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or online, verbal or visual, or through personal interaction or product interface. Its aim is to turn a brand into the driver of a business – with measurable financial results. It achieves this by helping clients identify a unique brand idea (a Brand Driver™) that they can own in the marketplace. The Brand Driver serves as a filter for strategic decision- making and a catalyst for change within an organisation. It becomes a platform for creating a compelling, multidimensional experience at every point of interaction with customers. Recent Developments A theme that Landor continues to place emphasis on is ‘innovation’, recognising it as the driver of the two hallmarks of brand strength – differentiation and relevance – and therefore its critical role in the growth and survival of brands and companies. Landor approaches innovation by generating ideas that increase differentiation and relevance. Adopting an analytical approach to product and service categories, Landor determines which conventions consumers rely on to recognise a product or service category and which are purely traditional. Using this information, concepts are produced that aim to contradict or break category conventions, thus creating differentiation. To ensure relevance, it integrates the codes that consumers use to recognise a category. Grounded in an understanding of market dynamics, global trends and consumer experience, Landor balances this generation of creative ideas with a rigorous process that ensures that final concepts are also practical and actionable. Future Plans As brand messages continue to be communicated through an increasingly broad range of media touch points, Landor retains its ‘medium agnostic’ positioning, ensuring it is well placed to meet the future needs of its clients – both corporate and consumer – as their promotional strategies evolve. Promotion Landor makes use of numerous communication channels to encourage an interactive dialogue with its clients across the globe. Committed to taking a leading role in the conversation around branding, its team of industry experts feature regularly in the media to offer an informed opinion on brands and branding issues. Industry issues are also addressed in ‘Perspectives’, a collection of thought leadership pieces derived from its global network. The award-winning Landor.com website was relaunched in 2007 with a renewed focus on providing a dynamic news and content-rich website. It allows Landor to share its client work, media coverage, authored pieces and industry opinion with a global audience. Brand Values Landor is a leading global brand consultancy, partnering with major clients worldwide to deliver brand-led business growth. It combines unparalleled rigour with breakthrough creativity to transform the experience of brands. From strategy to action, from brand expression to behaviour, it aims to help transform business performance by transcending the competition and category conventions. Landor is defined by: Experts – both in its field and in the brands and businesses it works with; Thinking Big – looking for the big opportunities to deliver brand-led business growth; Talented Team Players – operating as a single team across the globe; Change Agents – aiming to deliver real and significant improvement; and Lasting Impact – seeking to deliver measurable impact for the long term. landor.com Market With an unrivalled network of more than 850 designers and consultants in 24 offices across 18 countries, Landor works to build its clients’ brands and achieve business growth. Current and past clients include some of the world’s most powerful brands including BP, Cathay Pacific, Citi, Danone, Diageo, Emaar, FedEx, Frito-Lay, the City of Hong Kong, HSBC, LG Group, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Microsoft, Research in Motion, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. Achievements In recognition of its work, Landor has received many industry awards that acknowledge the central role that branding, strategy and design have on commercial success. A three-time winner of both Marketing magazine’s Design Agency of the Year award and GRAMIA’s Packaging Agency of the Year accolade, Landor has also collected 29 awards for its individual client work – bmi, BDO International, Cobra Beer, Gulf Air, Morrisons, Terry’s Chocolate Orange, Traidcraft, Tropicana and Walkers Sensations to name a few. In 2008, Landor’s rebranding programme for Morrisons was rewarded with a GRAMIA award as well as a Gold at the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards which recognised its role in reversing Morrisons’ market share decline, helping it to become one of the top five supermarkets in the UK. However, Landor’s achievements are not only limited to industry recognition and awards. Its annual ImagePower ® Green Brands Survey has earned significant press coverage with the results published in national newspapers and leading industry magazines. Conducted in the UK and the US, as well as in China in 2008, the survey gives the people who engage with brands – the consumers – a chance to offer their opinions on green issues and products. The results inform clients as to how their brands and industries are perceived and indicate what they can do to bring about change. Landor is also committed to a rigorous corporate social responsibility programme. Within the agency this includes recycling schemes and the purchase of an area of woodland in Kent, ensuring it is preserved for future generations. Furthermore, the agency contributes to WPP’s carbon offset programme, aiming to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 per cent by 2011 through subsidising green energy farms in India and China. Landor also aims to engage its clients in ethical thinking. Examples include Ariel’s ‘Turn to 30°C’ packaging design and its identity work for the non-profit organisation Traidcraft. Product Landor views a brand as an experience; the sum of all impressions formed by those interacting with it, whether in-store BUSINESS SUPERBRANDS BRANDS TO WATCH 2009 superbrands.uk.com Landor Associates is one of the world’s leading strategic brand consulting and design firms. Founded by Walter Landor (pictured below) in 1941, Landor pioneered many of the research, design and consulting methods that have become standard in the branding industry. Partnering with its clients, Landor drives business transformation and performance by helping to create brands that are more innovative, progressive and dynamic than their competitors. LANDOR ASSOCIATES
