Id Alert 1006 Method Branding

1. New Identity Alert
June 2010

2. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 2
methodbranding.com
the wordmark, and no circles. Yet other pages
feature the wordmark and part of the circles used
as a graphic element. Finally, some pages have
no brand identity marks at all and their sites listed
by country are still branded as Fortis.
One gets the distinct impression they do not know
what to do with their new brand identity.
ageas.com
Among the brand identities featured in this issue
are Primerica, Cable & Wireless Communications,
Yellow Pages (Canada), Everything Everywhere,
CNO Inc., Australia Unlimited, Hong Kong,
and Astral.
Update Sometimes, after a brand identity is
featured in this newsletter, more information
becomes available. Either the rationale for the
rebranding is explained further or more aspects of
the branding are revealed. This is usually not
remarked upon, since it is usually not remarkable.
Ageas, however, is an interesting exception.
The last issue featured the new name and brand
identity for Fortis, a European casualty of the
financial sector meltdown. The issue showed the
wordmark that was unveiled with the announce-
ment that the company would change its name to
Ageas, pending shareholder approval in April.
Once that was approval was granted, the company
unveiled its new brand mark: the wordmark
surrounded by a swirl of multi-coloured circles.
There are a couple of interesting points in all this.
First, the deliberate step the company took in
unveiling its new name and brand identity. It’s not
clear exactly what was gained by unveiling part
of the new brand identity, but not the full mark.
Why not just state what the new name will be and
leave the launch of the whole brand identity until
later? Or, on the other hand, show the full mark
right from the start?
The other puzzling aspect is that they actually use
both the wordmark on its own, and the wordmark
surrounded by the circles. One gets the sense
they don’t really know what to do. Click through
their web site. You will find some pages with the
wordmark inside the circles. Other pages have

3. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 3
methodbranding.com
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 3
methodbranding.com
Pre vious BRAND identit y
Australia On May 14, the Australian Trade
Minister, Simon Crean, unveiled the country’s
new brand, Australia Unlimited. The objective of
the new brand, the minister stated, was to sell
Australia to the world as a great place do business,
not just as a holiday destination. The press release
announcing the new brand stated that as part of
the branding process, eight concepts were tested in
14 countries (including Australia), with about 1,000
interviews in each country.
Comment  When Toronto unveiled its Unlimited
brand five years ago (see New Identity Alert, July
2005), it was roundly criticized as vacuous, and
poorly executed. So now Australia has produced its
own spin at being unlimited. Have they fared
better? On the whole, no. One understands that the
kangaroo brand was a tourism-focused brand
which did little to help trade, or economic develop-
ment for Australia. But this new brand identity
won’t help much either. The problems begin with
the basic idea of unlimited, which of course, is silly.
Nothing is without limits. Imagine building a ski
resort in Australia. This is as realistic as growing
pineapples in Toronto. The Australia Unlimited mark does not have much to commend (though it
is better than Toronto’s). Those are apparently
boomerangs, though they look more like brackets,
which speak to containment, not to Unlimited.
And then, what exactly does the white line through
the right bracket signify? Branding is about differ-
entiating yourself. Australia Unlimited fails because
it does not create a unique brand; and worse, by
being so ordinary, it demonstrates the limits of
this brand.
brandaustralia.gov.au

4. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 4
methodbranding.com
Pre vious BRAND identit y
Hong Kong A revitalized city brand – “a
refreshed dragon icon” – was launched by Hong
Kong at the end of March. The new brand identity is
said to represent five core values “that Hong Kong
people cherish and aspire to: Free, Enterprising,
Excellence, Innovative and Quality Living.” The
original dragon brand identity was first launched
in May 2001. In addition to a new Brand Hong Kong
web site, another site, facesofhongkong.com,
has also been launched which invites the global
audience to visit and learn about local people and
listen to their stories. It also encourages Hong Kong
residents to post their own photographs.
Comment  This is unfortunate. Not so much
because it is that terrible (it isn’t), but because it
is an evolution of one of the best place brand
identities. It is, also, an evolution that is inferior to
the original. The dragon, a wonderful metaphor
for that city, has been dramatically reduced in
favour of ribbons. The ribbons would have been
fine as supporting graphic elements, but don’t tell
as compelling a story as the dragon does.
The previous brand identity was applied in a
similar fashion, with ribbons of colour as support-
ing graphic elements, and was vibrant and lively.
Even after nine years, the original brand identity
appeared fresh and relevant, at least from this
side of the world. If there was a need to tinker, they
should have worked with the other elements
around the dragon and logotype, upgrading how
it is presented without touching the dragon
and logotype.
brandhk.gov.hk
facesofhongkong.com

5. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 5
methodbranding.com
Pre vious BRAND identit y
CABLE & WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 
The end of March saw the launch of the new brand
identity for part of the troubled Cable & Wireless,
which has split into two (the other part is Cable &
Wireless Worldwide, the fibre network and large
telecom systems supplier). Cable & Wireless
Communications is a full-service telecommunica-
tions business, operating in the Caribbean,
Panama, Macau, Monaco and islands in the Indian
Ocean, South Atlantic and the English Channel.
The company is based in London.
Comment  This is perplexing. Billed as a
“demerger” the company essentially retains its
old name (technically, it was previously Cable
& Wireless International), and describes its new
symbol as “an evolution of the iconic Cable
& Wireless ‘blue globe’ logo, which has been in
existence as the Group identity since 1986.” Both
companies are still Cable & Wireless (the other
opting for a Crate and Barrel look-alike wordmark).
The new symbol for this half of Cable & Wireless is
also not quite ground-breaking, bearing a resem-
blance to the Barclaycard symbol. The typographic
style selected for the logotype does not work either. On the other hand, the most fascinating part
of the new brand identity is the various icons and
drawings on the web site. Looking like a Spirograph
gone crazy, they are nonetheless quite inventive
and arresting. From drawings of a hand, landscape,
flower and profiles, to phone icons, these graphics
are quite unique and add a dimension to the web
site not found elsewhere.
cwc.com
cw.com

6. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 6
methodbranding.com
Pre vious BRAND identit y
Primerica More fallout from the financial
services meltdown of two years ago has resulted in
Citigroup disposing of its insurance subsidiary,
Primerica, to a private equity company this past
April. As a result, Primerica recently launched its
new brand identity. Headquartered in Duluth,
Georgia, the company claims it is the largest
independent financial services marketing company
in North America, with approximately 100,000
licensed sales representatives. Primerica identifies
its primary market as “middle income families by
helping them make informed financial decisions
and providing them with the strategies and means
to gain financial independence.” Primerica sells
term life insurance, annuities, mutual funds and
other financial products, and also claim they insure
more than 4.3 million lives.
Comment  Strong, simple and red, white and blue.
What else could be expected for this insurance
company? The tight interlocking rings are hardly
original (quick, how many other brands use this
device, not including the Olympics and Audi?),
but are still apropos in this context. With the rings’
black outline and the straightforward black logo-
type, the brand identity does not pretend to being
an upscale brand. It is firmly rooted as a “meat
and potatoes” brand identity, serving middle income customers. This is further reinforced by
the company’s web site, which features straightfor-
ward, simple images and a simple design with large, clean type. This is a company that knows who it is, even if one of its executives got a bit over
enthusiastic at the brand launch.
primerica.com

7. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 7
methodbranding.com
Pre vious BRAND identit y
CNO Financial Group At their annual
meeting in May, shareholders approved changing
the name of the company from Conseco, Inc. to
CNO Financial Group, Inc. A holding company, it
operates mainly through three insurance subsidiar-
ies: Bankers Life and Casualty Company, Colonial
Penn Life Insurance Company and Washington
National Insurance Company. Based in Carmel,
Indiana, CNO describes itself as serving “working
American families and seniors by helping them
protect against financial adversity and provide for
a more secure retirement.”
Comment  For a financial services holding company,
the new brand identity is more appropriate than
the previous “stairway to heaven” symbol. It
certainly is not as retail-focused as the marks for
their operating subsidiaries. The new symbol, while
more “holding-company-like” is also both some-
what ordinary and a bit silly. Did they really have to
place the letter O inside a lowercase N inside the
letter C? The overall effect is a symbol with ele-
ments that are not quite balanced, with the outside
blue strokes (the letter C) appearing thinner than
the inside areas.
Still, it is not clear why they could not have simply rebranded, remaining as Conseco. What is not known is whether prior to being renamed, the
company was referred to as Conseco or as CNO,
their New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol. One
can only assume that outside of a small group of
institutional investors, most of their stakeholders
referred to them as Conseco.
cnoinc.com

8. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 8
methodbranding.com
Pre vious BRAND identit y
CoreLogic Previously the information solu-
tions group of The First American Corporation, this
company began trading at the beginning of the
month as CoreLogic. The company describes itself
as “a leading provider of consumer, financial and
property information, analytics and services to
business and government…and is a recognized
leading provider of mortgage and automotive credit
reporting, property tax, valuation, flood determina-
tion, and geospatial analytics and services.” Based
in Santa Ana, California, CoreLogic says it has over
10,000 employees globally with revenues of $2.0
billion in 2009.
Comment  The press release credits Dutch artist
M.C. Escher for inspiration for the new symbol,
and says it communicates the brand promise of
“Dynamic Insights.” Well at least they didn’t refer to
thinking outside of the box. But this is a well
designed brand identity and an improvement over
the previous one. The symbol may really not
communicate dynamic insights, and it may not be
the most original concept, but it does work well
with the name. It does communicate logic, and the
grey triangles and red diamond shape all sharing
the same point at the centre certainly also commu-
nicates core. Even the logotype has less to do with being dynamic and is more inline with supporting
the name. The company’s web site and collateral
material, with a series of angular shapes emulating
the symbol, is well done. This just demonstrates,
as opposed to the CNO symbol on the previous
page, that it is possible to have a well designed
symbol based on the letter C.
corelogic.com

9. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 9
methodbranding.com
Pre vious BRAND identit y
Sapiens This provider of insurance software
solutions launched its new brand identity last
month. This follows the recent acquisition of
another insurance software developer. Sapiens
describes itself as “a leading global provider of
business solutions for the insurance industry,
helping modernize business processes and en-
abling insurance organizations to adapt quickly to
change.” Based in Rehovot, Israel (which is located
just south of Tel Aviv) and with offices in North
Carolina, England and Japan, Sapiens serves its
customers in North America, Europe, the Middle
East and Asia.
Comment  This is a good example of forgettable
design. While certainly better that the previous
mark, it is not very good. What exactly is that
swoosh on the letter A? What is it trying to commu-
nicate? It is also poorly done, beginning by overlap-
ping the letter S and ending just past the right
diagonal stroke of the letter A. In the final analysis,
all it communicates is simply a bad cliché, just like
the chess set photographs used on their web site.
One would have thought that a company creating
sophisticated software for large, global insurance
companies would present itself in a more sophisti-
cated and creative manner. This either did not occur to them, or if it did, they failed miserably.
sapiens.com

10. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 10
methodbranding.com
Pre vious BRAND identit y
Colliers International This global
real estate company unveiled its refreshed brand
identity this past April. Colliers International
describes itself as the third largest commercial real
estate firm and as “a global affiliation of indepen-
dently owned commercial real estate firms.”
Based in Seattle, Colliers claims it has 12,700
employees in 294 offices in 61 countries, and that
it manages 1.1 billion square feet, with revenues of
$1.6 billion. It is a subsidiary of FirstService Corpo-
ration, whose FirstService Real Estate Advisors
(FirstService REA) was brought under the Colliers
umbrella earlier this year.
Comment  This brand evolution follows on the
heels of the new brand identity launched by a
number of high profile break-away Collier offices
(see Cassidy Turley, New Identity Alert, March
2010). This is a well done evolution of their previ-
ous brand identity mark. Even without the gradient,
the blue area is lighter, and a bit more energetic.
The ratio of blue to the yellow/blue/red stripes is
now more dynamic and the rectangle’s round
corners give the mark some humanity. This more
approachable look is principally communicated by
the upper and lowercase Colliers. The overall shape
is not as tall as the previous mark, which is also a
positive step. (A square would have been more
interesting, but then the mark would be encroach-
ing into American Express’ look.) If anything can
be criticized about this evolution, it is the shape.
One wonders what other options they explored and
could have settled on. Certainly there are other
possibilities that would not have given the new
mark the look of a label. The double-edged sword
of rounded corners.
colliers.com

11. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 11
methodbranding.com
Pre vious BRAND identit y
Yellow Pages Canada’s Yellow Pages Group
launched its new brand identity this past March.
Since publishing its first directory in 1908, the
company has become “Canada’s leading local
commercial search provider and largest directory
publisher.” They publish Bell Canada’s and Telus’
directories, as well as a number of other telephone
directories across Canada, and a number of online
directories which they claim attract over 7 million
unique visitors per month. Based in Montreal, the
company has 2,300 employees in Canada and 350
in the United States.
Comment­  Not surprisingly, part of the impetus for
the new brand identity was to remove the reference
to a printed directory in the symbol. Increasingly,
directory searches are conducted online and on
mobile devices. The “phone book” (and telephone
booths) are increasingly anachronistic, soon to be
relics of the past. The new brand identity is gener-
ally well done, with a contemporary feel. The
symbol’s button look has a friendly, approachable
feel. It’s good that they resisted keeping the
rectangle as the holding shape. One wonders,
though, why the hand has the break to delineate
the middle finger? Given the complexity in the
symbol (even the hand’s grey is not a flat colour), why resort to drawing the hand in a manner used when coarse black and white printing was the
standard used for creating graphics? Also puzzling
is the large yellow area over part of the symbol and
logotype on the corporate web site. This is sloppy
and does not add anything to the brand identity.
ypg.com
yellowpages.ca

12. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
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BRAND identities of the joint vent ure partners
Everything Everywhere  The name and
brand identity for British joint venture wireless
company, formed by Orange and T-Mobile, was
unveiled mid-May. Everything Everywhere is the
moniker for this joint venture by French and German
telecommunications companies. The press release
states the company will maintain both the Orange
and T-Mobile brands, “with each brand having its
own (over 700) shops, marketing campaigns,
propositions and service centres. However, behind
the scenes, the two brands will be run by one
company, with one team and one vision…” The
company will start operations on July 1, with a
customer base of 30 million people, and over
16,500 employees.
Comment  With these two huge European telecom-
munications companies combining their wireless
services in Great Britain, one wonders if this is just
the “first act,” with more to come. At a quick
glance, it doesn’t seem to make sense to merge
operations, but leave the market-facing brands
intact. One can’t help but wonder if in a year or so,
the company will announce that one or both of the
existing brands will be replaced (with something
new?). They also chose a new name that has
nothing to do with operations and everything to do
with retail marketing. But yet, a good tag line or
slogan is not a brand name. What has been created
is not a brand identity, just a slogan. It will be
interesting to see just how these two rivals play
together, and what they will concoct for the British
market. For their sake, hopefully, it will be better
that this effort.
orange.com
t-mobile.co.uk

13. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 13
methodbranding.com
Pre vious BRAND identit y
HAROLD
GREENBERG
FUND
FONDS HAROLD
GREENBERG
Astral This Canadian media company
launched its new brand identity late last month.
Astral describes itself as Canada’s “largest broad-
caster of English- and French-language pay and
specialty television services…largest radio broad-
caster… and) one of Canada’s most dynamic and
innovative outdoor advertising companies.” They
also claim to operate more than 100 web sites.
Based in Montreal, Astral has over 2,800 employ-
ees across Canada.
Comment  The company wanted something less
corporate, that conveyed “knowledge, passion and
imagination” as well as “human warmth and
emotion, within a defined and responsive structure
that is grounded and resilient.” These are lofty and,
yes, reasonable objectives. These are also objec-
tives that have not been met. The idea is there, the
execution is nowhere to be found. One has to only
consider the MSN butterfly as a symbol (also made
up of several colours) that would convey what
Astral wanted. They obviously could not copy MSN,
but there are so many possibilities that would have
been superior to the letter A symbol they have. In the end, they have a symbol that is fractured, somewhat hard to read and does not bring clarity to their message…something a broadcaster would
think to be of at least some importance.
astral.com

14. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 14
methodbranding.com
Pre vious BRAND identit y
WIPO On April 26, the 40th anniversary of the
entry into force of the WIPO Convention and the
10th anniversary of World Intellectual Property Day,
this international organization unveiled its new
brand identity. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
is a specialized agency of the United Nations which
was founded in 1967. It describes itself as “dedi-
cated to developing a balanced and accessible
international intellectual property (IP) system,
which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and
contributes to economic development while safe-
guarding the public interest.”
Comment  It is hard to believe that the previous
brand identity was created only 40 years ago.
The new brand identity is easily a huge improve-
ment and is also very good on its own merits.
Based on the WIPO headquarters building, the
symbol is described as representing the 7 elements
of intellectual property (articulated in the WIPO
convention): artistic performances and broadcasts;
inventions in all fields of human endeavor; scien-
tific discoveries; industrial designs; trademarks
and commercial names; protection against unfair
competition, and all other rights resulting from
intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific,
literary or artistic fields.
WIPO falls short, however, in the implementation
of its new brand identity. The web site, for example,
is a crowded mess with the symbol unnecessarily
jammed into the narrow white band on top of the
site. It is a pity that this elegant and sophisticated
symbol should be applied so shoddily. One would
expect much more from an organization that should
be much more sensitive to design and
“artistic” aesthetics.
wipo.int

15. N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities
compiled from on-line news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 15
methodbranding.com
N E W I D E N T I T Y A L E R T
June 2010
An occasional survey of new corporate brand identities compiled from on-line
news sources by Method Branding.
PAGE 15
methodbranding.com
Please contact us
If you have any comments about the corporate
brand identities featured in this issue, you can do
so on our blog:
methodbranding.com/blog
If you wish to alert us to new identities that have
been just launched or are about to be launched,
please email us at the address below.
We also welcome receiving the names and e-mail
addresses of anyone you think would be interested
in receiving this newsletter.
And if you have a branding challenge, we would
of course be pleased to meet you and discuss how
your brand can be effectively leveraged to its
maximum potential.
[email protected]
About Method Branding
A design firm with extensive experience, we
work with a wide variety of clients including
corporations, government agencies, not-for-profit
organizations, start-up companies and others.
We work collaboratively with our clients, and with
other branding professionals, to create compelling
solutions. The brands and branded communica-
tions (brochures, annual reports, etc.) we create
endure and build value. 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.
Note: The brand identities and trademarks in this
document are the property of their respective owners.
They are used here solely for information purposes.
© Method Branding, 2010
Thank you to Jim Hynes for his proofreading
and wise counsel.
[email protected]
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
methodbranding.com
methodbranding.com/blog