Meta Design London is reborn as Icon Brandlab

MetaDesign London has relaunched itself as Icon Brandlab, following its acquisition a year ago by Swedish e-business group Icon Medialab (DW 7 January).

Icon Brandlab will sit inside the Icon Medialab group structure, and be rolled out as a tandem international network. It will be headed by MetaDesign London founder Tim Fendley and David Milton, formerly of The Identica Partnership. “But we are not using job titles,” says Milton.

“This relaunch formed part of Icon Medialab’s purchase agreement with MetaDesign,” he adds.

The Brandlab network launches with offices in London, Berlin and Stockholm, with immediate plans to expand into New York and Asia. It will then continue to grow further afield using Icon Medialab’s 15-country framework.

According to Milton, its Berlin office, which is not related to the German MetaDesign group, is already nine-strong and has been grown organically by Andreas Mack. Stockholm is 11-strong and also has substantial plans for growth.

London will be the Brandlab headquarters with some 40 staff, based at Icon’s main office.

“Adding a brand consultancy to Icon Medialab’s digital business enables us to offer customers a full digital business service. Icon Medialab has identified that the digital industry, both client and consultancy side, recognises that brand thinking should be an integral part of early business planning,” says Icon Medialab chief operating officer Stefan Bergmark.