Twitter to X: the most expensive logo deletion in branding history

What actually happened

In July 2023, Twitter became X. The bird, one of the few logos on the planet that needed no name beside it, was retired overnight. 'Tweet', a verb the brand had somehow pushed into the dictionary, went with it.

Brand analysts estimated the abandoned equity in the billions of dollars. Whatever the exact figure, the shape of it is not in dispute: a globally recognised brand identity, built over seventeen years, was switched off in an evening.

Why this one is different

Gap retreated. Tropicana retreated. X did not, because this was not a redesign that misfired. It was a deliberate repositioning: the owner wanted an everything-app called X and was willing to pay the brand equity bill for it.

That makes it the purest demonstration of what a rebrand really is. It is not a new logo. It is a strategic decision with a price tag, and the logo is just the receipt.

What it teaches about brand strategy

Naming is compounding. Every year a name is used, recognised and repeated, it gets more expensive to replace. That is also the argument for getting the name and the brand positioning right early, while changing them is still cheap.

Verbs are the jackpot. When your brand name becomes the verb for the category, you have won a prize almost no marketing budget can buy. Deleting one is a choice you get to make exactly once.

And repositioning can justify almost anything, if the new position is real. The jury on X is still out. The invoice, however, has already been paid.

The takeaway for your brand

Know what your brand equity is worth before you spend it. Most companies have the opposite problem to X: not too much recognition, but too little, which is a cheaper and much more fixable problem. Fixing it is literally our whole job. Start with the brand build, or see what it costs.