Liquorice is dead.

Saying goodbye to a name isn’t supposed to feel like grief. But it kind of did.

I started my tech driven digital agency, Liquorice, in 2005.

Sold it to Publicis in 2014.

Left Publics Groupe in 2020.

And now, over the coming months, the name will finally disappear altogether, as the agency name fully integrates into Digitas.

That was always the plan. In fact, I planned it:
From Liquorice → Liquorice, A Digitas Company → Digitas Liquorice → Digitas.

A careful migration, designed to bring people with and protect the strong brand equity we’d build, not bulldoze what came before.

But a few weeks ago, when I heard that the name would soon be retired for good…
I felt it in my gut.

So did others.

A few of us, got together and held a kind of informal wake.

It was funny and joyful, but also unexpectedly emotional.

Because here’s the thing:
As founders and leaders, we often are the brands we build.
Our names may not be on the door, but our fingerprints are everywhere.
In the culture.
The strategy.
The client relationships.
The rituals.
The font choices.

So when the brand disappears, something deep shifts in us too.

Even if we’ve moved on.

Even if we’re proud of the new direction.

Even if it was our decision.

These are the moments we don’t talk about enough, the emotional undercurrents that live just beneath the spreadsheets, earnouts, and integration plans.

And they’re not just felt by founders.
Longstanding team members, early clients, partners. They all shaped what the brand became. And they all feel its absence, too.

This is a big part of the work I now do with leaders, helping them prepare not just for the business transitions, but for the identity shifts that come with them.

We talk about strategy, yes. About growth, positioning, and future-proofing.
But beneath that, we often sit with something deeper:

• Who am I, if I’m not the one leading the charge anymore?

• What happens when the company no longer needs me in the same way?

• How do I stay relevant or redefine what that even means?

Some leaders are caught off guard by how personal it all feels.
They expected the business to change.  They just didn’t expect they would need to too.
Others feel relief and pride, but also guilt and loss.
It’s complex. It’s human. It’s normal.

And that’s exactly why it needs attention.
We explore these changes with honesty, not shame.
We create space for reflection as well as action.
And we build a new sense of purpose that honours what came before but isn’t defined by it.

Because letting go of one identity doesn’t have to mean losing yourself.

It can be the start of discovering a new one with more freedom, not less.