Following hot on the heels of the historic Wembley Stadium and EE partnership, Wembley Arena and UK energy giant SSE have inked a new 10-year naming rights deal.
Wait for it, from June the 1st 2014, Wembley Arena will change its name to the SSE Arena, Wembley. This won’t be the first time the venue has changed its name as it was originally called the Empire Pool when it first opened in 1934.
As the new name will surely evoke tears of sadness amongst event goers and localists alike, it’s seemingly good to know that the Arena will receive a revamp from the £15m deal.
The Twitter firehose spewed out discontent over the name change, including comedy writer and radio personality, Danny Baker, reafirming the new moniker won’t be remembered:
Wembley Arena to be renamed the SSE Arena. Got it? Just like the Hammersmith Odeon is now called the…uh..whatever it is they think we say.
— Danny Baker (@prodnose) April 10, 2014
The Wembley Arena brand is well established, so it is ambitious to completely change its name. Wembley is embedded in the public consciousness with a hierarchy of established destinations that seamlessly work together.
On the tube there’s Wembley Park and Wembley Central which people use to get to Wembley Stadium, Wembley Arena and Wembley Market (which has become Stonebridge Market).
There are other nearby destinations attracting huge crowds such as Wembley Ikea, Wembley Asda, Wembley Tesco and the new Wembley LDO. I think it should have been renamed Wembley Arena SSE, or something similar because the new name won’t catch on.
An artists impression (featured above) shows how SSE plan to change the exterior, other refurbishments include SSE customer lounges which form part of a reward scheme. The energy company which is one of the UK’s big 6, will now have the advantage to offer its enormous customer base early access to events at the iconic venue.
AEG who manage the 02 London Arena which was the UK’s most popular destination of 2013 also started managing Wembley Arena last year.
Will you be using its new name?
Image credit: @snibbers
Once again London is loosing it’s
identity