Unilever signs Epoch for total guidelines job
Unilever UK has appointed a single design consultancy to look after its brand guidelines in an attempt to foster a more consistent look across each of its brands.
The company is also attempting to streamline its use of consultancies by handing its entire brand guideline portfolio to Epoch Design, which was recently acquired by Loewy.
Epoch has worked with the company for more than a decade on a wide variety of projects, ranging from packaging to press ad creative work. Its responsibilities will also now involve developing style guides for every Unilever brand from Marmite to Lynx.
The consultancy will produce 40 style guides, which will be produced over a contracted two-year period.
‘It’s a huge job, one of the biggest of its kind in the fmcg sector,’ says Epoch account director Tony Steadman. ‘The style guidelines were previously produced by a number of consultancies and there was no consistent look or feel.’
The work begins immediately and sees Epoch designing all master brand style guides. These contain market, brand and design facts and include brand history and background, details of consumer markets, design dos and don’ts, logo usage and other specifications.
They will be refreshed every six months and handed to all Unilever’s other agencies. Bristol-based Epoch Design’s other clients include Coca-Cola Enterprises, Nokia and Diageo.
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Other than cost-saving on a job-lot of design guidelines, I cannot understand how the individual brands will benefit from this move by Unilever.
Marmite guidelines, that look, feel and behave like Comfort guidelines??Surely the spirit of the brands will be lost in this move.
This reeks of procurement insanity and not the requirement for a brand to breathe its individuality through all its communications which is surely as important internally as externally.