Before anyone gets too sentimental about the scrapping of the Drivers Jonas name, think about what it really means.
So almost 300 years after it was launched, on 21 January 2013, the name Drivers Jonas will be dropped unceremoniously into the dustbin of history. It’s a symbolic but fairly inconsequential event. More significantly, the date marks three years to the day since DJ staff were told by the partnership that Deloitte would be acquiring the business.
There was always an intention to retain the DJ name for a period and then review after three or so years, say the new top brass Andy Rothery (the Deloitte partner who will lead the business) and Richard Owen (the DJer who will be his MD). That review simply happened a little earlier than expected. They may say that the firm never took an “absolutist” position about ditching the name, but really it was inevitable. Corporate life is all about leveraging the brand these days and nowhere more so than among the Big Four accounting firms.
So while Deloitte Real Estate will have more than 700 real estate specialists, who generated revenues of around £130m in the year to May 2012, it will still be a minnow in the Deloitte pond. Globally the firm’s 193,000 staff generate over $31bn in revenues, more than the population of Barbados and the GDP of Bahrain.
That’s why reaction to last night’s announcement – the firm’s staff were told at an event at the Tower of London (oh the symbolism!) – has been so muted.
“It shows us what we already know: the market is polarising,” said one former director this morning. On Twitter, one comment seemed to capture the mood: “You take the corporate dollar, you take their name.”
So cynics will say the strategic review that has been conducted over the last six months has been spent confirming the inevitable. The firm says it has been spent positioning real estate as one of Deloitte’s four key platforms – a high-value, high-growth opportunity that is relevant to all the firm’s clients and one that offers an opportunity for global growth.
Think about that for a moment: from an industry-wide perspective that is exactly what we should want to hear. Deloitte and its peers have the ear of decision makers in every major boardroom in the world. If they believe that their clients are placing real estate strategies high up their list of priorities, that offers opportunities for the entire property industry.
The question, as ever, is who is best positioned to capitalise?
