With new name, old Blackwater aims to rebrand itself

The world won’t have Blackwater Worldwide to kick around anymore.

It’s gone – in name, at least.

Company President Gary Jackson told employees late Thursday that the Moyock, N.C., company will henceforth be known by  a new name: Xe.

That’s pronounced like the letter  Z  and rhymes with “tea” and “sea” – but not with “controversial.”

Jackson said  in a memo that the company has been reorganizing for several months to “create unique brand identities for its products and services.” It is ditching the name Blackwater and the red-and-black bear-claw logo.

The Blackwater name originated at the company’s sprawling rural campus for training  military and law enforcement officers.

The name drew a more negative connotation after controversies stemming from the company’s security work in Iraq, including investigations into alleged gun smuggling and the shooting of civilians in a Baghdad traffic circle.

It’s common for companies to rename in an effort to distance themselves from bad publicity, said Robert Passikoff, president of the New York marketing research firm Brand Keys Inc.

“There’s an old saying about brands: 'When you can’t change the product, you change the packaging,’” he said.

In Blackwater’s case, things have gotten so bad that the company had little choice but dump the brand, Passikoff said.

 Company spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said Blackwater’s past was only one of several factors involved in the decision. The company leaders came up with and considered several new names, she said. Xe had the best potential for brand identity but has no special meaning, she added.

Several other departments have changed names: Blackwater Airships became Guardian Flight Systems, and Blackwater Target Systems is GSD Manufacturing. The parent company for Blackwater companies, EP Investments, is simply Xe. The North Carolina campus will be called the U.S. Training Center.

“Xe will be a one-stop shopping source for world class services in the fields of security, stability, aviation, training and logistics,” Jackson wrote.

But Anusorn Singhapakdi, chairman of the marketing department at Old Dominion University, said it takes more than a name change to redeem a brand. He said core values and a solid work reputation must back up the marketing .

“That takes time,” he said.