@krisp131

Corporate naming rights run amok!

For almost a month HRM’s been advertising for a project director to oversee the redevelopment of the Cogswell Interchange. It’s a big project, set to define the future of the downtown landscape. So it’s surprising no one noticed the wrong Halifax logo was being used on LinkedIn.

That’s the blue-and-white logo for the United Kingdom’s Halifax banking chain, and not the blue-and-white logo of Halifax, the Nova Scotian municipality.

The two entities are not related.

“I wasn’t aware of that,” said Shauna Smith of Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette, when I pointed out the wrong logo was being used. The mistake was pointed out to me today by Twitter user @krisp131. The logo has since been removed.

Corporate recruiting company Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette won a $25,000 contract from the city to run the national search for a Cogswell project director. The eventual three- to five-year hire will tackle the Interchange’s demolition and the construction of a yet-to-be-finalized development.

Halifax, the bank, is a division of the Bank of Scotland. The United Kingdom’s largest provider of residential mortgages and savings accounts, it has more than 17 million customers.

The bank is named after Halifax, West Yorkshire where it was founded as a building society. From 2002 to 2013, Your Mortgage magazine judged them the “best overall lender.”

The two brands were more distinguishable before Halifax the city updated to its current “bold” new logo last year. The similarities are likely a coincidence, though it’s understandable why we’d want potential investors to confuse us with a bank.

In any case, applicable applicants can apply for the project director position online. As the ad bluntly states, “This position will remain open until filled.”

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