"What's the beef?"

Risky Business: Organisations who ‘changed face’ in an attempt to distance themselves from catastrophe, ill feeling, bad association or a tarnished reputation.

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Not forgetting, the world’s worst industrial catastrophe in 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. Killing plant staff and thousands of people in surrounding residential areas, UCIL subsequently renamed, and became Eveready Industries India Ltd. (EIIL) — adopting the Eveready ‘Nine Lives’ identity.

ENRON

Arthur Andersen, the once ‘Big Five’ accountancy firm, was directly linked to the ENRON scandal. In 2001, when legally forced to change its name, spin-off business Andersen Consulting rebranded to become Accenture.

The Government Bailouts

In an attempt to avoid disaster, resulting from the US Government financial bailout episode this year, AIG (American International Group) went through various iterations and streamlining spin-off exercises, one of which became Chartis.

Blackwater!

Blackwater was/is a private military contractor linked to the shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, 2007. Blackwater rebranded to become Xe. Enough said!

Poor Health

In 2003, amidst financially difficulties and public identification exclusively with tobacco, Phillip Morris (who owned 84% of Kraft Foods) rebranded to become Altria, demoting “Phillip Morris” to subsidiary status.

The ValuJet Airline Disaster

In 1996, whilst en route from Miami to Atlanta. a ValuJet Flight crashed killing passengers and civilians. Having had its credibility destroyed, the American budget airline was forced in to merging with AirTran Airways — adopting its name and identity.

MCI. MCI Worldcom. Worldcom. MCI

In 1997 MCI communications and Worldcom announced their US$37 billion merger. Following a much larger, US$129 billion, merger with Sprint Corporation in 1999, MCI Worldcom became Worldcom. In the wake of bankruptcy and accountancy scandal in 2002, it later became MCI.

Source: Is the ‘Helios’ destined for the scrap heap? on Identity Forum

Paula Scher: Type is Image by Hillman Curtis

Source: stendhalgallery.com

We’re pleased to welcome Pentagram’s Paula Scher to the Identity Forum

To most within the global design community, Paula Scher needs little by way of introduction. But here is an excerpt taken from her bio on the Forum:

“For over three decades Paula Scher has been at the forefront of graphic design. Iconic, smart and unabashedly populist, her images have entered into the American vernacular.

Scher has been a principal in the New York office of the distinguished international design consultancy Pentagram since 1991. She began her career as an art director in the 1970’s and early 80’s, when her eclectic approach to typography became highly influential. In the mid-1990s her landmark identity for The Public Theater fused high and low into a wholly new symbology for cultural institutions, and her recent architectural collaborations have re-imagined the urban landscape as a dynamic environment of dimensional graphic design.

Her graphic identities for Citibank and Tiffany & Co. have become case studies for the contemporary regeneration of classic American brands.  Scher has developed identity and branding systems, promotional materials, environmental graphics, packaging and publication designs for a broad range of clients that includes, among others, Bloomberg, Coca-Cola, Bausch and Lomb, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, the New York Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the New 42nd Street, the New York Botanical Garden, the Robin Hood Foundation and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. In 1996 Scher’s widely imitated identity for the Public Theater won the coveted Beacon Award for integrated corporate design strategy. She serves on the board of The Public Theater, and is a frequent design contributor to The New York Times, GQ and other publications. In 2006 she was named to the Design Commission of the City of New York…”

Paula marks her joining the Forum with an excellent posting entitled:

What they don’t teach you about identity design in design schools…

As always, comments welcome.