Fleet Europe Interview: What’s in a name? CEO Tim Albertsen explains ‘Ayvens’

The new name trips off the tongue a little easier than ALD LeasePlan, and as a single name, it better reflects the merged company's aim to become more than the sum of its parts. But why Ayvens? "You know, it all started with a manifesto: what the company is about, what we want to be and do,” says Tim Albertsen. “And then we found a name that fits that manifesto. And a logo, tagline, and colours that fit with it. All that has been carefully considered."

Tell me a bit about the process? "We started out with a thousand names, and cut it down until we had three names left that we believed had the right sound and structure, and that reflected what we want to be in the future. Of those three 'Ayvens’ was the preferred one for the taskforce that was working on this. And it was my preference too. As was the case with the new tagline: "Better with every move". That reflects that first of all, we want to make the world a better place – for our customers, for our own people, and for society at large. I think the name and the tagline and the logo work together well."

Internally, we were discussing the logo. It looks like a road, but also like the letter A. And like two companies joining forces. "To be honest, I think it’s a great logo. You can indeed see it in many ways: as two companies coming together, as a road, as a path upwards, and so on. It’s got quite a few things in it."

The main colour of your new corporate identity is turquoise. Why? "We believe that our name and brand reflect something new in the mobility space. Now, if you place all different logos and colours in a quadrant, you’ll see that our new colour puts us where we want to be. Not in the corner with the more conservative players, but in the corner with companies that want to do mobility differently and better. So, the new colour reflects our aim to be a provider of sustainable mobility. And it helps us stand out in a crowded field. By the way, turquoise is the main colour, but we will also be using dark blue, white, and yellow."

The new name starts with an ‘A’, which is a good alphabetical starting position. But it doesn’t refer directly to automotive, mobility, sustainability, corporates, or other customers. Why is that? "ALD and LeasePlan are two very strong brands, but they're also viewed as traditional leasing and fleet management companies. If you mention any of the words you listed in the new name, you also limit yourself. With the new name, we wanted to move beyond those boundaries. And we didn’t want to use the word;mobility, because to put it bluntly, everybody talks about mobility these days. At the end of the day, we don't want to do and say what everybody else does."

Follow this link to read the full interview published by Steven Schoefs for Fleet Europe on 17 October 2023: What’s in a name? CEO Tim Albertsen explains ‘Ayvens’ | Fleet Europe