For those who missed the full-page spread in yesterday’s AFR, behold the new face of PriceWaterhouseCoopers:
Thankfully, the firm hasn’t inadvertantly chosen a new brand that also happens to be the name of a prolific homosexual porn star, like Blake Dawson Waldron did a few years ago.
One of the numerous pwc spies to write in with comments about the new branding humourously observed:
…it calls to mind some sort of leggo flame block. Or an orange butterfly defecating.
Indeed. We can almost picture the PwC pwc boardroom conversation earlier this year:
“DN: So, we’ve just had a bit of a crisis, fired a few people, cut some perks, got some bad press, done some things we shouldn’t have. Offshored some jobs. People aren’t happy. The propaganda isn’t working. How to get out of this mess?”
“PR guru: Have you considered a corporate rebranding?”
“DN: Tell me more!”
“PR guru: Well, it’s like this. PriceWaterHouseCoopers is too long. Doesn’t play well in price-conscious times – you know, like the ‘fried’ in Kentucky Fried Chicken. And make it lower case – this seemed to work for the National Australia Bank (“nab”) when it was trying to distance itself from a highly embarassing and damaging trading scandal a few years ago. Oh, and we’d better add some italics, just to show, you know, that we have attitude. Add a few red splotches in MS paint – you know, because we’re bold and dynamic –”
“DN: Hmm, they look a little too much like office flames.”
“PR guru: No worries, we’ll just blur them a little. You know, like totally retro. And we’re done!”
“DN: Wow. And here’s your $20m cheque.”
“We think our new brand expression visually distinguishes PwC in the same way that the quality and expertise of our people differentiates the experience of working with PwC,” said Dennis Nally, chairman, PwC [sic] International. “Underlying the visual elements is what the PwC brand really stands for — how we are viewed by our clients, our people and our stakeholders. …
The emphasis on a new brand reflects PwC’s desire for a more unified representation across its global network. “Our decision to make this change now is because over the last decade PwC has continued to grow and evolve and a concise consistent Brand position makes it easier for people to appreciate who we are, what we do, and how we operate across markets,” said Moira Elms, PwC’s global leader of brand and communications.
Personally, we think it’s almost as bad as the London Olympics logo. But hey, it worked for Arthur Andersen, right?
Has your firm received a splash of new paint lately? Let us know.
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The rebranding effort is woeful! The colour is similar to the colours used by Arthur Anderson shortly before the Enron disaster and subsequent implosion of the firm.
pwc are trying to establish themselves as a 21st century company with this poor attempt to compete in a digital landscape.
Neil Wilson has the staff survey (Pulse) open now until 29 October, so once again I am sure he will get the feedback about how bad pwc is and how low the moral levls are.
Neil – would you please look at the survey and the comments your staff leave for you… and for godsake action some of the ideas.
pwc contiues to crumble, at this rate the firm must be headed for a crash.
and the award for originality …
PWC: ‘what would you like to grow?’
Blakes: ‘would you like to grow a little faster?’
I’m not sure what is worse the logo or the websites? http://www.pwc.com.au/ is simply aweful – if someone wanted to use PwC as an advisor and viewed the site beforehand I think they would straight to another firm. While http://whatwouldyouliketogrow.com.au/ makes their last effort http://whatwoldyouliketochange.com.au/ look respectable, and we know from previous firmspy articles just how successful it was. WWLTG site has had three posts (based on the front page and the dates) in the last three days. Good to see all those ads in the AFR, in the airports, bus, train and tram spots are paying dividends.
I cracked up when I clicked on pwc’s “What would you like to grow” website and saw that the most popular responses were about growing relationships with friends and family, increasing global and social awareness and naturally growing vegetables.
Probably not what pwc was aiming for.
The one upside from the rebranding is we don’t have to worry anymore about whether we’re correctly capitalising the abbreviated form of their corporate name. That’s worth $100m alone. Right?
Following on from Anonymous’ comment, I remember when:
HDY used “experience the difference”
and
Perpetual had “Experience. The difference”
Both firms have since dropped those corporate slogans. I wonder whether they engaged the same corporate consultants …
the silliest of all campaigns. no one at pwc really treats it seriously. we’re quite embarrassed by it. these sorta marketing campaigns make pwc look like the absolute laughing stock for the industry.
we need to sack the marketing person! lol