General Electric unveils brand names as it plans split to three new future companies

US bellwether conglomerate, General Electric (GE), has unveiled new brand names as it prepares to split its business into three future public companies. 

With its company name already fully loaded with brand value (of an estimated $20 billion) and an iconic monogram logo, GE quite smartly opted not to rock the boat, but leverage its significant brand heritage. As a result, two of its new companies have quite pedestrian new names: GE's healthcare division will in future be known as GE Healthcare, while its aviation business will be renamed GE Aerospace. 

The interesting choice of the three was its decision to rebrand its portfolio of energy businesses, including GE Renewable Energy, GE Power, GE Digital and GE Energy Financial Services into one collective company that will be known as GE Vernova. The decision, we are told, was made after teams looked at "hundreds" of new names before settlingon 'Vernova', which is derived from 'ver', for green, and 'nova' for new — a new era of green energy. 

In a video released with CMO Linda Boff, GE CEO Lawrence Culp said the combination of several energy companies together "necessitated an altogether different name, one that would push beyond descriptive category labels to embody 'the energy to change the world'."

All three companies will retain the GE monogram logo, but will be emblazoned with three distinctive colours. GE Healthcare, which will be the first company to spin-off in early 2023, will feature 'compassion purple', "to reflect more humanity and warmth and achieve greater distinction."

GE Vernova, which plans to be spun off a year later in early 2024, will naturally be green.  After these spin-offs, GE will become the aviation-focused company branded as GE Aerospace and will take on a new 'atmosphere blue' brand colour, "representing the upper limits of the atmosphere." GE Aerospace will then own the GE trademark but will provide long-term licenses to the other companies.

“Over the course of the last six months, we engaged in a thorough, customer-led process to understand the intrinsic value of the GE brand for our planned future companies," said GE chief marketing officer, Linda Boff. "Based on data and analysis drawn from thousands of conversations, it became clear that the GE name and our century-plus old monogram represent a legacy of innovation, symbol of trust by global customers, pride for our team, and a talent magnet for future leaders.”

"Leveraging GE’s multi-billion-dollar global brand gives us a competitive advantage in our end markets, allowing these businesses to win in the future," said Culp. 

This post is filed under... Rebranding exercises