Where Did You Just Go?
Over the years, I’ve known different friends consult in tech.
One category that was popular on the branding side when people started to code their own native app on iOS was to come up with a catchy, short name.
Knowing how to pronounce a company and then spell it properly on the app store were, of course, crucial first steps as the app store popularity took off a decade ago.
Last week, when BB&T ($BBT) and SunTrust ($STI) unveiled their new brand name, it got plenty of jokes directed its way.
First off, the website is ridiculously long to type so I’ll write out all the words here… The Premier Financial Institution:
“Bringing together two organizations with rich histories and deep values takes commitment, care, and creativity. Turning them into one bank will prove to be an unparalleled opportunity for transformation. To build our new brand for success, we started by talking to the people closest to it. Associates, teammates, prospects, and clients all shared inputs and insights to shape who we are and where we’re going, ensuring that we’re creating the bank people want.
Now, we’re thrilled to announce our new name: Truist.”
Clearly, pulling off a merger does not take creativity.
Nothing makes me trust Truist and the fact that it’s a financial institution makes things worse.
Speaking of the trust scale, Facebook ($FB) finally announced its dive into the currency space with Libra.
The Libra Association makes me think it’s a Meetup for twentysomethings who still believe in horoscopes, but the brand name is still marginally better than Truist:
“All over the world, people with less money pay more for financial services. Hard-earned income is eroded by fees, from remittances and wire costs to overdraft and ATM charges. Payday loans can charge annualized interest rates of 400 percent or more, and finance charges can be as high as $30 just to borrow $100.4. When people are asked why they remain on the fringe of the existing financial system, those who remain ‘unbanked’ point to not having sufficient funds, high and unpredictable fees, banks being too far away, and lacking the necessary documentation.”
And yes, the roster of 27 organizations that have faith in this “independent, not-for-profit membership organization” is impressive:
- Payments: Mastercard, PayPal, PayU (Naspers’ FinTech arm), Stripe, Visa
- Technology and marketplaces: Booking Holdings, eBay, Facebook/Calibra, Farfetch, Lyft, MercadoPago, Spotify AB, Uber Technologies, Inc.
- Telecommunications: Iliad, Vodafone Group
- Blockchain: Anchorage, Bison Trails, Coinbase, Inc., Xapo Holdings Limited
- Venture Capital: Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Initiatives, Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital, Union Square Ventures
- Nonprofit and multilateral organizations, and academic institutions: Creative Destruction Lab, Kiva, Mercy Corps, Women’s World Banking
Since I subscribe to both Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Venture blogs, I expected to read the optimism.
Albert Wenger from Union Square Ventures blogged as follows:
“There is a historical analogy here to when Microsoft released Internet Explorer. That was a crucial step for the mass adoption of the Web. Yes, it was a reactive move and designed, infamously, to ‘cut off the air supply’ for Netscape. And yet all the sudden millions of people had access who previously did not. That was in 1995.
It is useful to remember that Microsoft was not the primary beneficiary of the web. Instead, it resulted in the growth of a whole host of new companies!”
And Albert’s colleague, Fred Wilson, added this:
“Once we have crypto-compatibility built-in to applications, browsers, and phones many new behaviors and use cases will emerge. The financial system, in general, will become more accessible (smartphone adoption is outpacing bank account adoption globally). Payments can become faster, more reliable and less expensive. Magical new user experiences will be possible due to interoperability and reduced friction, the same way that the Web’s native interoperability unlocked countless new use cases and experiences. And, perhaps most importantly, we will open the door to self-sovereign digital identities (private keys) that are the underpinnings of user-controlled privacy and control of data.”
Katie Haun, which is a name more people should know, at Andreessen Horowitz concluded her team’s blog post on this note:
“Today marks the first day in the Libra story. Given the project’s scale and ambition, there are still a number of open questions about how it will work — some technical, some financial, and some governance-related. Over the coming months, we plan to take part in discussions within the Libra Association to help answer these questions. We hope to contribute in a way that both stays true to the original crypto ethos and also makes the technology accessible to mainstream users, such that crypto is ultimately in the hands of billions around the world.”
Who knows what happens from here?
In the very short-term, at least my bitcoins are up in value.
To kill time, watch Fleabag, Seasons 1 and 2, on your devices.
I will still hate the banks. All of them. Regardless of their names.
