3. Within this book, you will see
emblematic examples of our nearly
40-year-old philosophy: Simple
is Smart. But simple doesn’t mean
simplistic. Simple allows for easy
understanding. Simple enables
evangelism. Simple is a platform
for growth. By simplifying, we
amplify. With Simple is Smart
as our mantra, we help to build
brands that are clear, credible, and
relevant. Then, we allow these ideas
to spring from the boardroom wall,
and into life.
6. Who We Are
Siegel+Gale is one of the world’s premier strategic branding Siegel+Gale has full-service offices in New York, Los Angeles
companies. Since it was founded by Alan Siegel in 1969, London and Dubai and strategic partnerships around the
the firm has applied the art and science of simplicity to world. It is part of the Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE-OMC)
create branding programs that have helped many of the (www.omnicomgroup.com), a leading global marketing
world’s best-known organizations excel. Driven by its and corporate communications company. Omnicom’s
philosophy of Simple is Smart, Siegel+Gale has led the branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide
way in bringing innovation to the corporate branding field, advertising, strategic media planning and buying, direct and
including transforming complex, incomprehensible customer promotional marketing, public relations, and other specialty
communications into plain English; helping clients create communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than
distinctive brand voices across all their communications; 100 countries.
transporting brands onto the Internet; and aligning the brand
experience for customers with the brand promise.
The firm has worked with an array of blue chip organizations,
including American Express, Bayer, Lehman Brothers,
Medtronic, Dell, Harley-Davidson, Lexus, Merrill Lynch,
Yahoo!, Caterpillar, Sony, Motorola, the National Basketball
Association, 3M, Dow, and The Four Seasons Hotel Group.
7. What We Do
Brand Research Naming
Design and execute research to inform and validate brand Develop corporate, product, and service names that clearly
positioning and architecture. Assess brand elasticity. identify their purpose and adhere to the brand strategy.
Measure the impact of how brands affect business results.
Brand Evangelism and Training
Brand Strategy
Educate all members of the organization about the brand
Uncover a company’s unique and enduring value. Identify promise, identity, and experience to foster a brand-aware
opportunities for brand growth. Articulate the promise in a culture. Customized workshops and seminars supported by
succinct and differentiating way. interactive and printed media show stakeholders how to live
the brand day to day.
Simplification
Internet Strategy and User Experience Design
Transform information-intensive customer interactions into
positive brand experiences using communications analysis, Help our clients develop strategies that leverage the Internet
information design, and plain-language writing. to drive their businesses. Create highly intuitive, usable,
branded user experiences for the Web, kiosks, company
Brand Architecture
Intranets, and client Extranets.
Determine the relationship of the corporate brand to all its
Brand Collateral Development
parts—business lines, partners, products, services—and
provide a strategy for current and future branding and Offer content development, graphic design, production, and
naming practices. motion graphics services to dramatize our clients’ brands in
all communications for the brand launch and beyond.
Corporate Identity Design
Design systems—proprietary visual vocabularies
that distinguish communications, environments, and
experiences—to support the core promise of the company at
every touch point.
8.
9. Case Studies
Our life is frittered away by detail... Simplify, simplify, simplify!...
Simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.
Henry David Thoreau,
“Walden”
10. Comcast Triple Play Bundling
The days of media companies providing their content on As Comcast set out on this journey in 2005 to develop its
one platform are long gone. brand portfolio in a multi-platform world, it has been joined
step by step with Siegel+Gale, to help the firm navigate
As the United States largest cable company, Comcast has
myriad product development and communications initiatives
set the bar for “best practice” branding across a growing
that have involved a confluence of subscriber and segment
array of platforms spanning digital cable, high speed
research, nomenclature development, brand architecture,
Internet, digital telephony and, very soon wireless—the 4th
and creative design. Among these Siegel+Gale has worked
platform.
to bring the Comcast Triple Play and its growing bundled
and tiered product portfolio to life in the hyper competitive
and converging media marketplace—the stakes could not be
higher.
