From Avantax to Osaic, behind the rebrands of 8 financial services companies

What's in a name? Behind the rebrands at 8 finserv companies

From the not-so-superficial choice of color palette to key regulatory concerns, there’s a lot for financial services firms to consider when undertaking a rebrand.

Twitter switched to X. Dunkin' Donuts dropped the "donut." Companies change their names all the time, but making the switch is no walk in the park.

Whether it's reflective of a tangible change to the company or simply an attempt to refresh a company's image, the choice to rebrand is not one that marketing officers should take lightly, according to April Rudin of financial services marketing firm The Rudin Group.

"Changing a company name is a long process, and it's an emotional process too," she said.

Rebranding can be more than a shiny new name and logo, signaling a shift in company strategy, structure or products and services offered. Along with these changes, executives are known to make big promises like improved company performance or client perception.

Rudin said that the best names for companies looking to update their brands have good SEO and intuitive spelling.

"You mainly want to elicit trust and strength with a company name, because you're dealing with money and financial services," said Rudin. "But on the other hand, you don't need to use those words."

Rudin cautioned firms against using parts of words such as "fin" of "financial" and "vest" of "invest," because of their overuse in the marketplace.

Instead, she suggested creating a tagline.

"I find adding a tagline as being more important because you can describe more about what the firm does, and you have a few more words, rather than just relying on a company name," she said.

Financial Planning rounded up eight financial services companies, from fintechs to wealth management firms to donor-advised funds, to look into the motivations behind their name changes:

Avantax (formerly Blucora)
Axtella (SPS Family)
Corient (CI Private Wealth)
DAFgiving360 (Schwab Charitable)
Dispatch (One Advisory）
Osaic (Advisor Group)
Nitrogen (Riskalyze)
World Investment Advisors (Pensionmark)

Blucora → Avantax

The Dallas-based company Blucora, the name of the former parent company of Avantax Wealth Management, adopted its subsidiary's name in 2022.

Along with its rebrand, the company announced the sale of its tax preparation software TaxAct for $620 million to a London-based private equity firm.

Along with the name change, the company changed its NASDAQ ticker symbol from "BCOR" to "AVTA."

"We have transformed our company," said CEO Chris Walters in a January 2023 press release. "This name and ticker symbol change is an extension of that transformation and aligns with our goal to raise awareness of Avantax as a pure-play, tax-focused wealth management business."

The company introduced the name Avantax Wealth Management in 2019 to refer to the unit produced by the merger of its HD Vest and 1st Global wealth management divisions.

The sale of Avantax to financial services company Cetera for $1.2 billion was announced last September. Cetera will continue to use the Avantax name to refer to the firm, which will be a "standalone business unit" of the company.

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SPS Family → Axtella

Axtella

SPS Family, the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based parent company of broker-dealers Sigma Financial Corporation and Parkland Securities and RIA Sigma Planning, changed its name to Axtella in October.

Maria Bethel, senior vice president of marketing and communications at Axtella, said the company changed its name to "usher the firm into the future without severing its 40-year rooted history and its already established culture of relationship-building."

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In the run-up to the rebrand, the company issued a series of questionnaires and conducted interviews with leadership and staff over a year and a half to determine its core values. It found that attracting younger advisors to the industry and the company was a priority.

The name "Axtella" comes from a combination of the words stellar, nexus and constellation.

"We knew that going in, we needed a brand that evoked aspiration, reaching for the stars, exploration, which is how we came to our visual palettes as well," Bethel said. "So that exploration was further defined as acknowledging where we've been, where we need to go, etc."

The requirements for a new name were to be innovative, concise, easy to pronounce and in the same spirit as the old name.

While the company changed its name, it did not change any core parts of its business structure or services.

"Axtella was meant to honor the firm's promise to unceasingly refine and innovate, and we need to keep the needs of the financial professionals and our clients as our North Star in decision-making," Bethel said.

Bethel said that the younger generation's reception of the company's new name has been positive because of its uniqueness and because the company created a thoughtful media plan to introduce it.

"We weren't changing anything about our core. We just needed a better name and visual representation of who we were today and where we're going in the future," she said.

CI Private Wealth → Corient

The Toronto-based company CI Financial changed the name of its Miami-based wealth and asset management division, CI Private Wealth, to Corient last August as part of a larger push to appeal to a wealthier clientele and unify its several brands.

The name was inspired by Corient Capital Partners, a $5 billion AUM Newport Beach, California-based RIA that CI Financial bought in 2022.

"The unified Corient brand clarifies for clients that they benefit from the expertise of our entire network and the expanded services and capabilities made possible by our greater size and scale," CEO of CI Financial Kurt MacAlpine said in a press release. The name "Corient" is a portmanteau of "client" and "orient" which "expresses the firm's commitment to providing its clients with an unparalleled wealth management experience"

CI Private Wealth's rebranding came as it set on the path of becoming one of the largest acquirers of RIAs. "It's the right time to adopt a new identity, one that conveys the value we offer and our distinct character and positioning in the marketplace," said MacAlpine. "We're very excited about our brand and the future of Corient."

