When Jean-Pierre Dube came across the notification that Elon Musk, the billionaire, had abolished Twitter's bluebird emblem and replaced it with a black and white X in an Art Deco style, the marketing professor assumed it was a prank.
Prof Dube of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business wondered, "Why would someone abandon a well-known brand with so much brand equity?"
At first glance, it appears strange. Nonetheless, could it be viable in the long run?
Mr Musk's acquisition of Twitter last year has been difficult for the social media platform.
Mr Musk indicated this month that advertising revenue has decreased by 50%, due to the recalcitrance of major corporations to back the alterations he has implemented, such as the management of verified accounts and the control of content. Additionally, his unexpected personnel cuts and unpaid obligations have brought about unfavorable publicity and legal actions.
Fidelity, an investor in the business, approximates its value to be a third of the $44bn which Elon Musk spent on Twitter in October.
Consultancy Brand Finance recently estimated that the firm's brand had a valuation of $3.9bn, representing a decrease of 32% from the prior year - citing Mr Musk's "aggressive business approaches" as the cause.
According to Yanhui Zhao, a professor of marketing at the University of Nebraska Omaha, it has been shown that a rebrand can be a beneficial decision - particularly if a business is struggling or wishes to move in a new direction.
He examined 215 rebrandings of publicly listed companies and determined that more than half of them generated positive returns following the rebranding.
He commented that Mr. Musk's decisions may be apt, considering the entrepreneur's goal of turning Twitter into an all-encompassing application similar to WeChat from China. WeChat enables its users to transact money, book accommodation, request taxis, as well as participate in gaming, among other activities.
In an email to the BBC, he said that this rebranding is essential as Twitter is undergoing a strategic re-direction.
Shuba Srinivasan, a marketing professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business, cautioned that the odds of success diminish when a company is in disarray. She called attention to the fact that this is a particularly hazardous decision, given the many new social media challengers like Mark Zuckerberg's Threads attempting to takeover Twitter's position.
She noted that the rebranding was likely to confirm the worries of numerous Twitter users that the take over by Musk indicated the termination of the Twitter they were familiar with.
Professor Dube noted that it is doubtful that the renaming of Twitter would solve its issues, many of which are caused (in part) by Musk.
He expressed that he didn't believe there was so much of a dilemma concerning brand and identity, but rather more of an issue with leadership.
In a May interview with The Babylon Bee, a satire site, Mr Musk previewed his potential shift, confessing he felt "it was time to expand the scope of Twitter in order for it to become more successful than just relying on its lineage of short posts that it has become renowned for".
However, some analysts argued that the chances of realizing this plan are slim.
Forrester Research recently released a report in June called "The super app window has closed," outlining that the massive user bases of tech giants like Google and Apple already make use of services that are similar to super apps, making it difficult for others to break into the market due to tough regulations and intense rivalry.
It was noted that WeChat, the example which had been mentioned by Mr Musk, rose to dominance in China prior to the arrival of other payment services - being helped along by technical difficulties such as small phone memory preventing users from downloading multiple apps.
Mike Proulx, a research director at Forrester, opined after Mr Musk's announcement that his vision of transforming X into an 'everything app' will require time, funds, and personnel - resources that the company is now lacking. Proulx additionally anticipated that either the firm would be shuttered or purchased within the succeeding twelve months.
Despite the loyalty of Twitter's core users in media, politics, and finance, making X successful would require a much greater range of people to join in, which, as noted by Harvard Business School professor Andy Wu, would not be an easy feat.
He acknowledged, though, that Twitter had been facing hardship prior to Elon Musk's involvement and would be served well by venturing into uncharted territory.
He suggested that, while there could be debate as to whether the alterations Twitter was making were for the best, changes had to be made..
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