Which recently launched visual identities have caused the greatest splash in the UK branding community? Neil Gibbons surveyed agencies to find out which brands rated most highly:

Branding, we’re told, is a science. So who better to identify the most impressive brand identities launched in the last year or two than the scientists behind them? Each month in Trial by Jury, we focus on one key piece of communications collateral and identify the five best proponents, as decided by the experts.

This time, we’re looking at brand identities. We surveyed 25 branding consultancies and design agencies and have used the responses to compile a top 5. Interestingly, each of the highest rated brands is a rebrand, suggesting the visual identities that create the most heat and light are from those organisations already in the public consciousness.

1. Thomson Reuters

Electronic data provider omson’s $16.6 billion takeover of venerable news agency Reuters saw the marriage of two distinct and globally renowned brands. And so, tasked with creating an identity for the new firm, branding agency Interbrand trod carefully, ensuring that the new brand retained and built on the value inherent in the legacy brands.

“We conducted a brand valuation exercise to gain an understanding of how to derive maximum value from those brands and how to articulate them,” says Graham Hales, director at Interbrand. The result was centred on the proposition of ‘intelligent information’, quite unlike that of companies like Google which treat information as a no-cost commodity used to sell advertising. “The idea is that it gives people the freedom to achieve,” adds Hales.That vitality is reflected in the visualisation of the brand. “We took the Reuters dots and built on them, shaping them into a spiral,” says Hales. “The spiral suggests movement – a reminder that information is dynamic.”

Conceptually, each of the dots represents a point of data, the story being that Thomson Reuters organises data to give it shape and meaning. Even at rest, the shape has a feeling of being alive and in motion, and  supports the notion that ‘intelligent information is alive’.

As for colour, Interbrand steered clear of blue. Although it was the predominant colours of both Thomson and Reuters, blue brands smack of their legacy as a 20th century company. “So we took orange, a more optimistic part of the Reuters identity, to express the firm’s future,” says Hales. “The grey gives stability.”

Formally launched on 17 April 2008 in 21 markets, the brand identity has received “hugely positive”  feedback, according to Hales. “We undertake regular pieces of research,” he says. “Against all measures - awareness, familiarity, recommendation – the increase has been massive.”

2. The Co-operative

“I have always thought that great design is about revealing a distinctive truth to the world,” says Harry Pearce, partner at design agency Pentagram. “Brand identity design is no different.”

As the design partners behind the rebrand of the Co-operative (which takes second place in our survey), Pearce knew the importance of that maxim. The brand’s key point of difference – that of responsible commerce through member ownership and control – had become all but invisible. More than that, the  roup’s survival was under threat. Its share of the grocery market had shrunk, its patchwork high street presence was divisive and incoherent, and the ‘Co-op’ brand name had become synonymous with low quality and dated retail. Pearce and partner John McConnell set about designing a visual identity that would reconnect the business with the fundamental principles of fairness, responsibility and community ownership.

At the centre of the new identity was a logotype that Pearce describes as “pragmatic, confident and  straightforward”.

“It had an innate honesty and openness, just like the business it represented,” he says. “We changed the name back to ‘The cooperative’. This name felt like a straightforward and authoritative statement of fact and reconnected the business with the roots that were so central to its ethos.”

They also created an identity system that could be delivered across the whole Co-operative experience and started the process of change with an internal initiative called ‘Together’ which rallied employees behind one common business vision.

Within one year of the relaunch the Co-operative Group had rebranded over 1,800 outlets, attracted more than 1 million new members and had completed the £1.5 billion acquisition of rival grocery retailer Somerfield.

Pentagram was awarded with a DBA Design Effectiveness Award in recognition of the effectiveness of the design solution.

3. RSA

In third place in our poll, is insurance group RSA, another rebranding project from Interbrand. Previously known as Royal & SunAlliance, the multinational insurance provider approached the consultancy in 2007. Its problem? A portfolio that stretched across 127 countries and encompassed more than 45 different brands and more than 300 trademarks.

“The challenge was to bring together a disparate organisation under a single, monolithic brand,” says Interbrand’s Graham Hales. “Our task was to create the right sort of brand architecture under which they could unite.”

Audience research across key markets informed the final brand positioning. The idea was built around the core pragmatic value of insurance - this was a business that could help put individuals and businesses back on track after misfortunes. According to Hales, RSA’s competitors in insurance had created brand propositions based on fear, persuading people to buy insurance for negative reasons. “RSA tries to show it as an enabling force,” he says. “is positioning made the brand stand out.”

