Reckitt Benckiser

New:  Logo and visual system

Launched:  February 17, 2009

Story in brief:
Ten years after very British Reckitt & Colman (having previously spun out its Colman food businesses) merged with Holland's Benckiser  to become  Reckitt Benckiser, "the world no.1 in household cleaning, " CEO Bart Brecht has decided to freshen the corporate brand, adding a "pink kite containing the letters rb," whose design has been credited to a London branding agency, The Workroom.  (There is a The Workroom in Chicago too -- no relation.)

The company's intentions, as reported by Miranda Fitzgerald for MarketingMagazine.co.uk, are "to raise its profile and position it as 'the power behind the power brands'." This is significant, a recognition that in our times, we need to know who is making the brand promise, too.

More to come, as we learn more from the source.

Credits:
C.E.O. - Bart Becht
Identity design -  The Workroom (London)
 

First Impressions:
Business strategy: TBD, pending further information
Creative strategy: We can imagine the debate: "Can we afford to lose Benckiser yet? No? Then to be friendlier, maybe we should encourage 'RB' . Everybody calls us that anyway!" That's often delusional.
Design execution: Given the name decision plus the (RB) name-mitigation decision, the pink kite is a lovely and appealing presence. The wordmark is decent (save the dots on the i's, a distraction); the color palette (see Website) imposes a strong if demanding corporate personality. And dig the soundtrack. They're serious!

Other Comments:
Bart Becht has been too quiet about this rebranding. (There wasn't even a corporate press release on it.)  This silence can too easily be seen as disdain for its importance, or even as a lack of confidence in it.  If the purpose is indeed to show "the power behind," for goodness sake show some pride in it!
 

Corporate Brand Matrix ratings:  
0% structural,  100% strategic,  0% functional (est.)