McKinsey & Company launches new visual identity
Global strategy consulting giant McKinsey & Company has launched a new visual identity, in a rebranding exercise that is geared to reflect the changing nature of the firm’s multi-faceted offering. McKinsey’s clinical new look in particular reflects its many new service lines, with the international consultancy having notably launched its combined design entity last year.
February 2019 has seen McKinsey & Company – one of the world’s three largest strategy consultancies, known collectively as the MBB – start to roll out a new visual identity. According to a release from the firm, the new design is aimed at better expressing what the firm represents, and what it does today.
While many businesses have undergone drastic changes in the last five years, amid a plethora of digital innovations, McKinsey’s change has been especially drastic. For example, more than half of the firm’s work for clients now resides in areas like design, digital, and analytics, aspects of the company which simply did not exist for McKinsey just half a decade ago.
One particularly recent aspect of this transformation saw McKinsey formalise its entry into the world of design thinking, launching a new McKinsey Design brand. The firm’s new business unit builds on three acquisitions – Lunar, Carbon12 and Veryday – which has enabled it to reach a headcount of some 350 designers spread across ten international hubs.
While there is not a world of difference between McKinsey’s old logo and its new one – save being on two lines rather than one – the overall refresh includes an updated graphic element, new fonts, a new colour palette, and a revamped approach to data visualisation and photography. Representing continuity amid this sea of change, blue, a colour often used by the business community to denote calming and trustworthy traits of a firm, still figures prominently, but it is now a deeper shade, set against a white background.
Commenting on the changes, Kevin Sneader, McKinsey & Company Global Managing Partner, remarked, “There are two reasons we exist… To help our clients with change that really matters, and to develop a place for exceptional people. Our mission is the backbone of our firm, and always has been. But living up to it, given the world of change in which we operate, has required some changes ourselves. Over the last five years, we’ve become one of the world’s top design agencies… because we know this delivers real value for our clients… but we’ve also looked in the mirror at our own identity. It’s always been intentionally low-key and behind the scenes, but given who we are now, it became clear we needed to invest in our own design identity, in order to live up to our mission in today’s context.”
The move comes as many key operators in the consulting industry similarly look to revise their branding to reflect their widening mission. Just three months ago, this saw McKinsey’s MBB rival Boston Consulting Group launched one of the largest rebranding efforts in its 55-year history. Central to the change was a new connected-character sans serif logo, which was supposedly aimed at better reflecting the firm’s holistic offering to clients as it is today. The rebrand also included the choice of new brand colours, with a digital-looking art-style in azure, green, and yellow tones for backgrounds, slideshows, advertisements, and the like.
As it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017, global IT consultancy Capgemini also rejigged its corporate branding. Similarly, maintaining its blue colouring, the firm adopted a new cursive font for its logo, which was said to be borne from the fluid nature of Capgemini’s service, as well as the interconnectedness of modern business.