Id Alert 0907 Method Branding

NEW IDENTITY ALERT page 2

July 2009

Among the brand identities featured this month The same scenario is at play with Morgan Stanley
are Comviva, Usiminas, Videotron, Enovos, Ally, Smith Barney. Some of the names should
CenturyLink, ConAgra Foods, Symbian, Bing, and eventually disappear. Some should have even
Kraft Foods, which is here for a return appearance. now. Will it become Morgan Barney, or Stanley
Smith? Or will the Smith Barney name simply
It is worth noting the disappearance of a number disappear and the company will once again be
of major financial brands. As was noted in the Morgan Stanley?
November 2008 issue (see New Identity Alert
IdAlert_0811), financial brands that have been Wells Fargo has made a simpler decision.
major anchors other upstart brands were Everything branded Wachovia is systematically
measured against are disappearing. It was as- being converted to the Well Fargo brand. This was
sumed that some names would survive while probably not as difficult a decision in this case,
others would simply vanish. Not surprisingly, as since Wachovia does not have the same storied
was assumed in the November issue, the Merrill history as the previous two cases.
Lynch name has survived. For how long it will be
around remains to be seen. It will also be worth watching the three American
auto companies to see if/how they rebrand.
As it is now branded, Bank of America Merrill Rumours and denials notwithstanding, clearly GM
Lynch, one of two possible outcomes will, or at and Chrysler are not the companies they were a
least should, come to pass. Either Bank of America year or two ago, let alone 10 years ago. Chrysler
or Merrill Lynch should disappear in a year or two. rebranded, of sorts, when Daimler got rid of it two
The current situation is more than a mouthful and years ago (see New Identity Alert (see IdAlert
this should just be a transition phase as the _0710). Will they feel it necessary to rebrand once
company’s stakeholders come to associate both more? There have been stories recently in the
brands as one. The likely scenario is that it will media about GM rebranding, as well as denials
simply become Bank of America, but it could from the company. GM has shed a number of their
evolve into Merrill Lynch (with the flag symbol) if it brands and are running commercials saying they
is deemed that the Merrill name still has sufficient are reinventing themselves. Will their corporate
equity that it should live on permanently. brand identity remain unchanged? What will Ford
decide to do (though currently there appears to be
no rationale for them to change)?

There is plenty to watch for in the coming months.

NEW IDENTITY ALERT An occasional survey of new corporate brand page 3
identities compiled from on-line news sources
July 2009
by Method Branding.

Co m v I vA This spring, Bharti Telesoft
launched its new name and brand identity. The
company describes Comviva as “the leading
provider of integrated VAS solutions for mobile
operators in emerging markets.” Owned by the
Bharti Group, one of India’s large conglomerates,
Cisco and a venture capital firm, the company
claims Comviva’s clients number over 100 mobile OLD BR AND iDeNtit y
operators in over 80 countries worldwide. Their
products and services integrate into the operator’s
business environment and include mobile music,
mobile money and recharge, and messaging
applications. Comviva claims its solutions reach
one in three mobile users in Asia, Africa and the
Middle East.

Comment This is an example of competent,
but unexciting brand identity work. The name
which is meant to signify “communications is life”
is good enough: a workman-like moniker for a
business-to business enterprise. The wordmark is
stronger than the old brand identity: simpler and
with bolder type. The line of dots ending on the
letter i is an expected solution – how long did
it take for their designer to come up with that?
And of course, who could resist another orange
brand identity? In the end, this brand identity will
blend in with the millions of others out there, to
become virtually indistinguishable and invisible.

comviva.com

July 2009
by Method Branding.

v I D E oT R o N With the introduction of wireless
services as part of its product offerings, Videotron
introduced a refreshed brand identity this
spring. Videotron, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Quebecor Media Inc., is one of the principal
providers of cable television and internet services
in the Province of Quebec, as well offering
telephone and wireless phone services. OLD BR AND iDeNtit y

