Gothamist has some photos of 175 Water Street in NYC — which until recently proudly displayed the name and logo of the American International Group. What happened?
Well, it seems that there’s a little rebranding going on. AIG told the NY Post that “the company had decided to replace the large AIG sign — outside the entrance to its property-casualty offices — as part of its plan to change that operation’s name to AIU Holdings Ltd”
From the NYPost:
A rebranding to distance the giant insurer’s sprawling operations across 130 countries away from the AIG name are likely to continue.
“I think the AIG name is so thoroughly wounded and disgraced that we’re probably going to have to change it,” Liddy told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee last Wednesday.
Any suggestions for him?
I would think that changing your corporate name has to be an enormous and unnecessary expense. But we don’t mind paying for this too….right guys?
The first act of every new “Sr VP Marketing Strategies” I’ve ever know is to recommend a branding change. $100’s/K down the drain to call attention to themselves from a compliant incompetent board and CEO.
I may have even gotten fired, or at least not promoted once for making fun of this crap at a board meeting.
Being an iconoclast is not all the fun it is cracked up to be, but I’m sure when more $$$ is spent to show how the public has positively responded to crap on crap, yes, more retention bonuses will be issued. Probably in the form of annual changing set salaries.
Well, Arthur Anderson changed it’s name to Accenture and it seems to have worked for them.
I wonder if Fortune 500 companies have contingency plans put in place for this. They come up with a bunch of different names and they ask a focus group which name least likely reminds them of the companies current name.
Bobbo beat me to it.
AIG should become ChickenShit.
#3–GF==you did me one better. You’re saying this rebranding actually works?
Hmmm. Being nothing but a pragmatist, I’ll have to rethink my entire life.
I feel better all ready. What is a bailout?
YEs this is standard operating procedure. “Altria” is another example. They used to be Phillip Morris but everyone knew they sold tobacco so they changed their name.
With all these vague and meaningless names that are vetted to make sure they don’t mean anything in any language there needs to be a new game show, “Company Name or Drug Name?”
Turd, Crap, Shit, Feces, No. 2, Poo, Doo-Doo, Poop … call it what you will. It still stinks and should be allowed to expire.
By the way, how come the Treasury’s plan to buy up billions in bad bank assets is needed now that we have already propped up the bank(s)/insurance company(s) that were supposed to cover it.
D.I.E.?
Why do I drop by to see if anyone commenting here is up-to-date on what really is happening?
Fuck it. Return to the circle-jerk, guys.
Whatever they change their name to, we must all remember to refer to them as XXXX – formerly AIG.
No one has said it yet, but I’ll be the echo chamber.
Its SHOCKING that all this money is being spent and no reform of the “system” that got us into this.
I guess there is still time, but all these “too big to fail” corps should be broken up.
All these financial instruments that are just too clever by half need to be outlawed as transparent schemes to defraud the public.
As usual, media is asleep at the wheel while congress consipires with corporate leeches to suck the blood out of working people.
If a rose by any other name poops in the forest and there’s no journalist to cover it would its droppings still smell?
In order to fool most of the people most of the time, they will need to wait until the winds change and the news has a new stench to follow.
AIG is now IOU, (the tax payer)
I.O.U. Holdings Inc.
Incompetent
Obnoxious
Uxorious
Uxorious doesn’t fit at all.
Closer would be unctuous but thats not right either.
It doesn’t fit the patter, but maybe
unprofitable? untrustworthy?
Undead
How about Financial Unlimted, or F.U.ltd?
AIOU…
An I Owe YOU
All you need is 1 more letter.
The Company needs to be broken up into smaller parts then the parts need names.
Yes, we don’t mind paying for it because we are major shareholders in the company and want it to do well.
Just like we don’t want to destroy the company’s reputation, and our investment, because of a few practices we don’t like.
BDG>Ben Dover Group or SSG>Sit and Spin Group
Some crude juvenile reference to unwelcome anal penetration seems appropriate.
It already started. AIG Direct is now 21st Century insurance.
Who’s gonna pay for the Name change.. they better not touch that bail out money to do that!
That Dragnet line is back in my brain.
“Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.”
How about NBI… Nothing But Initials.
There were already some jokes about this on Nightline, before I checked this blog. Saying things like “This will just make the joke ‘IAGreed’ would no longer work.” And, “Why not IOU. Or better IO-Your Grandchildren?” I think they dropped the ‘G’ so “A.I.G. is a P.I.G.” wouldn’t work too.
The ‘G’ in ‘AIG’ stood for “Group”. So what’s the ‘U’ suppose to stand for, if anything? Maybe it’s “Unholymess” or “Upyours”? Perhaps “Unlimitedbailouts”.
When is it going to be acknowledged that this firm is basically finished? And we’re just pumping money into it, until the major investors and board members all bail out with their cuts.
Required reading: Rolling Stone Magazines investigation of what happened at AIG.
http://rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover
can i ASK..
If I have a contract to pay AIG money, will it default, because there IS NO AIG??
I would hope so..solve alot of little problems QUICK.
Their new name should be ‘W.O.E.N.S.U.’ for “We Owe Everyone Nothing, Screw U”.