WPP has switched its logo from a plain black-on-white serif typeface (pictured, below) to a multicoloured, dynamic dot pattern to underline its change of emphasis under new chief executive Mark Read.
Two of the group’s own branding agencies, Superunion and Landor, worked with WPP’s central team to come up with an identity that matched Read’s positioning of "creative transformation".
The logo is made up of many parts that combine to form the whole – a representation of WPP’s people, agencies, capabilities and markets that work together as one for clients.
On screen, it is designed to have a continuously changing form and colour, symbolising creative transformation in itself.
Jim Prior, global chief executive of Superunion, said: "Our ambition was to present WPP with the same energy and creativity that we offer to our clients right across the company."
Jane Geraghty, global chief executive of Landor, added that the "evolved brand better reflects who we are as a company".
The release of the new branding came during a marathon analyst and media presentation on Tuesday afternoon following the publication of WPP’s new strategy in the morning.
"We are fundamentally repositioning WPP as a creative transformation company with a simpler offer that allows us to meet the present and future needs of clients," Read stated in the update.
In a follow-up interview with ±±¾©Èü³µpk10, Read confirmed that there would be 3,500 job losses over three years but WPP would also be making new hires of senior creative talent and there were no more major agency network mergers planned.
Not unrelated to the new logo, he observed that WPP needs to "act more as a company and less as a group" and said setting up a new executive committee "symbolises we are going to run WPP as a team".
Read, who also noted the "share price reaction" to the update was "good", will have been pleased to see the gains held over the course of the day, especially in the light of the share price reaching a six-year low yesterday.
Boosted partly by the company promising to maintain its full-year dividend payout at 60p per share, the share price finished the day up 4.89% to 844.40p.
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