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TransferWise changes name to Wise

wise.com

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Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#201

Post by hobofan »

jarek83 wrote: post #192
scrollaway wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prediction: zero negative will come out of the name change or redesign, and three years from now they'll be bigger than ever. I'm long on them and they haven't even IPO'd yet. Can't wait for them, and Stripe. Seriously, have you ever seen a rebrand negatively affect a product? Rebrands have to be thought about retrospectively: you need to think whether it would make sense to go from the new to the old. Number26 for e…

> Seriously, have you ever seen a rebrand negatively affect a product? I think there is an example in Europe. myTaxi has been rebranded to FREE NOW. The change has been dictated to free the brand from just the taxi business connection. But I believe it was unfortunate, at least for their taxi business. I don't have hard numbers, but the new name and logo seems to be random, completely unrelated to taxis, so when you…

> It's 2 years now with new name, but they iOS app is still named: FREE NOW (mytaxi)

On Android it's even more confusing. Some time ago it changed from "FREE NOW (mytaxi)" to "FREE NOW (Kapten)". At first I feared that they were undergoing another stupid rebranding (or tried to do one to Kapten and then went back on it and I missed that). Turns out that was a company they acquired from the UK, which I assume 90% of existing users never heard of before.

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#202

Post by richeyryan »

jarek83 wrote: post #192
scrollaway wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prediction: zero negative will come out of the name change or redesign, and three years from now they'll be bigger than ever. I'm long on them and they haven't even IPO'd yet. Can't wait for them, and Stripe. Seriously, have you ever seen a rebrand negatively affect a product? Rebrands have to be thought about retrospectively: you need to think whether it would make sense to go from the new to the old. Number26 for e…

> Seriously, have you ever seen a rebrand negatively affect a product? I think there is an example in Europe. myTaxi has been rebranded to FREE NOW. The change has been dictated to free the brand from just the taxi business connection. But I believe it was unfortunate, at least for their taxi business. I don't have hard numbers, but the new name and logo seems to be random, completely unrelated to taxis, so when you…

In Ireland the app went from being Hailo to MyTaxi to Free Now. Personally I loved Hailo. It became a verb and it was common to say "I'm going to Hailo now". Now it's "I'm going to FreeNow... now". It just doesn't sound as smooth. I still use it but I really feel like Hailo was the ideal name.

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#203

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

manigandham wrote: post #88
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But at least "TransferWise" is unique, clearly about money, easily searchable, and defendable as a trademark. "Wise" is very generic, and worse my guess is that they'll have a hell of a time defending that trademark.

Does Square or Chase have trouble with their trademark? It's not a big deal.

Single words are often used when they don't really have much to do with the underlying product (Apple, Amazon, Mint, etc.) because it can be "branded" for that market.

But with Wise, for example there is already a MoneyWise, BudgetWise, etc., so "Wise" by itself may have issues with those other existing businesses.

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#205

Post by [deleted] »

scrollaway wrote: post #147
colincooke wrote: post #12

I love transferwise, depend on it often. I don't get the rebrand, their old name was descriptive, easy to google, and from all perspectives really good. The rebrand won't change me using it, but I really can't see the positive in this.

Prediction: zero negative will come out of the name change or redesign, and three years from now they'll be bigger than ever. I'm long on them and they haven't even IPO'd yet. Can't wait for them, and Stripe. Seriously, have you ever seen a rebrand negatively affect a product? Rebrands have to be thought about retrospectively: you need to think whether it would make sense to go from the new to the old. Number26 for e…

[deleted]

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#206

Post by ksec »

scrollaway wrote: post #147
colincooke wrote: post #12

I love transferwise, depend on it often. I don't get the rebrand, their old name was descriptive, easy to google, and from all perspectives really good. The rebrand won't change me using it, but I really can't see the positive in this.

Prediction: zero negative will come out of the name change or redesign, and three years from now they'll be bigger than ever. I'm long on them and they haven't even IPO'd yet. Can't wait for them, and Stripe. Seriously, have you ever seen a rebrand negatively affect a product? Rebrands have to be thought about retrospectively: you need to think whether it would make sense to go from the new to the old. Number26 for e…

>Can't wait for them, and Stripe.

Wise is obviously a rebrand intended for IPO, along with their talks of being IPO ready. But Stripe? They dont seems to be making IPO preparation at all. I wonder when will it happen or they are happy now as they dont have to deal with the pressure of being a public company.

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#207

Post by fumblebee »

arthurcolle wrote: post #50

The logo is very bad. Different angles for different letters? It's comically bad. (is it flatter S supposed to remind you of bank wire s) ? Also, top Google search is this: https://www.wise.us/ Unbelievably bad rebrand, shockingly so Naming collisions is such an ugly state of affairs

I can't help but see the Visa logo when I look at the new Wise logo. Intentional, maybe?

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#208

Post by WA »

porker wrote: post #162
scrollaway wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prediction: zero negative will come out of the name change or redesign, and three years from now they'll be bigger than ever. I'm long on them and they haven't even IPO'd yet. Can't wait for them, and Stripe. Seriously, have you ever seen a rebrand negatively affect a product? Rebrands have to be thought about retrospectively: you need to think whether it would make sense to go from the new to the old. Number26 for e…

> Seriously, have you ever seen a rebrand negatively affect a product? The pandemic coming along masked it, but I think the Realtimeboard to Miro rebrand did. They went from a clearly defined value proposition in the name to a nothing-word. For software that was installed on desktops, so the name and icon changed. n=1 but I still have to stop and think which app I want to open for a realtime whiteboard.

Piwik to the new name I can't remember. But maybe that's just me.

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#209

Post by sangnoir »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #82
rorykoehler wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found their name to have been outlived by the specs of their service offering. Transferwise is about much more than transferring money these days.

But at least "TransferWise" is unique, clearly about money, easily searchable, and defendable as a trademark. "Wise" is very generic, and worse my guess is that they'll have a hell of a time defending that trademark.

Trademarks are granted within specific fields, so they won't have any trouble defending it against people providing related goods and service (banking/finance/transfers) using a similar mark. The won't be able to defend against someone else using "Wise" in a different field (say, an education platform) but that is as designed. It is unfortunate that large corporations overzealously "defend" their trademarks against all usage of the trademark even in unrelated fields, that is abuse of the process and not how the law was intended to work, they basically drown you with lawyer fees.

Re: TransferWise changes name to Wise

#210

Post by 112012123 »

emp_ wrote: post #91

Great Timing! USERS BEWARE, my story I used the service for two years and just had the most surreal disastrous experience since the year flipped. I religiously send a the same (about 5k USD) to my home country every month so I can pay my mortgage and other bills I left when moved to NA. 2021 arrives, I start a transfer on January 27, days pass, nothing. I contact support 10 days later (of something that in the past 2…

As someone that had a similar experience with Transferwise (actually also a 5k transfer), I'll give you a piece of advice: sue them.

In the US, you can file a small claims easily and without a lawyer. Some jurisdictions will even let you file 100% online, and the filing fees are very low.

After 2 months of Transferwises' excuses, they wired the full amount + legal fees to my account within a few hours of them receiving the notice.

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