Fresh image for B&W Deloitte

The appointment of a design consultancy is imminent following the merger of UK actuarial and insurance company Bacon & Woodrow with Deloitte & Touche. The merged company, with several offices around Europe, will be called B&W Deloitte.

The extent of any branding work has not yet been formally agreed, according to director of strategy at Deloitte & Touche, Sue Ford, though it is likely that US-based design consultancy Lippincott & Margulies will be in the running, thanks to previous identity work for Deloitte & Touche in April. Despite the presence of in-house design teams at both Deloitte UK and Bacon & Woodrow, the appointment of an outside consultancy is expected.

“There are all sorts of issues we have to work through before we can start thinking about branding work,” explains Ford. “But we will start to think about it in the near future and I’m sure there will be a decision made soon.”

The merger will not be officially completed until the end of Bacon & Woodrow’s partnership year in May 2001, although work between the two companies will start immediately. The merged group will be headed by B&W partner Allan Kaufman, who believes the two firms match each other’s ambitious outlook.

“We want a place where we can fit our actuarial work into a broader context,” he says, while Ford, meanwhile, confirms the merger as a good opportunity to “broaden business scope”.

At the same time, the Bacon & Woodrow Insurance Practice is splitting from its sister business, the Employee Benefits Consultancy, which is to merge with US-based human resources consultancy Hewitt Associates. In the long-term, the rebranded company is likely to remain as Hewitt Associates.

Plans for rebranding are going ahead and EBC head of marketing Larry Cattle confirms that an in-house design team is likely to be involved in the work. “It is most likely that we won’t invite consultancies to pitch,” he says.