BY JonSel

Enterprise gets Unionized

The toughest task a designer can undertake is creating an identity for oneself. Who hasn’t taken endless months to decide on just the right symbol, the perfect typography, the best paper stock, and, of course, that extra cool finishing touch: which letterpress printer to use? Most of us only have ourselves to please in this regard (and maybe our significant others). So imagine when a global identity consultant decides that not only do they need a new identity, they’re going to change the name as well. Fare thee well, Enterprise IG. The powers-that-be have elected to join The Brand Union.

Brand agencies are notorious for not exactly embracing the notion of a visual identity for themselves. Landor, Interbrand and even Pentagram get by with a classic red serif typeface. A few sport some, if not overly dramatic, symbol. Futurebrand has its circle-F. CoreBrand waves the flag. Sterling has a cute pointer. And DesGrippes Gobe has a small star. And to top it all, I don’t think Wolff Olins even has a single visual identifier anymore. The overall message they are all saying is that our identity is really our clients’ identities. The client defines the agency, instead of the agency defining itself. No wonder the land of branding seems a bit muddled these days.

As a bit of background, Enterprise IG, a part of the WPP holding group, was built from design agencies that were merged in 1996, including legendary NY studio Anspach Grossman Portugal (look ‘em up, kids, they defined corporate identity in NY in the 80s), SBG from San Francisco and Sampson Tyrrell in London. Unfortunately, what happened was not atypical: they all merged together under a generic brand that neither clients nor internal staff ever really embraced or knew much about. Leadership finally recognized this and have made a great step in defining themselves as clear as possible.

With their new logo, The Brand Union (and don’t leave out the “The”) wanted to set themselves apart from the other identity-less firms. US CEO Rita Rodriguez says that the refined positioning of the company reflects a dedication “to mastering the art and science of brand building”. That the word “art” was actually included is, frankly, shocking to me. I have always gotten the impression that art, being so subjective, is better left in the backroom while the focus is on the more nebulous, but business-approved, notion of branding, where you can at least offer some metrics. What I’ve been told is that the senior executives truly wanted the company’s creativity to be expressed in their logo, to ensure that clients understood that side of the equation. I think they’ve done it. Building the symbol out of the counters and negative space suggests a creative way at looking at a design problem and supports the overall positioning of a company with a wide breadth of offerings and a global network to support it. In press-release-speak, this is noted as symbolizing “the process of bringing together the people, ideas, and touchpoints that brands need to thrive.” Not exactly unique language, but the logo speaks better for itself. The blue and gray, while conservative, are nonetheless nice and pleasing. At least it’s something, considering the previous color was black. Overall, it’s a nice left-brain/right-brain balance.

To further express the creative nature of the organization, the shapes within the mark are used as a graphic language, from patterns to maps to anything you can make out of it. Some ideas for using the shapes that were kicked around internally ranged from post-it notes to ice cube trays. Seriously. And while those might seem a bit nutty, having a visual language where pretty much anything can be created gives this identity a long life and the ability to be refreshed and updated along the way.

So while the symbol is a nice breath of fresh air in this space, I can’t say as much for the name. Clearly, Enterprise IG had to go. They had a name conflict with Enterprise rental cars. And while that seems odd, it caused conflicts when legally naming the organization in different countries of operation. Hence the “IG” tacked on that never really made sense. But the biggest issue was that the name just didn’t explain enough what they did, causing a lot of confusion and making business development a still harder task. But, “The Brand Union”? Hmm. With the proliferation of “Brand” in every agency name out there, it risks being lost in the crowd. Interbrand. Futurebrand. Corebrand. BrandLogic. Brandient. BrandEquity International. Yes, we get it. You guys do branding. But I like the “Union” portion, as it’s very clear, not elitist, and to the point: a merging of client and agency with a singular focus.

The agency is based in London, but the final design was developed in the New York office by Jaime Burns and led by Executive Creative Director Wally Krantz.

Those ice cube trays.

\n\nThe toughest task a designer can undertake is creating an identity for oneself. Who hasn't taken endless months to decide on just the right symbol, the perfect typography, the best paper stock, and, of course, that extra cool finishing touch: which letterpress printer to use? Most of us only have ourselves to please in this regard (and maybe our significant others). So imagine when a global identity consultant decides that not only do they need a new identity, they're going to change the name as well. Fare thee well, Enterprise IG. The powers-that-be have elected to join The Brand Union.

Many thanks to our ADV @ UnderConsideration Partners