the initiative was once extensively mocked. “It looked bonkers — why would you take the vowels out?” stated Daley. “On the flip side, it got people talking about them.”
Royal Mail got here underneath scrutiny when it modified its identify in 2001 to Consignia, which was once ditched simply 16 months upcoming. The United Kingdom postal carrier sooner or later rebranded its conserving corporate to World Distributions Products and services.
Latter time, Nationwide Specific determined to switch its identify to Mobico as the United Kingdom delivery staff synonymous with long-distance mentor trips desired to venture a extra international symbol.
“Norwich Union was also a fantastic brand with a lot of heritage when they came up with Aviva,” stated Daley. “It seemed mad at the time but now it’s just something you say.”
