Miller Freeman to drop Enterprise IG’s ‘fox’ logo

A new corporate identity by Enterprise IG has proved so unpopular with staff at international publishing and exhibition group Miller Freeman that it has been abandoned just weeks after it was unveiled.

The design, which introduced a fox character to portray the company as “ingenious, surprising and determined”, was launched to staff on 28 October and had been due for implementation in the New Year (DW 6 November).

It is now being described as “a big mistake” by chief executive officer Tony Tillin, who said the objections had been “loud and clear and long”.

“On the principle that when you are in a hole you should stop digging, I propose that we shoot the fox, bury it in the hole, and get on with the business of doing business,” said Tillin in a letter to staff last week. “It makes no sense to try to force through a plan which does not enjoy the support of a significant part of our own people. If we aren’t behind it, then it’s difficult to see how we could expect our customers to respond positively.”

Staff in several countries within the Miller Freeman group had found the fox inappropriate, says Andrew Shanks, Miller Freeman development director for Europe and Latin America.

“We realised the concept was wrong once we rolled it out widely in the preview,” he says, adding that the decision not to implement the identity was a setback.

Some staff were unhappy that the fox has negative connotations. “It conjures up an image of public nuisance and slyness – not the kind of image I want to be associated with,” says one employee.

Miller Freeman, part of the United News and Media group, will continue with its current logo and has not yet decided whether to commission another design.

Enterprise IG account director Philip Hodson is “surprised and slightly shocked” at the decision to axe the logo.