Branding shortlist for accountancy merger

Accountancy giants Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse have drawn up a shortlist of branding consultancies.

The initial list contains fewer than ten international consultancies for the branding of the company which will result from the proposed accountancy merger.

New York group Siegel & Gale is working on a name for the new company, and is likely to announce it in the new year. The consultancy is not believed to be on the list of groups in the running for the branding project.

The client is still in the early stages of the selection process and has not yet approached any of the listed consultancies, says a Price Waterhouse spokesman. A decision is yet to be made on whether the client will consider applications from interested parties not on the list.

“We have a task force, comprising members of both parties, developing criteria for the selection of a design group and a method of assessment. The consultancy which determines the strategy and draws up the design brief will not necessarily be the one to actually design the resulting corporate identity,” he adds.

In broad terms the selection process will start with a credentials pitch to establish if the chosen groups are qualified to work on such a major international account.

The impending merger will create the biggest consultancy company in the world, with 135 000 staff and 8500 partners. It will have 150 offices around the world and the winning design group should have knowledge of the Asian, US and European markets.

It could be five months before the merger gains European Union approval. The merged company may implement an interim identity though this would probably not amount to more than a typeface, says the spokesman.