Time Warner Book Group wants an Unreal identity

Time Warner Book Group UK is creating its first ‘design-led’ identity to sit alongside its seven imprint titles, including Abacus, Atom, Little Brown, Orbit and Virago Press, as part of a long-term strategy to grow the company.

The UK branch of the Time Warner Book Group, housed under media giant Time Warner’s Time Inc. unit, is working with Unreal on the project.

The consultancy initially carried out work to create a redesigned identity for Time Warner Books, the company’s in-house imprint title, after being appointed following a four-way pitch last year. It was then asked to design the overall group’s corporate identity last month and also to investigate ways to ‘take the Time Warner Book Group brand forward’, says Brian Eagle, creative director at Unreal.

Roger Cazalet, marketing director at Time Warner Book Group UK, says, ‘We want to push growth for Time Warner Books and needed to sharpen our focus.’

The identity for the two separate brands, Time Warner Books and Time Warner Book Group, are expected to launch in April and ‘by the end of the year’ respectively, adds Cazalet.

The group brand will reference a classical heritage and will be more approachable, ‘playing down its links to big multinational corporate associations’, adds Eagle.

Unreal is also exploring ways to redesign brand touch-points, which involves experimenting with interactive elements to encourage the consumer to engage more with the brand.

‘We are playing around with ideas. Instead of using standard business cards, for example, we could create little books that tell a story, or a bookmark could replace a traditional compliment slip,’ explains Eagle.