14. Sony PlayStation Portable
When Sony Computer Entertainment International (SCEI) In the face of increasing pressure from Xbox, and its online
added a web browser to the PlayStation Portable (PSP)’s gaming service, Xbox Live, in particular, Sony Computer
capabilities, they turned to Siegel+Gale for help in driving Entertainment America (SCEA) asked Siegel+Gale to name,
loyalty among current and future PSP users. Through define and create a visual identity for the PlayStation online
quantitative and qualitative research efforts, we explored community.
key trends, behaviors, and expectations in the marketplace
Future and existing PlayStation games would be branded
among consumers, web publishers, carriers, manufacturers
with the name and identity, so the mark had to both remain
and licensors, to better understand the market’s unmet
true to the PlayStation brand and work across all media
needs in the category of wireless gaming.
(console screen, print, packaging and online). How this
Informed by our insights, we set out to design the official experience would be represented online, was a key issue
website for the Sony PlayStation Portable. Since the PSP has addressed in our work.
neither a keyboard nor mouse, we created new user interface
As a result of this, and ongoing work, SCEA asked
principles, taxonomy guidelines and standards for the site
Siegel+Gale in the spring of 2006 to develop the brand
that felt as intuitive to loyal users as web browsing on their
strategy and positioning for the PlayStation 3, widely
home PC.
considered the most anticipated gaming console in history.
Siegel+Gale, along with the dedicated team at PlayStation,
began to define gaming, and entertainment, for the next
decade.
17. ABOVE: PSP interface for HDTV
BELOW: day/night cycle
interface schematic (morning,
midday, and night)
18. HD Radio
The year is 2006. Traditional radio is under attack. The ad- by over $200 million in radio advertising, the Alliance needed
supported medium, beloved by generations and responsible to develop the right brand strategy, positioning, promise, and
for many iconic moments in communications history, has messaging to launch and maintain the brand over the short- and
found a serious rival in satellite radio. Still in its infancy, but long-term.
rapidly gaining steam, satellite radio has successfully lured
Siegel+Gale was called upon to develop an overarching strategy
top-tier programming talent to its stable, while launching its
and promise to define the brand and build awareness in the
100-plus digital channel offering to consumers worldwide.
marketplace. Further, we were tasked with developing the
This subscription-based industry, comprised primarily of XM
supporting detailed messaging that would serve as the basis
Radio and Sirius Satellite, boasted almost 10 million paying
for over 10,000 radio stations to define, promote, and educate
subscribers and was quickly transforming how the radio
listeners about this exciting new, free technology coming
industry defined its value proposition, programming formats,
their way.
technology expenditures, and its business model in general.
Based on in-depth consumer research, we developed a brand
Joined in battle to defend its industry, six of the nations largest
story that appealed to a large, core target audience, enveloped
radio station groups (e.g., CBS Radio, Clear Channel, Cumulus
in a new positioning—Discover What’s Between the Stations,
Media, Emmis Communications, Entercom Communications,
accompanied by a trademarked tagline: HD Radio: Discover It!
and Greater Media) came together as a consortium (the HD
Digital Radio Alliance) to define HD Radio (high-fidelity digital Lastly, to provide real utility for station managers, programming
programming across an expanded spectrum of radio channels) directors, and on-air talent at the station level, our consultants
in the marketplace and to accelerate the rollout and consumer delivered HD Radio’s messaging within a message matrix that
acceptance of this exciting, new medium through aggressive delineated priorities, communications strategies, tone, and risks
joint-marketing efforts across multiple industries. Supported to avoid—all organized around granular target audiences.
20. Dolce
Romtelecom, Romania’s semi-state-owned fixed-line telecom The rich, colorful language stood out in the Romanian
operator, decided in 2006 to launch a satellite TV offering in marketplace of mostly monotone brands, creating a clear
the Romanian marketplace as a tool to enhance customer sense of excitement and celebration—which proved helpful
retention and move towards a future quad-play offering. in gaining internal enthusiasm in the company and building
fast awareness in the marketplace.
