First identity change in firm`s history marks effort to further distinguish its marketplace image Andersen Consulting today announced broad-gauged plans to extend and strengthen its leadership positioning and to more sharply differentiate its marketplace image at a time of significant transition in the professional services industry. The plans include the introduction of a powerful new graphic identity, a fully rebuilt site on the World Wide Web and stepped-up investment in such areas as advertising and event sponsorship. The world-wide initiative is the culmination of an 18-month effort that included a top-to-bottom assessment of the firm`s marketplace presence and a thorough review of what has become an increasingly cluttered competitive landscape. It comes as Andersen Consulting approaches $8 billion in annual revenue and a fifth straight year of 20 percent-plus growth, and is anchored by a refined corporate positioning and a makeover of the firm`s full range of marketplace communications. `The best way to predict and prepare for the future is to invent it yourself. Today, we take an important step in that direction by more sharply defining who we are, what we stand for and how we want the world to see us,` said George T. Shaheen, Andersen Consulting Global Managing Partner and CEO. He said the firm would move aggressively to position itself as the best choice for leading far-reaching change in a highly dynamic global marketplace and would promote its insights, practical know-how and integrated capabilities as a way of further differentiating its consulting offer. The firm`s new graphic identity, which is the creative linchpin of this new communications thrust, incorporates the first design change to the logotype since Andersen Consulting was established in 1989. The brand signature makes use of a number of innovative elements: * A new monogram that converts the firm`s initials into the symbolic expression `A` raised to the power of `c,` playing off the mathematical convention for exponents. The monogram, distinctive from the Andersen Consulting name, stands adjacent to it as one of the two components of the new logo. * Projecting the logo signature in light, as a way of conveying the firm`s energy and vision. The signature will also appear in white or silver to symbolize light. * An array of 24 different colour applications that give the logo ultimate versatility in expressing the creative and customised business solutions the firm offers its clients. * The use of a new typeface `Rotis` that is significantly more contemporary than the traditional adaptation of Palatino formerly used. * A unique musical branding device that provides an aural signature for the firm`s advertising, special events and communications technology. `We believe our new brand identity and the plans we have to communicate it globally will powerfully underscore our work as committed and creative partners who are helping our clients drive far-reaching change in their businesses,` said Ian Armstrong, Country Managing Partner in South Africa. Andersen Consulting is generally credited with introducing mainstream marketing to the professional services category, an approach that has been adopted by virtually all of its leading players. Mr. Shaheen said the new initiative was aimed at both enhancing and more fully leveraging the global equity of the Andersen Consulting brand, which research indicates is already the best known in the consulting industry. A Contemporary Brand Signature As the first letter of the alphabet as well as the first letter in Andersen Consulting`s name, the `A` in the new monogram intuitively conveys the idea of primacy. While the `c` literally stands for consulting, it can also be understood to represent exponential change. The logotype will appear reversed in white against a spectrum of colours meant to communicate the breadth of the firm`s activities. Among various global applications, internal and external signage at the firm`s 137 offices world-wide will feature the new signature; animated beams of light will `burn` the logo into the firm`s TV spots; and the new aural signature will be heard broadly in musical styles ranging from classical to jazz. The firm`s new brand image was created by San Francisco-based Landor Associates, the strategic design arm of Young & Rubicam, Inc, under the direction of Andersen Consulting Global Managing Director of Marketing and Communications, James E. Murphy. `Our new brand identity is intended to be instantly recognised around the world and to sharply differentiate our firm in the marketplace,` said Mr. Murphy. `In an increasingly noisy and cluttered environment, we want to ensure that Andersen Consulting`s messages rise above the crowd.` He said the firm will support the new brand positioning with a double-digit increase in its image-building spending, which will surpass $100 million in fiscal 1999 and cover ramped-up efforts across the full range of its marketing activity. New world-wide advertising executions, set to debut early next year, are now in production and Mr. Murphy said the firm`s global media buy will account for approximately half of its image marketing spending. The firm also said it will sharpen its focus on sponsorship of world-class events as an important way of extending its brand message. On that front, Andersen Consulting is the exclusive sponsor of one of the year`s most important art exhibitions, `Van Gogh`s Van Goghs: Masterpieces from the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, opening in October at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The firm is also a principal sponsor of the PGA Tour`s new World Golf Championships, including the Andersen Consulting World Match Play Championship which will debut in February, 1999, and both a consultant to and a sponsor of Williams Grand Prix Engineering, a leading Formula One motor sports team. The firm`s newly rebuilt web site, whose home page address is http://www.ac.com, will enhance Andersen Consulting`s global recruitment efforts, provide opportunities for client networking and showcase the benefits of electronic commerce. The firm`s new brand positioning also extends to Outlook, Andersen Consulting`s award-winning business magazine. The bi-annual publication, which has been redesigned, plays an important role in reinforcing Andersen Consulting as a source of critical insight on the most important issues facing organisations today and in the future.
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