Moving on from the past
The Black Lives Matter movement has caused many businesses and institutions to reflect on what their heritage, values and identity say about them in a modern, progressive and diverse society. Cass Business School was no different. After internal dialogue, it concluded its name – adopted a generous donation by the Sir John Cass Foundation - no longer reflected the values it held as a brand and educator. Cass asked us to run a rigorous, transparent, fair and inclusive process to arrive at a more appropriate name.
Driven by a highly inclusive process
A name is the primary identifier for any entity, but brands are built on far more than that. With that in mind, this project wasn’t about redefining the brand, but about finding a name which would better represent the institution and its values – and help power its journey into the future. We ran an inclusive process that engaged the whole community through stakeholder workshops that measured the strength of feeling behind the change, crowdsourcing of potential names online and, subsequently, testing of selected candidate names.
A name that embodies the institution
The name chosen, BAYES BUSINESS SCHOOL, was inspired by Thomas Bayes, a nonconformist theologian and mathematician whose grave is opposite the school in Bunhill Fields. The suitability of the name lies in Bayes’ famous theorem, which suggests that we get closer to the truth by constantly updating our beliefs in proportion to the weight of new evidence. It was this, rather than the man himself, that fitted so well with the brand values and direction of the School.