With deadlines that allowed roughly half the time it usually
takes to launch such a service, Siegel+Gale needed to move As a pay-TV brand, Dolce needed to live in electronic
fast. We positioned the sub-brand as an “indulgent” service environments. We designed the programming guide interface
bringing greater variety of content and functionality to TV that brought the brand to life while keeping it consistent with
viewers, and named it Dolce—a Latin-based international its print design language.
name that could appeal to Romanian speakers and reflect a
Since the brand was sold primarily in retail outlets, we also
“spoil yourself” attitude.
designed a plasma screen-enabled product demo, literature
The logo and tone of voice of Dolce celebrated variety and package display and promotional messages. The unit was
richness of experience through strong use of vivid colors, used in both brand and dealer stores and helped capture
coupled with soft rounded typography the implied a sense of customers’ imaginations with an entertainment-driven look
indulgence, and a tagline “enjoy a richer life.” and feel.
24. Intelsat
Intelsat came to Siegel+Gale during the end-stages of its As you can see, Siegel+Gale designers crafted a compelling
own Space Race with rival PanAmSat. Their merger created new visual language to signal the merger and expansion of
the world’s largest commercial satellite network. More than services as well as to trumpet the exciting news about the
that, the new Intelsat now offers Earth’s most technologically new Intelsat on the web, through email blasts, in advertising,
advanced capabilities and its clients the prospect of success and with employee-facing posters and communications.
that is now much closer, by far.
Welcome to the new Intelsat.
Siegel+Gale created a brand platform for the new Intelsat
It’s a small world, after all.
around the concept of “Zero Degrees of Separation,”
shorthand for intimate, customer-focused service to television
and content providers, corporate, government, and military
entities and ISPs.
28. Motorola
Managing brand assets globally can be an arduous task. Motorola engaged Siegel+Gale to develop a comprehensive
When you are Motorola and operate brands in myriad system of brands and guidelines for its global channel
business sectors and regions around the world, having clear partners. These partners, who include value-added dealers,
and compelling communications is imperative. resellers, software developers and systems integrators,
needed to have a clearly articulated approach to applying the
Thus, when Motorola approached Siegel+Gale to revitalize
Motorola brand and expressing their channel relationships
their global, business-to-business visual identity system,
across all communications.
it promised to be a very comprehensive undertaking. The
scope of the engagement involved simplifying over 300 The system created by Siegel+Gale drastically simplified
pages of visual guideline documents, refreshing the “look the expression of channel partner roles and responsibilities,
and feel” of their existing visual system, and aligning their improving the partners’ ability to express their relationship
new positioning across all communications. to the Motorola and help build the Motorola masterbrand.
We developed a comprehensive set of guidelines including a
First, our consultants streamlined and reorganized their
proactive approach to co-branding and partnership branding,
guidelines and visual system to make it easy to use,
in which the Motorola brand lives alongside the channel
free of redundancies, and useful for a variety of diverse
partners’ brands. We also included detailed specifications
internal audiences, including designers, marketers, and
for product packaging, marketing collateral, web properties
communications executives.
and other communications materials.
Next, our designers refreshed the “look and feel” for
With a completely overhauled visual system in hand, we
Motorola’s entire collateral system, by focusing on
accompanied Motorola to regional kick-off sessions around
streamlining the design elements to eliminate confusion and
the globe to introduce the new visual system and guidelines
complexity. Then, we created a unique graphic element—
to internal audiences, in a series of implementation forums
the motion mark—to replace the mobility pattern and
and workshops.
communicate the new brand platform. Finally, we applied
the visual system to 15 prototypical collateral applications
and created new templates.
