GENWORTH: "Built on GE heritage"

New: Genworth, name and logo

Launched: June 21, 2004
(Genworth name and IPO plan were announced November 18, 2003)

Story in brief:
Something unprecedented from GE...
a spinout, requiring the creation of a new corporate brand. Genworth is a new insurance company, made of GE's financial services businesses (whose departure frees GE to focus on its higher-margin, less capital-intensive core businesses).

It's tough to lose the comfort of a world-known brand. CEO Mike Fraizer's branding team, led by SVP Brand Marketing Buzz Richmond, licensed the GE brand for five years, and chose a "Gen-" name (from a list of 1000+) and the launch slogan "Built on GE heritage" to retain equity as long as possible. Landor's designers provided a clean, sharp "compass" symbol to suggest directional guidance and add distinctive character.

Credits:
CEO - Michael D. Fraizer
Naming counsel & design - Klamath Communications, a "best of WPP" agency created for this client by Landor (NY).

First Impressions:
It's a strong new brand. The nicely abstracted compass is quite beautiful, its symmetry adding stability as well as distinctiveness. I enjoy the two negative-space circles, especially the vibrating circle created by the inner points.

"Financial," incidentally, strikes me as an intrusive and un-helpful crutch; I suspect "Genworth" could walk faster without it.