McGladrey

New:  Joint presence, masterbrand and logo

Launched:  June 3, 2010

Story in brief:
McGladrey is actually two companies, united by a partnership agreement – RSM McGladrey, a subsidiary of H&R Block, and partner-owned McGladrey & Pullen. H&R Block describes RSM McGladrey as "a professional services firm consulting mid-size organizations. The company offers wealth management, retirement resources, business and tax consulting, investment banking, and international business services."  (The RSM in its name indicates its membership in RSM International, a network of independent accounting firms in which it is the U.S. representative.)

Essentially, the new McGladrey brand expresses the two firms' December, 2009 agreement to join in "an alternative practice structure." Combined, they are the fifth largest U.S. provider of accounting, tax and consulting services, a competitor to the likes of Price Waterhouse and Accenture.

"We were our industry's best-kept secret" said Mark Audino, formerly a consultant to RSM McGladrey, who came on board just six months ago as Chief Marketing Officer. "It was like owning a Ferrari stuck in first gear."

The rebranding was therefore designed to make "McGladrey" unmistakably visible, expressing its joint presence as a significant player. FutureBrand provided the symbol-dominant logo, designing the symbol to be distinctive but purely abstract (or does it evoke a landscape, perhaps a golf course?). (Internally, it's been called "the Rothko bars.")  Kass Uehling later refined the mark (notably the color palette) and designed the application system.

To further express its "big leagues" positioning, McGladrey has plunged into pro golf. Phil Mickelson wears a KPMG logo, and Accenture has (or had) Tiger – Team McGladrey has Davis Love III, Chris DiMarco, Natalie Gulbis and Zach Johnson, and The McGladrey Classic tournament will tee off in October 2010.

As it happens, the full-page  Wall Street Journal  ad that launched this new identity on Tuesday, June 3rd featured golfer Zach Johnson. Mark Audino told us he had bought the space just the previous Friday; then on Sunday, in dramatic style Zach won The Colonial tournament.  Some branders are just plain lucky.

Update: Further extending its new brand, on June 21 McGladrey announced a new name, The McGladrey Alliance, for what was The RSM McGladrey Network, an affiliation of over 90 independently owned, named and managed accounting and consulting firms. "The new name and McGladrey logo will help them communicate their affiliation with McGladrey and capitalize on the power of association with a premiere assurance, tax and consulting provider."
 

Credits:
C.E.O. - C. E. Andrews, COO of RSM McGladrey
(subject to confirmation; see Other Comments))
C.M.O. - Mark Audino
Identity design - concept by FutureBrand, refined and implemented by Kass Uehling

First Impressions:
Strategy:  Assuming the two firms present themselves to customers seamlessly, leveraging their communications for critical mass and greater presence via a common brand makes good sense.
Design:  Functional, and not unappealing. But for me, curiously flat (and perhaps overly dependent on color for its appeal).  Surely there could be a bigger idea here?

Other Comments:
From a Truth In Branding perspective, this one is challenging. If "brand" has any fundamental meaning, it is as "the mark, on a product or entity, that indicates acceptance of responsibility by its owners for its performance, quality, safety and value." Can two legally separate,  independently led firms truly own responsibility for each other's performance? Or is their common branding necessarily a disclosure that their legal separation is actually cosmetic, that in fact an identifiable leader is managing to a single vision?  Furthermore in this instance  who owns the vision –  is it McGladrey's COO C.E. Andrews, or is it more truly H&R Block's
CEO Russ Smyth? Given the dynamic complexity of these several institutional relationships, this would seem to be an inherently unstable identity, seeking stability through branding. If reality follows, it just might work. T Spaeth

Another comment:  The June 3 launch ad successfully conveyed a sense of  the advertiser's importance, but failed to acknowledge that its unfamiliarity to most of us might be explained, at least in part, by the fact that the advertiser's signature was a completely new one. That's a missed opportunity, in my opinion, to express pride and confidence in the new brand, as well as to engage our attention. T Spaeth

Did anyone notice that the logo is similar to the DAI 'flag' symbol?  Hans Stol

Corporate Brand Matrix ratings:  
5% structural,  70% strategic,  25% functional (est.)