29. Channel identifiers
premier premier premier premier premier
development solution resale distribution service
partner partner partner partner partner
development solution resale distribution service
partner partner partner partner partner
Authenticity Compatibility
compatible
ABOVE: channel identifier, authenticity, and compatibility mark system
32. ™
Sprint: Pivot
Picture this: A mom walking through the aisle of the grocery Here, Siegel+Gale was tasked with creating an easy-to-
store watching CNBC’s Closing Bell on her Sprint cell comprehend and compelling naming system and visual
phone as she hunts for last minute groceries. A college identity for the venture’s product brand, its feature set,
student watching her school’s basketball team in the NCAA and each layer of the individual products offerings. Both
Final Four on her cell phone, while at the same time text the naming system and visual identity had to allow for
messaging her three friends, who are at the game! A doctor each partner company to market the product within their
in the operating room, remotely coordinating his phone respective footprints, while still being tethered to the
calls between his cell phone and home phone. Sounds like parent brand.
a scene from the future right? Well, not exactly. In fact, for
To accomplish this we created a new name, Pivot, naming
Sprint and some of the nation’s top cable operators—that
architecture guidelines, and a graphic identity that brought
future is possible, and that future is now!
the names to life and helped each partner manage how the
This vision, of bringing digital cable programming and other Pivot brand was launched commercially and applied across
services to mobile devices, was presented to Siegel+Gale both internal and external audiences.
by Sprint and its joint venture partners, cable operators
Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, and Bright House
Networks and hinged upon a long-term goal of going to
market with an evolving array of product choices that
communicate value and quality to consumers, while being
relevant to their increasingly digital lifestyles.
33. Pivot style guide
™
3.6 imagery style 3.0 Brand elements Pivot style guide June 2006
Imagery should tell a story about the Pivot full bleed
positioning and attributes.
It is important to choose imagery that implies
motion, particularly in a circular or pivotal
manner. Or, choose imagery that relates to
the services you can get on your phone from
Pivot (i.e., sports, entertainment, music).
Shown here are examples of full-bleed
imagery and silhouetted imagery. Use large,
full bleed images for impact. Use white
backgrounds with silhouetted images to
communicate a simple and modern feeling.
silhouette on white
6.12 endorsements 6.0 Pivot communications Pivot style guide June 2006
It is important to show the relationship Pivot is a new service
of the MSO companies and Sprint in the from Comcast and Sprint.
Pivot joint venture. This is shown with the
endorsement, which must appear on all
Pivot communications.
The endorsement should always appear
on a white background. Note the white
Pivot is a new service
endorsement area at the bottom of the example
shown here. On two sided communications, from Cox and Sprint.
such as a brochure, the endorsement area
can appear on the back.
The endorsements shown here are for Pivot-
focused communications. In Pivot-focused
communications, Pivot is the central message, Pivot is a new service from
and the local MSO and Sprint logos appear Time Warner Cable and Sprint.
as shown, with the description “Pivot is a new
service from local MSO and Sprint.”
The MSO logo should always be on the left,
and the Sprint logo on the right. Visually make endorsement in use
the two logos appear equal, and align the
baselines. The description appears to the Pivot is a new service from
ss
right, on two lines, as shown. Do not re-create Bright House and Sprint.
ce
link
this art. Art work for the endorsements can
ac
tch
be downloaded along with Pivot brand mark
art at www.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com.
surf wa
On MSO-focused communications, the
endorsement changes. See page 7.15 for co send
specifications. ec
nn
t
talk
rec
eiv
e
your world of information and
entertainment wherever you turn
www.pivot.com
ABOVE: visual identity guidelines
35. ABOVE: service on handheld device
BELOW LEFT: service on handheld device
BELOW RIGHT: webpage
36. tru2way
The future of television has arrived. To reinforce this promise, OCAP needed a new name and
visual look and feel that captured both the short-term
In 2007, Siegel+Gale was tasked with developing a brand
needs and long-term vision of the technology. Siegel+Gale
positioning, name, and visual system for the OpenCable
conducted testing around different name and design options,
Platform (OCAP), a revolutionary technology that unleashes
deciding on tru2way™ matched with a fluid, modern logo
the power of two-way, interactive television. Developed
whose integrated arrows and name give it a streamlined,
by a multi-industry consortium of major cable operators
directional feel. As a stand-alone trademark and technology
including Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision,
symbol, the tru2way™ logo signifies the purity of the
and Bright House Networks; electronics manufacturers
interactive experience.
