July 1, 2013 saw the demise of another of the “Big Four” global audit and advisory brands when Ernst & Young rebranded as EY. The new EY brand includes not just a new name but also a new logo and tagline, “Building a better working world.”
According to the EY press release announcing the rebranding (and the appointment of a new CEO, Mark Weinberger), the shift to EY will bring consistency to the company brand in the 140 countries it operates in around the world. The rebranding will also, “demonstrate clearly and boldly who we are and reflect the goal we have recently set ourselves to be the number one brand in our profession.”
The rebranding is also intended to reflect the EY corporate values. As Weinberger explains, “our values are the fundamental beliefs of our organization and remain the bedrock of our culture. They are one of the most important sources of our organizational strength. We encourage and expect our people to demonstrate integrity, respect and teaming, have the energy, enthusiasm and courage to lead and build relationships based on doing the right thing.”
Can EY live up to those bold statements? Only time will tell. There is no better time for a company like EY to seize the opportunity to prove it can act honestly and responsibly. The video below provides more information about the rebranding effort.
The new logo includes a beam icon that has already appeared in EY marketing materials but now is clearly the core of the entire rebranding effort. The beam certainly adds a sense of looking toward the future to the brand. When combined with the tagline, I’m reminded of Stephen Colbert’s Super PAC slogan, “Making a better tomorrow, tomorrow,” but I digress.
While the application of the beam works well in graphics, designers in the Brand New community believe it seems like a lost opportunity in the logo. I do have to agree that the beam seems like an odd afterthought tagged onto the EY. However, the logo design does follow the trend in creating simple logos rather than the highly stylized Web 2.0 logo design trend that dominated the early 2000s. That is a good thing.
To clarify, EY will be used to refer to any and all companies within Ernst & Young Global Limited. Each of those companies is its own, separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited does not provide any products or services directly to consumers in any way.
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
