Expert: Blackstones new name is a mortal sin

The controversial private equity fund Blackstone has changed the name of the Danish department in an attempt to get a better image after the recent fierce criticism.

The Danish section, who before was called 360 North, must now be called “Kereby”.

It explains, in an interview with Politiken.

the Name must signal that the company now “has” on its customers. The traditional Danish expression for that worry.

But it is a communicative “mortal sin”. It says Lasse Peter Laursen, lecturer in crisis management at the Copenhagen Business School, B. T.

He refers to the documentary film ‘The empire city’, which three weeks ago showed how Blackstone are buying apartments and puts them in a position so that the rent and kapitalfondens profit increases. On the way are people with medium – and low-income squeezed out of the lejeboligerne in Copenhagen.

“This is an untrustworthy strategy to get back on their feet again purely omdømmemæssigt. It is almost a step backwards, when shortly after is so bombastic. It takes the name away and goes in the press and say that you will now have good old-fashioned customer service. It Goldenbahis sounds not credible,” says Lasse Peter Laursen.

another pitfall of the new name is that it is linked so directly to a new and positive behavior. It says professor of business communication at Aarhus University, Finn Frandsen.

“In this case is the name right on the and hard and one-to-one with the message. And if the new style does not go, and there comes a new crisis, should they change the name again? The pigeons are not,” says Finn Frandsen.

on Monday afternoon, it has not been possible to get a comment from Kereby. But for Politiken stressed Kerebys new Chief Operational Officer, Kenneth Ohlendorff, that they should now be a much more customer-focused business.

“To change the name makes no difference in itself at all,” he said.

“It is the underlying, that is important. We have worked long with, the employees now know the new goals and direction, now we have to learn to get there. And so we are ready for the change”.