Another High Street Rebrand

[rdobbie]

I'm glad they don't own any of my local shopping centres. They're like ITV, running roughshod over local heritage.

You can say that again. The Trafford Centre had a strong brand identity which actually had heritage. I know that might sound odd for a 15-year-old shopping centre, but the brand really did engender a sense of provenance and gravitas, tied in with the exceptional architecture and quality of the building itself.

To rename it 'Intu' has all the banality of renaming the Post Office 'Consignia'. And the lazy rip-off of the Twitter bird icon is, frankly, pathetic. It's like the cringeworthy offering that a losing team on The Apprentice might come up with.

The Trafford Centre and Metro Centre, Lakeside, etc, were powerful standalone brands and didn't need to be "unified" or "brought under an umbrella" or whatever they want to call it.

[m-in-m]

I'm glad they don't own any of my local shopping centres. They're like ITV, running roughshod over local heritage.

You can say that again. The Trafford Centre had a strong brand identity which actually had heritage. I know that might sound odd for a 15-year-old shopping centre, but the brand really did engender a sense of provenance and gravitas, tied in with the exceptional architecture and quality of the building itself.

To rename it 'Intu' has all the banality of renaming the Post Office 'Consignia'. And the lazy rip-off of the Twitter bird icon is, frankly, pathetic. It's like the cringeworthy offering that a losing team on The Apprentice might come up with.

The Trafford Centre and Metro Centre, Lakeside, etc, were powerful standalone brands and didn't need to be "unified" or "brought under an umbrella" or whatever they want to call it.

Presumably everyone will still end up referring to these places with their original names anyway - so a rather big waste of money.

[nwtv2003]

Ugh, Intu, they kept the Trafford Centre rebrand rather quiet didn't they? For anyone who's been there the intu name doesn't feel right with the style and the centre of the building. They've even got rid of the ridiculous red uniforms, but they fit in with the style of the place. So far I've heard no-one I know call it intu Trafford Centre, I'm sure everyone as said will stick to The Trafford Centre.

Apparently they own a high stake in Manchester Arndale, but not 100% of it, so I'm rather surprised they've not renamed that intu Arndale.

[all new Phil]

It's horrible isn't it?

They've become a bit sloppier with their standards too. Previously, if they were doing any work, you would not see any of it. It would be completely blocked off. Now they don't seem to care as much - they put in some new escalators recently and you could pretty much look down on them working on it.

[JAS84]

Presumably everyone will still end up referring to these places with their original names anyway - so a rather big waste of money.

Indeed. Everyone locally refers to Bransholme Centre, even though it was renamed North Point Shopping Centre over a decade ago.

Glades in Bromley and The Chimes in Uxbridge lost their names completely thanks to the intu rebrand. Since the new names are also the names of their towns, no way will people use the new names. It's like with football stadia. Nobody calls St James' Park the Sports Direct Arena!

[WillPS]

Presumably everyone will still end up referring to these places with their original names anyway - so a rather big waste of money.

Indeed. Everyone locally refers to Bransholme Centre, even though it was renamed North Point Shopping Centre over a decade ago.

Glades in Bromley and The Chimes in Uxbridge lost their names completely thanks to the intu rebrand. Since the new names are also the names of their towns, no way will people use the new names. It's like with football stadia. Nobody calls St James' Park the Sports Direct Arena!

You're probably wrong there. People said the same about The Eagle Centre in Derby but only the localest of locals still refer to it as that now.

[Andrew]

They're doing a Westfield and killing individual centre brands (or at least marginalising them) with that.

To be fair to Westfield, aren't their sites generally new builds with no old name?

Derby's was practically a new build wasn't it, or at least a very extensive rebuilding.

intu is one of those non-names that you can't use in normal conversation which doesn't help, a bit like the renaming of ITV regional news recently. Both look good written down in a list in a corporate report, but nobody will use them in speech.

Midsomer Place in Milton Keynes seems to have escaped the rebrand, from looking at the intu website.

[wells]

intu is one of those non-names that you can't use in normal conversation which doesn't help, a bit like the renaming of ITV regional news recently. Both look good written down in a list in a corporate report, but nobody will use them in speech.

Yeah, no one is going to say "I'm going to 'Intu Trafford Centre".

Not really sure what the advantage these brands give shopping centres, I think the Intu brand could even be damaging.

I doubt anyone says I'm going to Westfield instead of Merry Hill as well. But Westfield is a much better brand and feels like something of high quality, it helps most are new builds too.

[WillPS]

They're doing a Westfield and killing individual centre brands (or at least marginalising them) with that.

To be fair to Westfield, aren't their sites generally new builds with no old name?

Derby's was practically a new build wasn't it, or at least a very extensive rebuilding.

intu is one of those non-names that you can't use in normal conversation which doesn't help, a bit like the renaming of ITV regional news recently. Both look good written down in a list in a corporate report, but nobody will use them in speech.

Midsomer Place in Milton Keynes seems to have escaped the rebrand, from looking at the intu website.

Eagle Centre was perhaps 50/50 rebuild and reclad. They also have Westfield Merry Hill which was an acquisition and also up to 2011 they had Westfield Broadmarsh.

There are malls in America which have been purchased and *completely* stripped of all local branding, being renamed "Westfield Shoppingtown".

[thegeek]

Midsomer Place in Milton Keynes seems to have escaped the rebrand, from looking at the intu website.

Curiously, so has Bristol's The Mall - not to be confused with any of The Mall Company's's The Malls.

[Pete]

Surely the difference with Merry Hill was the rebrand was part of an attempt to relaunch a long neglected shopping centre whereas the intu stuff is nothing more than brand willy waving of the worst kind.