Wolters Kluwer: from publishing, to Content in Context

New:  logo, and corporate brand architecture

Launched:  March 21, 2005

Story in brief:
The driving idea, for this Amsterdam-based $4 billion knowledge provider, is called "Content in Context." New CEO Nancy McKinstry found a mélange of some 300 diverse brands, and sought to make a more coherent (and cost-effective) whole.  But the corporate "publisher" image, reinforced by the blue book symbol, would be the wrong umbrella for a multi-media information services provider. The book had to go: but another graphic symbol would be needed, for a visual umbrella.  As McKinstry put it, "by combining [our strong brands] under the strong Wolters Kluwer umbrella, we will be more visible to our customers as their partners in innovation."

To represent "Content in Context," Landor's Bob Matza put a square into a circle, and says "don't read more into it than that;  it's a simple idea." Representing the parent with a graphic non-verbal symbol permits the many sub-brands to keep their names, while losing their logos in the interest of corporate focus, coherence and impact.

Credits:
C.E.O. - Nancy McKinstry
Chief brand officer - Caroline Wouters
Identity counsel & design - Landor (NY);
creative director Robert Matza, designer Joe Marianek

First Impressions:
Strategically, it's a win; the brand architecture design will create a more powerful and coherent presence. The name Wolters Kluwer was unfamiliar to me, and is not easy to learn (this might have been a good time to simplify it).  Given the name, however, a symbol is doubly justified; it provides the distinctiveness and memorability needed to compensate for the long name, as well as providing a means of visual endorsement for sub-brand names.

Expressively, it's... I am ambivalent. In color, it is a pretty thing, but it is less pretty (and less recognizable) in black & white; marks so dependent on color (and good reproduction) make me nervous. More importantly, both the symbol and the idea it is meant to express seem a bit soft and ephemeral. In due course a new slogan will replace "Content in Context;" presumably the mark will endure, no longer requiring explanation.

Soft marks, enabled by technology, are in fashion. But while there are no hard "rules of identity," where definitive clarity is the goal there is much to be said for hard edges. 

Other comments:
It's what the red-eye removal tool in an image editor looks like.  (anon.)