The company consulted with a third-party branding group that brought in over 70 of the brand's partners to provide feedback in focus groups. Through this process, the list of potential names was narrowed down to two, with a vote being used to determine the final name.

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"The new name better reflects the extensive capabilities we offer today as a national, integrated organization and our vision to become the country's preeminent private wealth firm," McAlpine said.

Schwab Charitable → DAFgiving360

Schwab Charitable, the San Francisco-based independent nonprofit charity, announced its rebrand to DAFgiving360 on June 21.

"We're excited about our announcement that Schwab Charitable is unveiling a new brand and name, DAFgiving360, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of our organization," said Fred Kaynor, managing director of relationship management in marketing and strategic partnerships at DAFgiving360 in a statement to Financial Planning. "Our new name puts donor-advised funds (DAFs) front and center, which will further our mission to increase charitable giving in the United States."

The donor-advised-fund company's rebrand did not come with major changes to its function or organizational structure. "The name DAFgiving360 is intended to drive awareness of DAFs — the fastest-growing giving vehicle — and provide a straightforward description of what we offer, Kaynor said."

The number "360" in the name refers to "the comprehensive charitable planning resources" the company offers related to donor-advised funds, the "360 impact" of charitable giving and that charitable giving is part of holistic "360" financial planning, according to Kaynor.

Kaynor said that so far, the rebrand has been well-received by clients and the broader philanthropic community.

"The new brand is a change, and we've heard great commentary from our employees, donors, advisors and the nonprofit sector," he said. "It confirms that the new name provides a great opportunity to raise awareness of DAFs and help us fulfill our mission of increasing charitable giving in the U.S.."

One Advisory → Dispatch

OneAdvisory, a Miami-based wealthtech firm, changed its name Dispatch in January at the same time it announced it received $8 million in seed funding.

"Dispatch" is meant to convey the centrality of the firm's technology and data expertise to its business.

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"Dispatch operates silently behind the various software products that firms use. It acts as a coordinator, 'dispatching' data across systems in real time," the company said in its press release.

The company said it plans to use the infusion of capital to support engineering, client service resources, partnerships with client relationship managers, financial planning tools and custodians.

"Dispatch is defining the category of 'data orchestration' in wealth management, which makes the company a very exciting investment for us," said David Jegen, managing partner of F-Prime's technology fund, in the statement.

Advisor Group → Osaic

Osaic

A play on the word "mosaic," Osaic, the new name of Phoenix, Arizona-based Advisor Group, reflects the brand's history of bringing together different firms under its umbrella.

"We made the decision to rebrand as part of a larger strategic initiative to unite the firms underneath the old Advisor Group brand into one entity," said Jen Roche, executive vice president of marketing and communications at the newly named Osaic. "We knew we needed one home for everyone and a brand that not only reflected the future vision for the company but represented everyone in the ecosystem."

Jamie Price, president and CEO of Osaic, said in a live streamed video that he wanted the name to honor the brand's history and set the company up for the future as the industry evolves.

"A brand is so much more than just a logo, a name or the colors on your website," Price said. "We developed the Osaic brand as a reflection of who we are, and most importantly who we want to be, and as a promise to the advisors we serve and will serve in the future."

Additionally, the firm sought to address the results of brand studies that found the name "Advisor Group" lacked marketplace recognition and brand loyalty from clients.

Advisor Group renamed itself Osaic in 2023, seven years after its founding, as part of a merger of its eight wealth management firms: American Portfolios, FSC Securities, Infinex Investments, Royal Alliance Associates, SagePoint Financial, Securities America, Triad Advisors and Woodbury Financial Services.

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In choosing a name, the company sought not a preexisting word but a brand that was "truly unique that didn't carry subjective meaning behind it," said Roche. "The goal was to build a new brand that we would create with the advisors to serve and imbue it with the values, vision and purpose that matters most to them and to us."

The firm consulted the branding agency Sullivan & Company to help with its relaunch, which included a transition from blue and white to teal and lime green as brand colors.

"We wanted something that was vastly different from others in our space and that showed a boldness so we chose colors and a logo that was unique," Roche said. "We purposely wanted to stay away from the blues that are so prevalent in our industry and so we looked at a variety of logos and colors against those of others to stand out, but also be something that would stand the test of time."

John Paolini, chief creative officer at Sullivan, spoke in a video about details of the logo, calling the color palette "earthen, and vibrant, and vital."

"It is connected to the way people live and work and think," he said. Paolini also explained some nuances in the logo that help make it a "badge" that projects the attitude of Osaic as a company.

"If our promise is to enable everybody to thrive, we really want to put the people first in it," Paolini said. "So there's that one little notion in it where the 'i' pops up, and there's this 31 degree angle that creates this wide open aperture for a pathway to go wherever they need to go because thriving is a very individual thing, and also if you look at the baseline of this logo itself, it has this nice little ligature that feels grounded in reality, grounded in the communities."

Paolini also spoke about the images used in Osaic's newer promotional materials.

"Our photography system is really going to represent those life-centric moments where they're not just doing business, these are not transactions, each one of these is a transformation and a chance to build a bigger relationship," he said.