Comment This is a good example of a refreshed
brand identity. They retained the black arrow in a
yellow box, and changing the rectangle to a cube
makes sense in wanting to communicate the idea
that they offer a complete suite of products and
services, i.e., they are a multi-dimensional com-
pany. The yellow is a fresher, cleaner tone. The
new logotype correctly places the emphasis on
the company name and not the Quebecor Media
endorsement line. The typestyle for the Videotron
name is virtually the same, with two notable
exceptions. The serifs have been removed from
the letter I, giving a cleaner look, and the accent
was dropped on the English version of the logo-
type. It is interesting to note that when the new
brand identity was first introduced, the name and
endorsement line were inside the cube, with
prominence given to the tagline (Unlimited power).
Videotron must have quickly realized this a
completely unworkable situation, and promptly
used the name outside the box as the began to
implement their refreshed brand identity.

videotron.com

July 2009
by Method Branding.

U s I m I N A s Looking to position itself for global
growth and consolidate its dozens of subsidiary
brands, this Brazilian steel company launched
its new brand identity this spring. Usiminas is
headquartered in Belo Horizonte (MG) (about 450
km or 280 miles north of Rio de Janeiro) and
employs about 30,000 people in its 13 companies
that work in the processing, distribution and OLD BR AND iDeNtit y
commercialization of steel. Usiminas claims it has
the capacity to produce 9.5 million tons of raw
steel per year, more than a quarter of the total
Brazilian production.

Usiminas is now grouped into five business units.
They are: Mining, Siderurgy, Specialized, Solutions
and Services and Logistics and Distribution.

Comment At first glance, this is a strong new
brand identity. The U symbol, meant to represent
the big pans or buckets that transport the molten
iron in steel mills, is a perfect symbol for this
industry. Its simplicity and strength do not make
it any less elegant. The typography is clean and
straightforward, though one could have hoped for
something a bit less generic looking and as
inspired as the new symbol.

The use of black silhouette images against the
bright colour palette is an effective device in
creating a strong brand identity system for
this company.

(See next page)

July 2009
by Method Branding.

However, one of the objectives of this rebranding
process was to simplify the company’s brand
identity. They were on a solid path until they
decided to give each brand signature (the symbol
and logotype) five different colour options.

Where did this notion come from? Was it a
directive from the company to their branding firm,
without understanding what they were asking for?
Or, was it a designer’s self indulgence at the
expense of the client? Either way, the various
colour options of the final brand identity is an
unnecessary complication. It also detracts from
what is one of the strongest branding tools in
differentiating a brand visually – its colour. One
only has to take a cursory look at strong brand
identities, and how they evolve over time, to
realize that the colour of the brand identity is one
of the strongest brand signals. Coke cannot be
Coke and not be red. IBM was not nicknamed
“Big Blue” without reason. Even BP, going to
Beyond Petroleum managed to retain its equity in
its brand colours.

Usiminas has needlessly wasted this valuable
asset away. By using all these colours, ultimately,
either none will be identified with the company,
or after a number of years one colour will emerge
as the “winner”. And either way, in a few years
time, they will have to clean up the mess, (And
they already do: look carefully at right. The colours
are not consistent.)

usiminas.com.br

July 2009
by Method Branding.

s Y m b I A N This spring saw the start of opera-
tions for this Open Source software organization.
It was originally created by a number of technol-
ogy/telecommunications companies including
Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, and NTT DOCOMO,
among others. Based in London, England,
the Symbian Foundation (not to be confused with
Symbian Limited or Symbian Software Limited,
part of the Nokia group) is a non-profit
organization that says its mission is to “enable
a global business ecosystem that collaborates to
create the richest and most satisfying mobile
user experiences.” They also state “the Symbian
platform is open source software based on
Symbian OS, the most widely used open operating
system for mobile phones.”

Comment Someone please help these people
write in English! Their web site and blog are a
mess of unfathomable double-speak, with words
like disambiguating. Plain language to explain
who they are, what they are doing – would be nice
from time to time. That said, this brand identity
has to be one of the most playful and inventive
to have been launched in a while. Virtually every-
thing from the heart symbol and logotype to the
illustrations are a combination of yellow and
black, all executed with great wit by (it is as-
sumed) the same illustrator. They have also
introduced some computer wallpaper with light
blue and green backgrounds. Now if only they
could communicate with the same flair they
use visually.

symbian.org

July 2009
by Method Branding.

