What a lackluster way to kick off the new era of a company.
Without the least bit of pomp or circumstance, one of the nation’s largest utilities providers, Northeast Utilities (NU), announced their plan to rebrand the company as “Eversource Energy” on Wednesday. According to a spokesperson, the Northeast Utilities rebranding will roll out in February and all entities of NU – Connecticut Light & Power, Yankee Gas, NStar Electric, NStar Gas, Western Massachusetts Electric Co., and Public Service of New Hampshire – will see their names and branding change over to the new moniker.
The notion is that as NU, with its dual headquarters here in Connecticut and in Massachusetts following the $5 billion merger with Boston-based NStar Energy in 2012, the corporate name and brand image did not reflect its growth nor the changing landscape of energy consumption and awareness.
What baffles me is that the announcement was made without a major presser, which might have gone unnoticed had the Governor’s inauguration drawn in more attention. Regardless, the NU event boasted no big poster boards flanking the podium with the company’s new logo and tagline. No smiling employees from each division with new uniforms standing behind their CEO to announce the seismic changes. Nothing. Just a press release to media and a couple of minor stories in the Hartford Courant and Hartford Business Journal.
You would think that a large, publicly-traded Fortune 500 company like Northeast Utilities with, 3.6 million customers across three states (CT, MA, and NH), should have their act together much better than this. Right?
Rebranding a company, especially a large corporation like NU, is much more than a press release saying you’re going to change your name. It’s about informing and incorporating your customers, and, perhaps more importantly, your employees. Getting your team, no matter how big or small, to understand the gravity of such a change, and to be excited to represent the future of a new brand, is critical.
NU missed an epic opportunity here. They have been understandably quiet about their plans since pieces of the rebranding began happening over the past year, but to dismiss the good will both internally and externally that the launch of a new brand brings seems alienating. Failing to give this news the appropriate consideration it deserves not only separates the new brand from the conversation, but it invites others to define the decision, whether positive or negative, with little to no input from the company itself. We’ll have to wait and see how this pans out with the public as the change begins to roll out next month.