Twitter’s shift to becoming ‘X’ has begun.
Larry the blue bird has been wiped from the social media platform, replaced by the new interim black and white ‘X’ shaped logo.
A Google search for X.com will take you directly to Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and its large metal sign outside the group’s office building in San Francisco is in the process of being removed.
There are still remnants of the original branding, the URL says Twitter.com and the blue bird icon appears in Google searches – however, Musk did only announce the changes on Monday.
Buy the latest Tesla, surf for memes, watch SpaceX’s latest launch – Musk wants to turn Twitter into a place where users never have to leave because everything is right in front of them.
X isn’t just a major risk because it might not catch on or a rival may release a better product, it’s a risk because Musk is wagering all of Twitter’s brand equity on its success.
Twitter isn’t the first company to rebrand, but very few industry giants have made this big of a leap.
Here are some that have made the jump.
Facebook to Meta
Arguably the largest rebrand in company history and potentially, although Musk would never admit it, the inspiration for Twitter’s metamorphosis.
In October it will be Meta’s second birthday and two years since Zuckerberg dived headfirst into the ‘metaverse’.
The metaverse hype reached a crescendo during the pandemic
Back in 2021, the Metaverse was the tech sector's buzzword, with heavy links to cryptocurrency and virtual reality.
However, as the hype faded, and several iterations of Meta’s VR product passed, so did Zuckerberg’s focus.
AI has replaced talk of the metaverse and Zuckerberg’s ears appear to have pricked up once again, although this time no AI-based name changes have been announced.
Instead, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has created an AI arm to complement its other divisions and brands – and of course to create a ChatGPT rival.
While it can be argued the Meta rebrand was a hasty decision that in retrospect may not have been the best idea, it does neatly wrap together all the group’s offerings and distinguishes the difference between Facebook the app and the wider company.
BT Cellnet to O2
Cellnet was originally created as a joint venture between BT Group PLC (LSE:BT.A) and Securicor in 1985 with the aim of providing mobile service all over the UK.
By the turn of the new millennium, BT had purchased Securicor’s 40% stake for £3.15bn, rebranded the company to BT Cellnet, invested an additional £2bn and started serving over 6mln customers.
BT Cellnet's original logo Source: Logo World
A year later and BT changed Cellnet’s name to mmO2 before it was demerged and listed as a separate business to help ease a rising debt pile.
In 2005, mmO2 changed its name to O2 and it was subsequently bought by Spanish telecom firm Telefonica for almost £18bn.
Fast-forward nearly two decades and O2 merged with Liberty Global-owned Virgin Media to create a £31bn telecom giant.
For BT, it continued to search for mobile partners post-Cellnet and in 2016 it bought EE for £12.5bn, making the Hatfield-based group its customer-facing mobile division.
BT will likely look back at the Cellnet years with fondness - a time when the company’s share price was at a record 990p.
Since the spin-out of O2, shares in BT never recovered, the closest being a rally in 2015 to reach around 500p.
In 2023 shares are down almost 85% and trading at around 124p.