Why Elon Musks's 'X' Twitter rebrand is failing

Twitter logo and X logo
(Image credit: Twitter / X)

It's never a great sign when, one year after a major rebrand, people still refer to your  brand as "[New name], formerly known as [old name]". But 'X (formerly known as Twitter' is showing no signs of budging, suggesting that Elon Musk's chaotic rebrand of the social media site hasn't exactly been smooth sailing.

Twitter has been 'X' for over a year now, with the new name unveiled on 23 July last year. Since the company was acquired by Elon Musk, its market value is reported to have fallen over 70%. And according to one brand expert, it's the site's rebranding that is to blame for its fall in fortunes. We caught up with Brand expert Nick Cooper, Landor's VP of Strategy & Innovation, to find out why he thinks the brand has actually changed to "Elon Musk" – and therein lies the problem. For some more effective visual identity overhauls, take a look at the best rebrands of the 2020s so far.

Nick Cooper
Nick Cooper

Brand expert Nick Cooper is VP of Strategy & Innovation at Landor, the world’s leading brand specialists. With over 35 years’ experience, Nick specialises in helping clients grow their businesses and has worked with a wide variety of brands including Barclays, bp, BT, Maersk and Starbucks.

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Design Editor

Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of art, design, branding and lifestyle tech (which often translates to tech made by Apple). He joined in 2020 after working in copywriting and digital marketing with brands including ITV, NBC, Channel 4 and more.