Brett Morris, CEO of DraftFCB South Africa, announced yesterday his agency is planning to roll-out a rebranding campaign, following on from the announcements on the 10th of March that the entire global network and all of its collective agencies is to be renamed FCB (Foote, Cone and Belding). The big news was broken in New York by global CEO Carter Murray, who said the simplification of the brand name reflected the group's more focused direction and identity, following the merger between the Draft and FCB brands seven years hence.
The big news was broken in New York by global CEO Carter Murray, who said the simplification of the brand name reflected the group's more focused direction and identity.
The rebranding will be rolled out across South Africa in three phases according to Morris. The first phase will see the rebranding of the agency's digital platforms, which will happen in the coming days. The second and third phases meanwhile, won't be rolled out until early May, and will deal with the rebranding of agency stationary, signs and office spaces, and an official launch (to the media, clients and staff) respectively.
Morris believes that the global rebranding (which he hastens to add included a market-to-market element) will “Allow agencies to highlight specific expertise or include the name of an acquired agency." Indeed, he says this is a move already planned at the London agency, where it will be rebranded as 'FCB Inferno' due to the relevance, prestige and equity of the recently acquired company. Meanwhile, one agency that specialises in social marketing, plans to take on the moniker of 'FCB Social Marketing' in order to underline the agency's area of expertise. He explains that whilst this won't be the case for every office, most will “Add the city in which they operate” to the name of the respective agency, so the office in Cape Town will be rebranded as 'FCB Cape Town' and so on and so forth. The synergy between the global offices will be represented by using a “Diagonal line through the B and the first letter of the local moniker.”
The synergy between the global offices will be represented by using a “Diagonal line through the B and the first letter of the local moniker.”
The new CI is believed to be a positive move for the agency, both in South Africa and globally Morris thinks the rebranding is a sign of the agency going back to their roots. He stressed that the FCB brand “Has a 140-year plus heritage of producing iconic work, which is obviously something that's close to South African hearts”. He emphasises that the agency has always placed focus on “Producing iconic work” for their brands, and believes the move will not only fail to impact the strong relationships they already have with their clients, but will in fact bolster them thanks to a “Renewed focus and support from global colleagues.”
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance copywriter from Kidderminster who believes there is only so much in a name, but that the decision to remove the 'draft' from the brand was a strong one in this case.
