Siegel & Gale warms up tobacco giant’s logo

Siegel & Gale in London has designed a new corporate identity for the tobacco giant British American Tobacco.

Part of BAT Industries, British American Tobacco employs more than 50 000 people in more than 50 countries. It is aiming to become the world’s leading tobacco business.

Known for years as BAT, the company will now be known by its full name to communicate the nature of its business. Its brands include Benson & Hedges and Lucky Strike and it is the leading brand in more than 30 countries.

Central to the new identity is the three-leaf symbol, used by the company in various forms in the past. The new symbol incorporates the sun’s rays embedded in the leaves. A custom-designed typeface has been developed to accommodate different national names within a consistent global system, although some national names may revert to the parent name.

A Siegel & Gale spokesman says the group has designed guidelines for local implementation but hopes to be brought in by some of the local operators to help.

British American Tobacco’s managing director Ulrich Herter says of the new identity: “We must think and act as a single business with a single global strategy.”