A L LY “The world doesn’t need another bank,
it needs a better bank.” With that statement,
GMAC launched its GMAC Bank unit as Ally. An
on-line bank, Ally offers a range of consumer
banking products and services. GMAC describes
itself as a bank holding company with operations
in North America, South America, Europe and
Asia-Pacific. They specialize in automotive finance, OLD BR AND iDeNtit y
mortgage operations, insurance, commercial
finance and online banking. As of March 31, 2009,
the company had approximately $180 billion in
assets and serviced 15 million customers around
the world.

Comment GMAC’s chief marketing officer was
quoted as stating, “Given the recent financial
market turmoil, people are looking for a safe,
honest and efficient place to save and grow their
money.” So why would they launch a new bank
brand pronounced “a-lie.” As if that ambiguity
wasn’t enough, they use a different colour for the
letter a, just in case the name was misunderstood.
Otherwise, the visual aspects of the new word-
mark are not that bad, the purple and black a
deliberate move to place some distance between
any association with the GM brand. To introduce
Ally to the US public, three smart and humourous
television commercials are currently running on US
television (though with an all purple wordmark)
Too bad the Ally name and brand identity are not
up to the standard of the commercials.

ally.com
gmacfs.com
media.gmacfs.com

July 2009
by Method Branding.

b I N g At the end of May, Microsoft introduced
its “new Decision Engine and consumer brand,
providing customers with a first step in moving
beyond search to help make faster, more informed
decisions.” A number of Microsoft products have
been transitioned to Bing, including Bing Maps,
Bing Travel, and Bing cashback, available on Bing
Shopping. Microsoft claims to have improved OLD BR AND iDeNtit y
many aspects of the typical (read Google) search
engine, including features like autosuggest (the
search engines reads what is being typed and
common related searches pop up), preview,
Instant Answers, better organized and faster
search results.

Comment There are elements of this new brand
that work and others that do not. The name works
well. It is short and sounds like a bell, signalling
that something is ready, like the ring of a micro-
wave oven: Instant information. It’s too bad that
the wordmark does not measure up to the name.
The extended lowercase letters do not have the
same sense of wit as does the name. At least the
favicon (the icon next to the URL) has an orange
dot inside the b. Clearly the objective was to
distance Bing from Microsoft, which invites the
question, why? Finally, the changing photographs
of beautiful vistas are nice, but are visual distrac-
tions that do not really have value, much like the
vistas and landscape images found on the walls of
cheap motels.

bing.com

July 2009
by Method Branding.

K R A fT f o o D s On February 17, Kraft launched
its new brand identity with a new “purpose” to
“Make Today Delicious” (see New Identity Alert
IdAlert_0902). They have since had a change of
heart and are now using a new version of their
(old) brand identity. The old(er) Kraft brand mark
is not going away; apparently there is still the
intent to keep using it on consumer-facing OLD BR AND iDeNtit y OLDeR BR AND iDeNtit y, SORt OF
packaging.

Comment Is today even more delicious? Does
this fall in the New and Improved category? Well,
begrudgingly, this is an improvement over the
brand identity that was launched way back in
February. But improving mediocrity is not some-
thing to compliment, especially when the new
result is not significantly better. They have traded
one smile for another, the tagline typography and
colouring is better, and the burst of colour and
shapes is an improvement. The different way the
Kraft Foods type is treated? Well, yes, it’s better,
but it’s flawed to begin with. This still reeks of an
amateurish attempt at branding. Hanging over this
is the old(er) Kraft brand mark which has nothing
to do with the new corporate identities. Until the
company comes to grip with this issue, they can
change corporate brand identities every four
months forever and still noting will have changed.

kraftfoodscompany.com

July 2009
by Method Branding.

