As it turns 50, Capgemini redesigns its corporate identity
As the firm celebrates its 50th year in business, Capgemini has unveiled a new corporate identity, as it looks to set its brand apart with a human touch. The new, handwritten logo is based on the signature of founder Serge Kampf.
Capgemini was founded in 1967 by Serge Kampf, in Grenoble, France. The original name was Sogeti. The name change from Sogeti to Capgemini was the result of a number of acquisitions and branding strategies. In 1973, Sogeti acquired a share capital in CAP, a major European IT services company. One year later, Sogeti bought Gemini Computer Systems, an American IT company.
In response to these acquisitions, Sogeti renamed its company to CAP Gemini Sogeti in 1975. More than two decades later, the brand name for all CAP Gemini Sogeti companies was renamed CAP Gemini (1996).
On June 1, 2000 Cap Gemini acquired with EY’s consulting arm, and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young was formed. On April 15, 2004, the group finally became the familiar, singular, Capgemini brand.
Now, with more than 190,000 people, Capgemini is present in over 40 countries. A global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing services, the Group reported 2016 global revenues of €12.5 billion. The firm is presently celebrating its 50th Anniversary year in 2017, part of which saw Capgemini launch MoveFifty, a global project encouraging employees of the consultancy to get active in the name of three charities promoting education for underprivileged children.
As a continuation of those attempts to present the consultancy as both approachable and humane, the group have confirmed a long-awaited overhaul of their corporate identity.
Capgemini last refreshed their logo 13 years ago – in the now seemingly distant 2004. The firm cited the massive change in both the company’s size, shape and scope of their business as well as the form of the entire market, as motives for the new look. The new design is aimed at reflecting the firm’s “unique character, ambition, passion and strengths.”
The firm’s Group Marketing and Communications Director, Virginie Regis, said, “Our new identity demonstrates how agile and in motion we are, helping our clients to address their business challenges, with precision and trust. In this age of digital interactions we were keen to humanise our name with a fresh hand written format. Work is also now underway on the overall architecture of the Group’s brands.”
Capgemini’s new clothes
At its core is the Capgemini vision that technology is nothing without the people behind it. The handcrafted name is now fully part of Capgemini’s logo, which personifies the company slogan that was launched back in 2010 and is just as relevant today: ‘People matter, results count’. According to a release accompanying the logo’s launch, Capgemini cited Serge Kampf’s original signature design as inspiration for this development.
Kampf’s fingerprints can also be seen on the revamp of Capgemini’s historic “Ace of Spades” logo. When it first came to choosing an emblem for his company, then named Sogeti, the entrepreneur had hired a small agency to put forward suggestions, with the firm providing 3 ideas; a bee (symbolising, fruitful work), a toothed wheel or magnetic tape drive (signifying the IT services provision in the firm’s DNA), and an ace of clubs , representing good luck and happiness.
Kampf rejected the first two, and adapted the third into the ace of spades – because it is the highest value card in bridge (a game he played a lot when he was a student). Having originally been “deformed”, with a shortened base to render the popular symbol distinctive, Capgemini’s spade is now fluid and dynamic. The mix of colours are said to reflect the evolving technology landscape and the ability of Capgemini to constantly adapt and master the latest innovation, yet still with the precision and accuracy that are fundamental to successful client delivery.
The colour palette of the sigil has also been altered – and are now a good deal more complex than when their selection was left to their founder. Originally, the firm’s colours were blue and red which Kampf came across a long article explaining the meaning of the colours chosen by French oil giants ELF. The article revealed that the company had budgeted 50 million Francs for the design guidelines to show that blue represented stability, and red displayed dynamism – at which point, without hesitation Kampf adopted ELF’s colours for his company’s logo, explaining, “at least we’ve saved 50 million,” to his entourage.
Having switched to a combination of blues as of 1996, the latest update has rendered Capgemini’s colours more vibrant. The darker blue is said by designers to represent the depth of the firm’s heritage and the dependability of the brand and its people, while the lighter blue represents the new world - energetic, inspiring and free-thinking.