RWE brings in Landor to rebrand after merger

International branding specialist Landor Associates has been appointed by Germany’s largest utility group, RWE, as its strategic branding partner following a three-way paid pitch against Interbrand Zintzmeyer and Lux and an unidentified Frankfurt consultancy.

The appointment, for an 18-month term, follows the recent merger between RWE – which provides petrol, oil, gas, water and electricity – and gas and electricity company VEW. The new group will expand its staff from 150 000 to 190 000 people.

Landor is currently undertaking an extensive assessment across RWE, including its corporate identity, literature, business environments and internal communications. The results are due to be unveiled on August 21.

The consultancy will also act as a central co-ordinator of creative work from RWE’s 16 advertising agencies and management consultancies internationally.

Landor UK marketing director Michael Graham says: “As part of a reorganisation of the whole business, we have renamed RWE’s ten divisions, which include corporate IT services, networks, trading, generation, extract, mergers and acquisitions, gas and environments. They will be more descriptive. There will also be a new RWE logo, though the customer-facing brand – Avanza – is retaining its existing name as it has sufficient equity to be kept and built on.”

Landor UK managing director Charlie Wrench adds: “The RWE win is tremendous news for Landor and yet another demonstration of our ability to work across offices on pan-European programmes. We are delighted to be working with RWE to build a brand that will be a force in the liberalisation of the European utilities market, which is experiencing fierce competition.”