New:
Lippincott Mercer name, formerly Lippincott & Margulies
Launched:
January 22, 2003
Story in brief:
In 1986, Marsh McLennan bought Lippincott & Margulies from Clive Chajet, tucked L&M into its Mercer Consulting Group, and ever since has struggled to find synergy between these cultures. “Lippincott Mercer,” another effort, relocates (at least cosmetically) several 'branding' specialists from Mercer under the new Lippincott name, and a new “brand science” positioning.
Old logo (The 1960s mark…).
Credits:
CEO - Lippincott's Ken Roberts
First Impressions:
Can't call it “L&M” any more, and Lippincott Mercer (at five syllables) is a test; guess it will be “Lippincott.”
The sacrifice of “Margulies” is a huge cost, perhaps even more a cost in meaning than in name equity. Walter Margulies was the sales genius who in the late 50s-mid 60s (while Walter Landor's firm was still primarily in packaging and product branding) first recognized and conceptually formed the modern corporate identity consulting business. (Partner Gordon Lippincott, a product designer with little interest in identities, had withdrawn by 1966; and I was a junior account executive.) Walter M is spinning in his grave, I think not so much as the victim of name truncation… the greater pain is the loss of the high ground Lippincott & Margulies held even today as leaders in Corporate Identity.
Walter Margulies knew that Corporate Identity lives higher on the managerial scale than Branding; identity is primarily about leadership, direction-setting and motivation, and only then about marketing. To Walter, I believe, as to me, the Mercer “brand science” positioning is a step down for L&M, into the less differentiated swamp of “branding” experts.
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