Co N A g R A f o o D s The company behind
brands such as Hunt’s tomatoes, Pam, Orville
Redenbacher’s popcorn, Chef Boyardee, Hebrew
National, Healthy Choice and Fleischmann’s
unveiled its new corporate brand identity last
month. ConAgra Foods, based in Omaha,
Nebraska, stated that the new brand identity was
created as a result of research showing a lack of OLD BR AND iDeNtit y
association between ConAgra Foods and its
brands. In 2008 the company sold its trading
operation, abandoning the commodity trading,
fertilizer and ethanol businesses. Its business is
now focused on branded packaged food and food
sold to restaurants and other manufacturers.

Comment This is a pleasant new brand identity.
It is friendlier, less corporate than the previous
version. The new symbol is principally responsible
for this. The happy face plate with the spoon
monocle is simple and clever and set the right tone
for the brand identity. The sans serif upper and
lowercase lettering style also strikes the right
balance in achieving a corporate look that is still
warm and approachable. However, the success or
failure of the new brand identity will not rest on its
look but where, and how, it is applied. If the lack
of association of ConAgra with its brand was the
factor that led the company to rebrand – then the
presence of the new brand identity on its brand
advertising (as part of the sign-off at the end) and
how it will appear on the packaging of its brands
– will determine its success or failure. Anything
else will not have a significant impact on linking
the corporate and product brands.

conagrafoods.com

July 2009
by Method Branding.

PA C K A R D b E L L One of the old brands initially
linked to the introduction of home computing
devices has been rebranded and was launched
this spring. Packard Bell actually first appeared in
1926. The new brand identity is described as more
than a technology brand, than a lifestyle brand:
“The Packard Bell brand is where simplicity, trends
and technology meets (sic) to create fashionably OLD BR AND iDeNtit y
new ways of living and ultra smart forms for
working. Across all products and segments,
Packard Bell sets the standard for cool, design-
driven technology.” Since 2008, Packard Bell has
part of Taiwan-based Acer Inc. and they now make
up the third-largest PC company in the world.

Comment “Moving from Packard Bell to ‘PB’:
That’s so cool!!” Umm, no. Yes, the new brand
identity is definitely an improvement over the
previous one. By setting it at an angle, the initial
letters symbol has a fair amount of energy, and is
well rendered. The lettering style of the logotype is
legible and more appealing than the old logotype.
The imagery on their web site also conveys a real
sense of fun and vitality. But, the stated intent of
the new brand identity to move from Packard Bell
to PB, does not make sense. Why reinvigorate the
brand to then kill it? Surely, a simpler alternative
would have been to rebrand any Packard Bell
product worth salvaging as Acer, and that would
have been easier and probably much cheaper.
If they wish to retain the brand equity of this 83
year-old brand, then the sensible strategy is to
maintain the name. No scenarios come to mind
that justify going to generic initials.

packardbell.com

July 2009
by Method Branding.

E N ov o s , C R E o s Three companies, SOTEG,
Cegedel, and Saar Ferngas came together in a
merger this spring and became Enovos. The
company is now an energy company offering
natural gas and electricity to business, industrial
and residential customers in Luxemburg, Belgium,
France, Germany and Austria. The company will be
broken into three parts: a holding company, OLD BR AND iDeNtit y
Enovos International, and two operational compa-
nies – Enovos, responsible for production and
acquisition, and Creos, responsible for the trans-
portation and distribution networks (and one
assumes the sale). This was done in compliance
with European Union regulations. Enovos is based
in Luxemburg.

Comment Here’s one instance where, as the
saying goes, “the whole is the greater than the
sum of its parts.” Nothing earth-shattering here,
but the Enovos symbol certainly suggest a sun, its
multi-part design does suggest the coming togeth-
er of several parts and the lettering style is appro-
priately contemporary and friendly. The orange
gradient is warm, consistent with the statement on
the web site home page, “Caring about tomorrow.”
Creos is also credibly executed, and better than
any of its predecessors. The symbol suggests
electricity, and here too, the lettering is contempo-
rary and friendly. EU regulations notwithstanding,
one wonders why the two new brand identities are
so different. If one holding company can own both
parts, would it not make sense to have Enovos and
Creos visually related? Certainly the names are.
You know, “the whole is greater than …”

enovos.com
creos.net

July 2009
by Method Branding.

