Wired: Why brands ditching vowels are rlly stpd

Standard Life Aberdeen’s rebrand made it a laughing stock. It’s only mistake was acting like a startup. The headlines practically wrote themselves when staid Edinburgh fund manager Standard Life Aberdeen revealed its new identity — abrdn — last week. “Too cool for schl?” was The Guardian’s take on the company’s newfound lack of vowels. The Wall Street Journal asked “Who Nds th Lttr E?” and the Financial Times renamed its daily mailshot “Aalphaaviillee”, pushing readers towards a piece questioning whether Standard Life Aberdeen had been “disemvoweled”.