CA
(formerly Computer Associates)

New:  Abbreviated CA name, circumcised logo

Launched:   November 13, 2005

Story in brief:
In 2001, new CEO Sanjay Kumar spoke of a new mission, a new business model, a new attitude ("focused, focused, focused" said the ads) and thus, a new logo. In the case of the logo, it was indeed change for the better; good design had never been a priority for founder Charles B. Wang. Things looked better for CA. But they went worse, and in 2004 Kumar and four colleagues were indicted for diddling the books.

But the business fundamentals, though soft, were firming up. An almost entirely new leadership team, led by IBM veteran John Swainson, set out to transform the company. There was every reason to say 'forget last year, focus on the future; once again, this is a new CA' from which it is a short leap to 'so let's change the logo again.'  But according to CMO Don Friedman, "changing the brandmark was the last thing we thought about. First, we had to transform our internal understanding of the business we're in. And it isn't about computers any more. It's about a huge new need, far more holistic, for enterprise-wide IT management."

But to sell this idea, the new team concluded, it would indeed help to change the brandmark and the "70s" name as well.  Per Friedman, "'Computer' no longer says anything more than 'hardware'." It had to go, primarily because it narrowed and undermined the "EITM"  (Enterprise IT Management) positioning goal.  "We considered but quickly ruled out creating a new name," says Friedman; "but everybody calls us CA, which works fine. Even in California and Canada, context usually takes care of identifying us." A legal name change is (reportedly) in process.

And the design strategy? Why change the logo? It's considered an evolutionary change, not revolutionary, and was  done partly for the sake of change (and that's appropriate). But it also signals changes in both strategy, and personality. Friedman says that by bringing the C and the A closer together "to symbolize unification and simplification, the new logo expresses our Enterprise strategy -- to unify and simplify IT management." The personality is simply more straightforward. It was hard to connect the 2001 'focus' story to the new 'unify/simplify' story. Friedman adds that he never understood why the 'a' was the focus of the 2001 logo.

Friedman expects rebranding costs to approach $10 million, most of it in new signs for some 200 facilities.

Credits:
C.E.O. -  John Swainson, President and CEO
C.M.O. - Don Friedman
Identity counsel and design - Sequel Studio; Steve Mignogna & Brett Gerstenblatt, principals; John Nishimoto, design director

First Impressions:
We called the 2001 logo "fresh, intriguing and memorable." And although its implied message was a little baffling ("focus on our 'a,' not  our 'c'"), it was both distinctive and elegant. The 2005 logo is less distinctive and far less elegant -- but it is a deliberate choice of a more direct and more forceful corporate personality, a choice we must respect. 

The name decision, however, looks to me like a placeholder. Will "CA" ever cease to evoke the "Computer Associates" ghost? It's true that such initials as DHL and HSBC have largely escaped their original meanings; but they had the advantage of millions of free street-level exposures. CA, in contrast, has to pay for virtually all its media exposures. It's a judgment call, for sure, but my own judgment is that it would cost less to seat a distinctive, appealing new name than to make "CA" distinctive and appealing. To move to initials is almost never to move to strength.

Bottom line: This is a strategically justified change, professionally executed, yet perhaps best seen as work in progress.
 

Other comments:
A gracious note from Robert Matza, Landor's Creative Director for the 2001 work:  "We are disappointed that one of our stronger identity designs
will no longer live, and is being replaced by a less timeless,
perhaps forced typographic solution. However, given Computer
Associates' troubles in the past, we understand why a new CEO
would want to change the name and identity to symbolize a revitalized
company moving forward."