Basically after reading the comments from Mondo and watching the live stream etc the main thing that I am taking away from all of it is that they didn’t want to spend any money on replacing their t-shirts hence keeping the M therefore ending up with this name.
I think that was mostly tongue-in-cheek. They wanted to keep the “M” mark/symbol.
I don’t think it is too late to revisit this decision and pick another company name. The reaction from the community is on balance, negative. From the comments from Italian users, it also does not seem that the name was given a thorough international review. Surely any name should be tested against the languages of the world’s major economies? I assume the domains (monzo.com…) did not cost much, so this decision can be considered ‘rename alpha’. The beta version can be a different name. This is not an irreversible decision a la brexit. I think it is a mistake to create the artificial constraint of retaining M as the first letter. The logo is secondary to the name itself. The tail should not wag the dog. It is hard enough coming up with a good name with no constraints. The letter M is anyway a weak consonant. The global connotation of ‘mondo’ mitigated that, but ‘monzo’ loses all of that power. Start afresh with no artificial constraints - please! Consider seeking help from marketing agencies. How about crowdsourcing the name from agencies rather than users? The winning agency gets a bounty and a good crack at a contract with the company for future marketing services. I think the agency people would love that.
I am curious whether they setup http://bankymcbankface.co.uk/ in response to the folks who suggested McBoatface when the competition opened?
Monzo takes away everything that Mondo had. It sounds cheap, like Bonzo or Bonzai, and like an Asian bank if anything.
Don’t quite feel the same about the bank if I’m honest. Someone suggested another rename - should be considered at the least.
A company’s success can be largely dependable on their name, take Dropbox for example, it has meaning, you can’t go wrong with it. Plus - Mondo meant ‘world’ in Spanish, and that appealed to me considering what this bank is in its premise, a branch-less mobile based bank/app that you can take anywhere.
Why don’t they just use Focus?
Hit the nail on the head. The “z” cheapens it. Bit gutted!
I bet your wrong… Mondo was ok ish. But this is straight from Disney is the new name
Well said!! Obviously we are not a community bank …
It’s shite. Fortunately the name doesn’t matter that much.
Thanks for that info. Just signed up. Starling is a name I can live with …
I’m still bitter that a Marathon is now snickers… & honestly I haven’t bought a snickers in years even though same product. I have no idea why but it’s the truth…
I’m finding this reaction all very odd.
If the sound of a Z is that unappealing, perhaps Lloydz and Barclayz sound be rebranded too.
I don’t love the name, I don’t hate it. The biggest mistake was perhaps making such a big deal of the rebrand when it was ultimately so soft.
I agree , while not loving the name at the moment, I am loving the app which is surely what its about , easy functionality of having some control over your budgets and finances from your phone, being able to pay other users , great foreign exchange rates with no fees, an open API to play with, a bank that takes note of what its users think and suggest for a better budgeting experience.
Constant updates with new added features every month . It was only a week ago that they achieved to great applause from each of us their restricted banking licence.
Other users on this forum have used/registered for Atom, Y and B (?) Revolut etc etc and most, if not all have said Mondo is by far the best. By simply changing its name hasn’t stopped MonZo being the best available mobile phone app.
Now the name change and a lot of people hate the app/ think its a joke etc etc- the app has not changed
Well, it’s unlikely we’ll ever know (if I am wrong). I felt much more comfortable and at home with Mondo than I do with Monzo (which, I agree, could come straight from Disney) but I doubt they will change it yet again and I can’t see anything is to be gained by continuing to complain about it …
I shall see how Monzo continues to develop and there are plenty more fish about to swim in the sea over the coming year or two!
What a sad excuse I thought. Oh we could of started afresh but look at our t-shirts we did not want to change them. I just shock my head and thought new banking…Same old conservative ideas Yawn
The T-shirt thing was a very good joke but it is true that they did want to keep the letter :mondo: as really, the :mondo: has become the recognised part of the logo and is the app icon. It’s also a just an arbitrary place to start looking for names from, otherwise you have an entire worldwide (within the roman character set of course) dictionary and beyond to try and find something in.
All in all, this was the safe choice that meant the least amount of change for everyone, keeping the momentum of Mon*o without major disruption and having to completely throw away most of the previous marketing efforts. It simply gets the issue over with.
True but it’s so safe and boring. A bit like what a normal bank would of chosen, banking by committee if you will. I am not bitter (much) but life goes on.
I find myself agreeing with the majority opinion (for once) that the new name is a poor choice.
Perhaps the issue here isn’t that the community should have had a vote on the name, but that some heavyweight branding expertise should have been brought to bear on the problem of naming the bank.
Obviously with a business that provides such a fundamental service to individuals and families, perceptions and therefore names are critically important. Monzo (ugh) will succeed or fail based on its ability to persuade customers of traditional banks to make the switch to their new way of providing financial services. I don’t think the new name will work at all well to help that process.
As an investor, I find myself much less optimistic about future returns, and I worry that this name is the wrong one to carry the brand forward.
Obviously, I sincerely hope to be proven wrong, and I’m still selling the concept to anyone around me who will listen!
I guess time will tell!
They’re not followed by ‘o’ though. Lloydzo?