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Roche said that overall, the rebrand has been successful.

"In any rebrand, there are always differing opinions and groups who either love or hate the new look, but I think most of our clients were excited to have a fresh start and they've really helped us build the brand and showcase it," she said. "I get a lot of compliments on the color palette and uniqueness of the brand in our space, which was the goal."

Riskalyze → Nitrogen

Nitrogen

The Auburn, California-based wealthtech firm renamed itself last May as part of its pivot in focus from risk to growth.

Named after the most abundant element in Earth's atmosphere, the name change was part of its strategy to more accurately represent the services the company provides.

"It's a catalyst. It's a force multiplier. And it just embodied all of those values of energy and velocity and growth that we deliver for wealth management firms and for the advisors they serve," said then CEO Aaron Klein.

The company engaged Focus Lab to redesign the visual branding and Lexicon Branding to aid in its renaming and relaunch. Lexicon presented the company with 40 names which they considered before landing on Nitrogen.

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Craig Clark, chief marketing officer at Nitrogen, said that Klein had been considering a rebrand for four years before the company finally decided to make the shift.

"We created the category of risk alignment software," Clark said. "That was what we did, and we built up a client base of many thousands of advisors and firms using Riskalyze. Fast forward 10 years, though, we have a big engineering team, and we had continued to build new software and we had built products that were being used for financial planning, retirement planning and especially for investment research."

On July 9 the firm launched an integrated client engagement platform made up of three products: Nitrogen Risk Center, Nitrogen Research Center and Nitrogen Planning Center.

"I continue to believe this very confidently: If we had done that under the name Riskalyze, most financial advisors wouldn't have heard us and they would have continued to perceive us as a risk tolerance software company," Clark said.

Nitrogen's revamped logo was inspired by the shape of a spangle, a sequin-like glittering piece of metal used to adorn clothes that produces a unique geometric shape when looked at under a microscope, according to Clark.

"We told them what our company was going to be, we told them what we want our brands going to stand for, the kind of software we're going to build in the future, and they went away and came up with many designs," Clark said about Nitrogen's partnership with Focus Labs. "They have a really creative process, ultracreative people."

Clark said that while clients are still adjusting, the company has "fully exploited" its rebrand and has benefitted from its ability to use its new name, Nitrogen, and maintain its old name, Riskalyze, for its specific risk tolerance software product.

"It sounds like this crazy marketing exercise, but it does fundamentally unlock pretty heavy-duty corporate strategy, which is what you're up to when you rebrand," Clark said.

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Clark pointed to several factors, including the desire to spur organic growth, the great wealth transfer, succession planning and consolidation from private equity firms that have contributed in different ways to companies' desire to rebrand.

"A lot of firms out there that quite badly need to change the way their clients perceive them so that they can unlock a new leg of growth," he said.

While private equity firm Hg Capital acquired a majority stake in Nitrogen in 2021, Clark does not believe that the acquisition led to the rebranding. However, he did say that the advice and capital resources that came from the firm's stake allowed them to pursue an aggressive growth strategy, which included the rebranding.

"It was this very organic decision," Clark said. "I don't think they ever would have compelled us to change the name. It's just not their style."

Pensionmark → World Investment Advisors LLC

World Investment Advisors

The most recent rebrand on this list, Santa Barbara, California-based Pensionmark Financial Group changed its name to World Investment Advisors on July 10.

World Insurance Associates acquired Pensionmark in 2022. CEO of WIA Troy Hammond said in an interview with Financial Planning that the rebrand was motivated by two factors: the desire to reflect the expanded services company offers and the name of its new parent company.

Hammond said that when Pensionmark was acquired in 2022, about 70% of its revenue came from institutional consulting, whereas today 65% of WIA's revenue comes from wealth management.

The company has expanded rapidly, acquiring three fee-based wealth management firms within nine months: Tomorrow's Financial Services and TFS Wealth, Boston Harbor Wealth Advisors and Financial Solutions.

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"The branding allows us to really have that flexibility in terms of what types of financial services firms we're buying," he said. "I think it's such a generic, more holistic name that allows us to play in a lot of different spaces."

Hammond said that the idea that communicating a rebrand to clients and vendors is particularly difficult is a misconception. Generally, rebrands are received positively, he said.

"Clients do business with us because of the quality work that we do and the services we provide," said Hammond. "They're smart. They understand a rebrand and they understand why it makes sense. Our vendors understand it."

However, he noted that rebranding still requires paying attention to a lot of details, including both regulatory requirements and client-facing materials.

"There's so many little things from your emails to your website to business cards to the booths at conferences, to the backgrounds on your zoom meetings, you name it. There's just so many things that need to be done," he said.

World Investment Advisors has received significant capital from private equity investors in the past few years, notably investments totaling over $1 billion from Charlesbank Capital Partners in 2021 and from Goldman Sachs Asset Management in 2023. However, Hammond said that neither investor included a rebranding mandate when they acquired a stake in the firm.

"The brand shape was actually driven by the management team on the financial services side," Hammond said. "We just felt it was the right time, and it made sense for us to do it."