The Search Ninja

It seems that here in Reno, there is something of a re-branding fever that many local businesses are experiencing. One of the most significant that I have seen is Washoe Health Systems re-branding as Renown Health. Companies may re-brand for lots of different reasons: publicity, mission refocus, to appear more timely, to escape the negative stigma of an obviously unpopular namesake, etc. occasionally a company may re-brand and then de-brand (retro-brand). Which can be motivated by finding that a new image isn’t taking quite as well as the company had hoped or even as the result of divestitures/mergers (For example the many faces of AT&T and its spin-offs).
Obviously the longer a brand has been in play, the more difficult it is to effectively re-brand and accordingly the stronger the motivation for such a move must be. It would be interesting to know some the concrete internal motivations for Washoe Health to abandon their 140+ year old brand name in favor of Renown.