The new identity was corralled around a new name. Royal & SunAlliance carried the heritage of past mergers and also presented some language issues. Interbrand’s research discovered that many audiences already shortened the name to ‘RSA’ and this name fitted well with the straightforward nature of the  business and brand positioning. The brand positioning and name were then brought to life with a new design that highlighted the group’s dynamism.

“It’s quite a fresh design, with brash colours,” says Hales. “It’s ambitious.” This represented another differentiator from the rest of the sector. “Insurance firms tend to rely on a palette of greys and blues,”  says Hales. “We wanted to show that RSA was more dynamic.”

Launching officially in April 2008 with the release of RSA’s annual report, the new name and identity has been well received internally with 256 presentations in 21 different languages given to employees on the day of launch.

= 4. Reckitt Benckiser
Those not familiar with Reckitt Benckiser will definitely know its brands. From Dettol to Strepsils, from Worcestershire Sauce to Finish dishwasher tablets, the company is an FMCG giant. Operational in 60 countries, it sells over £6 billion worth of products across 180 territories each year. So when branding agency The Workroom was asked to overhaul its global brand identity, it gave it some serious thought.

It did have a head start, however, having worked with Reckitt Benckiser for the previous nine years on projects ranging from print to online annual reports and the corporate website. “The client felt that their corporate identity, which had been around since 1999, was outdated and hadn’t kept pace with the personality and strength of business,” explains Brigid McMullen, MD of The Workroom.

“They also wanted a more recognisable corporate brand profile to use in communications with key audiences such as the city, media, and, importantly, their peer group.”

The company also wanted people to start referring to the business as ‘RB’ – “Reckitt Benckiser was seen as a bit of a mouthful, not very attractive,” says McMullen. “The new brand identity needed to help them achieve this.”

The Workroom held a series of stakeholder workshops where they identified the key traits and attributes of the business. Notable among these were a sense of energy and dynamism and an entrepreneurial free spirit. And it was from these sessions that the ‘kitemark’ logo, launched in February, developed.

A corporate brand film animated by agency Between the Eyes brought the kite idea alive. It featured four dynamic sport kites in a race through a cityscape to represent the four key values and the flagship brand colours. is was then used internally to communicate the meaning behind the kite metaphor and reinforce the values to the 23,000 staff globally.

“High performance sports kites are a good metaphor for the Reckitt Benckiser corporate values,” says McMullen. “They harness the natural power of the wind, and they are very noticeable when flying in the sky.”

= 4. Macmillan Cancer Support
Charity is a crowded sector. And cancer is one of its most crowded sub-sectors. So it was little surprise that Macmillan Cancer Relief felt the need to create a brand identity that would give it more visibility.

“Our task was to give them cut-through,” says Owen Hughes of branding consultancy Wolff Olins who was creative lead on the project. “They had a number of issues to address first though.”

The charity lacked identity inside and out. “Internally, there was misalignment,” says Hughes. “Its people had an ambition but lacked clear understanding and focus. The public perception focused exclusively on nurses. They provide a fantastic service to people with cancer, but they’re often misperceived as ‘angels of death’.”

As well as an appeal that Hughes describes as “very blue rinse and Home Counties”, it lacked a clear space in the public consciousness. “Cancer Research was ‘curing’, Marie Curie was ‘death with dignity’,” says Hughes. “There was space for ‘living with cancer’. We set about positioning Macmillan as a life force.”

Part of that came from a change of name: Macmillan Cancer Relief became Macmillan Cancer Support. “We wanted to position Macmillan more as a movement, one that everyone can get involved in,” says Hughes. “Not just something you find in doctors’ waiting rooms.”

The visual identity was built around a distinctive custom typeface, designed by Wolff Olins. “It needed to feel everyday,” says Hughes. “We wanted it to look like handmade, something anyone could draw. It’s not fusty or intimidating. It’s not talking down to people. So it’s deliberately rough and ready.”

The aim all along has been to make Macmillan resonate in our daily lives – in schools, workplaces and on the high street – and to remove the fear of talking about cancer. The rebrand seems to have been a success. In its first year, the new Macmillan attracted 27% more supporters; 21% more people sought and received help; 80% more schools signed up for Cancertalk Week. And Macmillan raised almost £100 million in funds, up 5%. Such is the power of a strong brand identity.

 {rokintensedebate}