C E N T U R Y L I N K The merger of CenturyTel
with Embarq is now complete, and they have
begun operating under the new brand name and
identity unveiled a month ago: CenturyLink.
CenturyLink describes itself as the fourth largest
local exchange telephone company in United
States, based on access lines, with operations in
33 states. It offers products and services such as OLD BR AND iDeNtit y
land line telephone services, internet, satellite
television, and home security services.

Comment Does the symbol look familiar? If
it doesn’t, flip back to the previous page. In this
case, the symbol doesn’t quite hold together as
well. While the Enovos symbol could be seen
as a sun, what does it symbolize here? The choice
of colours for the specific wedges is also a bit odd.
There are two dark green wedges at the East and
West points of the circle, but the North and South
dark wedges create a backwards angle. In a nod to
Embarq, they have retained that brand identity’s
colours, and the new logotype is an improvement
and the emphasis on Link is appropriate in this
case. It is also unusual, typically the emphasis is
on the first word (though Link on its own would
have been a much stronger brand name, leaving
aside any issues around trademarking and URL
registration). Realistically, they couldn’t –probably
shouldn’t – have dropped Century from their
name. And yet, they were on the verge of some-
thing truly interesting.

centurylink.com
centurytel.com
embarq.com

July 2009
by Method Branding.

WA LT E R E N E R g Y This Tampa, Florida based
company announced this spring that it had
changed its name to Walter Energy. The company
states its revenues at approximately $1.2 billion
and describes itself as “a leading producer and
exporter of premium U.S. metallurgical coal for the
global steel industry and also produces steam coal
and industrial coal, metallurgical coke and coal OLD BR AND iDeNtit y
bed methane gas.” Walter Energy employs over
2,000 people. The company also announced that
two subsidiaries would change their names to
Walter Minerals and Walter Coke, respectively.

Comment The company described the modifica-
tion of its name as a better reflection of its sole
focus on natural resources and energy. That is a
reasonable explanation of why they changed their
name. The new brand identity is not, however, an
improvement over the old one. While dropping Inc.
from the logotype was the proper thing to do, the
block lettering is not an improvement over the
upper and lowercase letter of the old logotype.
The new symbol is not an improvement over the
old one; it’s not terrible, but so much more was
possible. The symbol could have been used for
any number of types of companies. They did retain
the equity of the colours, which on balance was a
good thing. Overall, though, other than the shift in
name, there is nothing here that suggests this is a
company focussed on energy.

www.walterenergy.com

July 2009
by Method Branding.

Please contact us if you have any comments about AboUT mEThoD bRANDINg
the corporate brand identities featured in this A design firm with extensive experience, we
issue, or if you wish to alert us to new identities work with a wide variety of clients including
that have been just launched or are about to be corporations, government agencies, not-for-profit
launched. We also welcome receiving the names organizations, start-up companies and others.
and e-mail addresses of anyone you think would
be interested in receiving this newsletter. We work collaboratively with other communication
agencies and firms, and collaboratively with our
And if you have a branding challenge, we would clients, to create compelling solutions. The brands
of course be pleased to meet you and discuss how and branded communications (brochures, annual
your brand can be effectively leveraged to its reports, etc.) we create endure and build value.
maximum potential. Bringing together the science and art of branding,
our solutions are engineered to elicit the desired
responses from stakeholders, building maximum
brand value for our clients.

methodbranding.com info@methodbranding.com

Philip Unger
President and Creative Director

366 Adelaide Street W.
Suite 207
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5V 1R9

416.597.1114 tel
416.596.0807 fax

Thank you to Jim Hynes for his proofreading Note: The brand identities and trademarks in this
and wise counsel. document are the property of their respective owners.
They are used here solely for information purposes.
jameshynes@rogers.com
© Method Branding, 2009

Id Alert 0907 Method Branding

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