Accompanied with appropriate discussion, research, surveying and workshopping, from what is after all a marketing group; one wouldn’t wish to devalue the raison d’être of their members; The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) have launched a new brand.
The Chartered Institute of Marketing is a UK-based professional association with 40,000 members. CIM offers professional development to marketing practitioners and publishes a monthly magazine, The Marketer. (Wikipedia)
In a lengthy post on LinkedIn (where else marketing fans!) their “Director, Strategy and Insights” (this title ticks so many marketing boxes) describes the why and whats of the new design.
The “why” boils down to, “Well look at the old logo, it’s awful”, which it really was, is that a C or G? The complex and detailed crest squeezed into that small space, the “M”, oh the “M”! Plus how with the pace of digital advancement and all they, how marketing materials were sporadic and usability low.
So 12 months on and a new, lo-fi blue CIM is launched. It’s got a double lined initials logo, which is nicely weighted and looks smart. I especially like how they cut the tops off of the M that potentially could have been too pointy and difficulty resolve if they remained.
They also rolled out a new crest which is as hipsterish as it gets. I like it, but it suits a trendy European cafe more than an historic organisation. Some updating would have been good, cleaning it up and smartening the overall feel, but this seems too drastic, it loses gravitas. I think the trick with crests is know when to and when not to use them. So don’t use them really small in the middle of your logo and don’t use them in app icons or favicons. Use them in their full glory as a supporter of something else, a secondary mark.
That is unless The Queen.
The blue colour choice seems safe, we all know blue is the colour of business and we all know these smart marketing types mean business.
They’re keen to point out this isn’t just a logo change but it’s part of their new “strategic intent – the visual and verbal manifestation of who we are, our values and our future vision for the brand”. So we see this change coinciding with some new projects based around a plan called “#Marketing2025” (note the obligatory hashtag) which is an attempt to get the jump on what will be happening in 10 years time, to see the future and predict the next revolution in marketing, to identify the yet unidentified, like sitting in 2005 and trying to see the rise of “Twitter” in 2015.
There’s some accompanying imagery for this, which is less strong for me, the icons are smart but I find the text ricky to read.
In general, I think it’s a good update from CIM, accompanying it with a refreshed outlook is a good way to publicise their projects and plans and get folks talking about them. There’s stacks more info in their online magazine.
Smart Marketing that.
I expect nothing less!
