Nasir al Wuhayshi was the personal secretary of the now-deceased Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. Now, al Wuhayshi is the leader of Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is based in Yemen.

Like his old boss contemplated before he was killed by Navy SEALs in early May, though, al Wuhayshi is thinking that his organization could use a rebrand, an Arab diplomat tells Fox News. After all, al Qaeda has too much “baggage” attached to it.

The diplomat tells Fox that AQAP “is trying to attract more foreign fighters to its cause” and “is increasingly going by the name ‘Ansar al Sharia,’ which means Army of Islamic Law.”

When bin Laden died, it was discovered in his papers that he had thought about rebranding the entire organization to the catchy "Taifat al-Tawhed Wal-Jihad," which means Monotheism and Jihad Group, or the even snappier "Jama’at I’Adat al-Khilafat al-Rashida," which means Restoration of the Caliphate Group, as possible new names. Now his former underling is following through with the concept.Continue reading...

Their timing simply could not be better. BankSimple, the banking 3.0 startup we covered in April, has changed its name to Simple and opened its virtual doors (at Simple.com, naturally) to the public. Not really a bank at all, Simple partners with banks and financial institutions to offer money management services online.

Simple is capitalizing on the growing frustration with big banks and the name change, “is a better representation of what we aspire to. It releases us from the constraints of an industry in desperate need of innovation,” writes Joshua Reich, Simple co-founder and CEO, in a blog post.

The public beta follows a September sneak peak on their blog which stated: "The product isn’t finished. It will never be finished. We’re constantly improving. But we’ve now reached the point where we’ve learned as much as possible from testing internally and in a few weeks we’ll be shipping cards to our first real customers."

Simple offers no fees for ATM withdrawals, no monthly management fees, no overdraft fees, no minimum balance, live customer support and dedicated account interfaces for mobile and web platforms. The goal is no less than to overhaul traditional front-end banking as banks are under increasing public scrutiny for their part in the global financial crisis.Continue reading...

Overstock.com announced in January that it was rebranding its URL to O.co as a speedier online shortcut to its wares. In June, it unveiled the new name and logo at the O.co Coliseum in Oakland, CA (above) in time for a U2 concert, a signage change that following Overstock's six-year deal in April for naming rights to the home of NFL's Oakland Raiders and the Oakland Athletics MLB franchise.

"Our customers associate 'O' with Overstock.com, which made the transition to O.co seamless. As a Savings Engine, this is the next step in adding more visibility to our shortcut," said Overstock.com Chairman and CEO Patrick Byrne in a press release. "Naming the facility O.co Coliseum demonstrates our commitment to seeing through the execution of the new domain."

"Overstock.com is clearly at the forefront of digital marketing and their decision to use a .CO domain in such a big way, underscores their willingness to lead the market and to disrupt the status quo," commented Juan Diego Calle, CEO of .CO Internet SAS in the same release. "With the exponential growth of mobile commerce, where shaving milliseconds means gaining a strategic competitive advantage, customers around the world can now reach the company's products and services quickly and securely by simply typing O.co — the shortest possible URL in the world."

Now, however, the company is backing off from the new name because customers couldn't find its snappy new URL.Continue reading...

It's almost the time of year again for weight-loss brands to make hay while the sun shines. And Jenny Craig is stepping up in a big way.

The leading diet brand is overhauling its approach for the post-holidays weight-loss season, adopting a new, more holistic positioning that goes beyond simple dieting. The brand has begun a relationship with the American Heart Association, supporting local efforts and reaching out to moms over their concerns about childhood obesity.

Jenny Craig has dropped its surname, to go with just "Jenny," and has recruited a slimmed-down Mariah Carey to serve as Jenny's brand icon and celebrity spokesperson.

"'Jenny' has a greater vision," CEO Dana Fiser told brandchannel. "We can do good work. Overweight is, of course, a huge part of the population. And we're concerned about children. We really think with this new brand platform and the American Heart Association that we can help modify behaviors with mothers and also influence the behaviors of children."Continue reading...

U.S. real estate has been a pretty tricky business in the last decade as the housing bubble created whole new neighborhoods that needed shopping centers and donut shops and card stores and all the rest. Until, of course, they didn’t anymore and banks started to foreclose on such things.

If you’re in the real-estate biz, it might not be the worst idea to separate yourself from the past and start with a whole new image, right? That seems to be what’s going on in the real-estate investment trust side of the business. 

REIT.com reports that four “well-known REITs are re-branding their company names, logos and ticker symbols to keep up with the changing times or to better align their brand with their core strategies.”

U-Store-It-Trust announced that it is changing its name to CubeSmart. Its Wall Street ticker changes from YSI to the far more memorable CUBE.

“Brand has become much more important in our industry as the ways our customers find our product have changed,” said Dean Jernigan, CubeSmart CEO.

Developers Diversified Realty Corporation also changed its name to DDR Corp., entailing a new logo, tagline, and brand identity.Continue reading...

They say to never mix business with pleasure but it’s been working for the folks at Jim Beam since 1795.

It’s been working so well, in fact, that Fortune Brands ditched its non-liquor-related businesses and changed its name to Beam Inc. on Tuesday, when it began trading under its new moniker on the New York Stock Exchange.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Beam president and CEO Matt Shattock celebrated the change Monday in the Bluegrass State, where the company will build “the company’s global research and development center,” according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Shattock also “unveiled a new logo for the company," whose execs will ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Friday to celebrate its new public identity.Continue reading...

Having relaunched Comedy Central in the US on January 1st, MTV Networks is rolling out the new logo and visual identity to Germany on Oct. 1st.Continue reading...

NBA owners and players are trying to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. So far, training camps and some preseason games have been canceled, but the constant threat of the entire season getting flushed down the drain hangs over things. One team that might actually benefit from such a thing could be the New Jersey Nets.

The Nets are spending the season in Newark before moving to Brooklyn. A year off could help new fans forget that the team has been one of the more forgettable franchises in recent years. One little tool that the team isn’t using to help people move on from the recent past is a new name.

Mogul/rapper and minority team owner Jay-Z, a Brooklyn native, announced Monday that the team’s name will stay Nets. His other big announcement, which was made overlooking the under-construction Barclays Center, is that the arena will open in September 2012 with a series of eight concerts by him before the opening tipoff of the Brooklyn Nets season.Continue reading...