Panasonic, Samsung, LG, and Microsoft; cable industry
trade organizations CTAM and NCTA; and CableLabs®, Formally announced in January at the Consumer Electronics
OCAP delivers an interactive viewing experience that all but Show by Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, the tru2way™
eliminates installation hassles and the need for equipment technology will be integrated into digital television, hitting the
such as the set-top box, wires and remotes. retail shelf in time for the 2008 holiday season. Impressed
by the positive marketplace reception to the tru2way brand,
In conducting a thorough analysis of the current
CableLabs President and CEO Dr. Richard Green exclaimed,
environment, organizational, and consumer perspectives,
“tru2way™ appears to have really nailed it for cable’s
Siegel+Gale learned that the brand opportunity centered
interactive video future.”
around enhancing choice, process, and the interactive
experience facing consumers. Out of this clutter came the A future that looks very bright indeed.
brand promise: OCAP’s ability to streamline how you choose,
use, and enjoy your TV.
40. Tony Awards
The biggest award show on Broadway, upstaged by a little Not to knock revivals – who can hear enough Al Dubin and
golden celluloid hero? Harry Warren, much less Cole Porter or the Gershwins, after
all? – but did you happen to glance at the 2006 nominees?
We didn’t think so. Nor did the American Theatre Wing,
The History Boys, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Color
which sought to commemorate the Tony Award’s 60th
Purple and talent like Ralph Fiennes, Lynn Redgrave, Harry
Anniversary in accustomed high style with a new identity
Connick Jr. and Chita Rivera, to name a few…
replete with a complete makeover of its logo, collateral and
website. … I mean, Come on, people!
Not just cosmetics, but the health of the Great White Way
itself drove the Tony Awards into the arms of Siegel+Gale
(you know how these romances happen). The American
Theatre Wing sought to reach out to that wide swathe of
America whose conception of the live theater was limited to a
musical like 42nd Street.
44. CNBC
The convergence of the recession, the bear market, terrorist To help CNBC make this transformation, Siegel+Gale created
attacks, and the war on the Middle East, had precipitated a a compelling new brand promise, personality, and tagline,
decline in CNBC’s ratings, audience, time spent viewing, and Make it Your Business, which positioned CNBC in the
advertising revenue. personal finance market vs. stock selection.
In this new environment, CNBC needed to transform itself We also identified the attributes that a business news network
from the “stock market channel” into a vitally interesting should possess, and developed a strategic plan to help
business news network, build awareness for this broadened CNBC evolve into this new model over time.
offering, and restore trust in their brand.
46. Eurotel
As the first mobile operator in the Czech Republic, Eurotel The retail experience we created encompassed three
dominated the market in the 1990s, but by the end of different types of stores: dealer stores (of which there were
the decade realized it needed to reposition the brand in 300 across the country), brand stores (64), and the flagship
the face of new competition. We refined Eurotel’s existing experiential store. In all environments, the key driver behind
brand strategy, reinforcing the company’s vision that people the new design and components was education: Eurotel
everywhere should view themselves as every day achievers. wanted to teach new and existing customers how to use its
products and services as tools that allowed them to achieve
Having conducted a thorough competitive analysis and in-
more. The components and merchandise in the stores were
depth customer interviews to understand what made Eurotel
designed to allow customers to experience and trial new
special, the results, combined with the core strengths of the
services through ‘touching’ and ‘experiencing’, thereby giving
Eurotel brand, helped define the desired brand positioning
them the means to interact with the brand
with key values that would shape every touch-point in the
relationship between the brand and its customers. In order to communicate the idea of ‘achieving more out
of life’ we built an image library using real life people from
The new brand promise reinforced the company’s vision that
different walks of Czech life who represented the concept
everyone should be able to get ‘more out of life’ – reflected
of “everyday achievers”. The combination of this unique
through the design of a unique and ‘energetic’ wordmark for
imagery, with a fresh new visual language used consistently
the name Eurotel. Having clarified their brand architecture,
across all touch-points, conveyed the notions of energy
we developed a browser-based tool to ensure that the new
and inspiration allowing Eurotel to generate impact and
model would be easy to understand and could be used
distinctiveness in the marketplace, while maintaining their
internally. We further simplified their communications by
long standing reputation of a solid, reliable company.
rationalizing more than 20 separate marketing and billing
materials into just 3 literature editions resulting in significant
cost savings for the organization.
