Thomson Reuters

New:  Name, logo and visual system

Launched:  April 17, 2008

Story in brief:
This dramatic rebranding effects Thomson's acquisition of Reuters, expressing it more as the creation of a new company than as merely a merger of equals. CEO Tom Glocer made it personal:
" I write to share my excitement over the formation today of Thomson Reuters. Birthdays are generally joyous occasions, so I hope you will permit me this celebration. Rare is the offspring who enters the world as the leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals and traces his family history to 1851  ... We hope you will see many positive changes from Thomson Reuters, starting with our new brand."

Rebranding started September 2007, with engagement of Interbrand for a classic brand research,  positioning and design process.  Since Thomson grew from Canada-based family roots to acquire the more historic (and distinctive) Reuters brand, the name decision was only to be expected.

Given the name, designer Chris Campbell tells us "we knew early on that a symbol would be required, at the highest level, to link together the various businesses.  Increasingly they are web-based, where a mark can stand out more clearly. And a symbol would help to establish their presence and identity as a brand new company. So a symbol was necessary, we felt, both for brand architecture and to build recognition.

"The idea of the spiral, made of dots, leverages the equity of the Reuters dots. Conceptually each of the dots represents a point of data, so the story is that Thomson Reuters organizes the data to give it shape and meaning. Even at rest the shape has a feeling of being alive and in motion, and supports the notion that 'intelligent information is alive'."

As for color, "we agreed early on that we would not be another blue brand (like Thomson and Reuters, both linked to their legacy as a 20th century company) so we took orange, a more optimistic part of the Reuters identity, to express our future."

The launch was about as aggressive as could be; internally, global closed-circuit broadcasts of the staged event; externally, two or three-page spreads in major papers plus a Times Square billboard extravaganza, followed by an impressively sustained campaign..

Credits:
C.E.O. - Thomas A. Glocer
C.M.O - Gustav Carlson
Identity counsel and design - Interbrand (NY)
Exec.  Director of Strategy Tom Zara, Exec. Creative Director Chris Campbell,  Creative Director Jason Brown

First Impressions:
Name decision: Completely understandable, probably the right decision, yet a bit of a letdown (dilution by addition). 'Reuters' is the distinguisher; putting it second protects against truncation, but also inhibits constructive truncation and is thus a mixed blessing.
Design strategy: The symbol is warranted by the long, duller name, as well as by the desire to visually endorse certain sub-brands.
Design execution: The overall brand presence is necessarily lacking in compactness and thus force; it is nevertheless conceptually engaging (reminds me of those satellite photos of hurricanes) and visually appealing. And arguably, in the digital information space its relative delicacy is appropriate. 

Other Comments:
Reuters' new dots trace back to the  punch-tape wordmark designed by Alan Fletcher (pre-Pentagram) in 1965 or so. In 1996 Enterprise IG weighted up the dots and added the day/night symbol, to increase on-screen impact.  For essentially the same reason, in 1999 the letterforms were solidified and colors  added, by (TBD; let us know!).
 

Corporate Brand Matrix ratings:  
50% structural,  50% strategic,  0% functional.