50. Qore: Presented by the PlayStation Network
Loosely organized around the premise of a “digital magazine,” Siegel+Gale assembled naming and design teams on both
PlayStation launched an interactive content program on coasts to garner the widest array of names and identity
June 5, 2008, that serves as the gamers’ version of explorations. Working from a common creative brief, we
60 Minutes or Access Hollywood. The subscription-based focused on themes ranging from ‘purity’ to ‘exploration,’
program provides packaged interactive video that is refreshed the ‘center of the universe’ and the ‘heart of the game’.
and distributed on a monthly basis. Qore episodes can be Ultimately, the team focused on the idea of the program as a
purchased individually ($2.99) or by annual subscription of representation of the center of the gamer universe.
13 episodes ($24.99). The format for each edition includes
“Qore is the first step in providing original content dedicated
up to four feature segments, a video download, recurring
to the PlayStation community and evolving the network into
editorial content, behind-the-scenes exclusive footage,
a place where our customers can gather, share and discover
game downloads and beta tests, add-on game content, and
new forms of entertainment,” said Peter Dille, senior vice
integrated advertising pods.
president of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment
Initially targeting hardcore gamers (males, between the ages America. Plans are to enroll 100,000 subscribers in 30 days;
of 18–34), but eventually expanding to include casual gamers with a target goal of acquiring 3-6% of the installed base.
and entertainment enthusiasts, the name and identity needed And there is long-term interest in extending this brand name
to convey the edgy nature of the content while invoking a to a broader content banner in the vein of MTV Films. This
sense of accessible aspiration among casual gamers. name could become an imprimatur for PlayStation-generated
entertainment content of many different formats.
51. ABOVE: first episode of Qore
LEFT: digital magazine images spread
BELOW: brand voice book spread
52. Yahoo!
Yahoo! approached Siegel+Gale to help them better handle The My Yahoo! property had high visibility in the new
their rapid growth. They had grown from a directory to information architecture but the sign-up page had low click-
the largest website on the Internet. An engineering based though rates. We needed to explain: What is My Yahoo! and
environment and siloed culture had resulted in a confusing determine what messages would resonate with potential
user experience, and undefined value propositions and users. We proposed a comprehensive test of multiple
cumbersome registration processes were barriers to entry messages each running for two weeks’ time and testing both
for consumers. As a result, registration had grown in length rich media and HTML versions of the registration pages
throughout the years due to different properties needing based on either personality or functionality. Conversion could
different information. Managing that information was difficult be improved by breaking up the registration process and
and confusing—a great deal of information can be managed providing contextual help.
only by going through the individual properties.
Since the beginning of our engagement, Yahoo! has seen
Yahoo! approached Siegel+Gale to assist with overall strategy, some significant results. There was an increase in My Yahoo!
brand and information architecture, and user interface sign-ups for every test case with the Personality message
design. Through the process, Siegel+Gale learned that the resonating the best and resulting in a 51% increase in sign-
Yahoo! brand needed to work just as hard at migrating users ups and a 61% increase in sign-ins. In addition, it has been
from property to property as drawing them in. Naming of positively received among the business community.
properties needed to be descriptive for increased ease of use
“Yahoo!’s tack differs from many of its Net competitors. The
and understandability. Many of the property benefits were
company attaches its moniker to virtually everything it does
not clearly explained to consumers. Siegel+Gale developed
and intertwines its various services with links throughout its
a decision tree strategy for naming brands related to their
sites.” — Business Week
relevance to the master brand.
54. Other relevant work: Siegel+Gale
American Express The New School Comcast U.S. Air Force
Dolce SunTrust Sony PSP Harley-Davidson
Lexus AARP Allstate NBA
Agility Tony Awards Motorola Port of Long Beach
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