New brand architecture Unity in diversity
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 1
3/22/13 10:07 PM
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 2
3/22/13 10:07 PM
THE USE OF A COMMON BRAND FOR ODEBRECHT BUSINESSES MEETS A NEED DICTATED BY DECENTRALIZED AND DIVERSIFIED OPERATIONS IN SEVERAL COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE.
A major change is underway in most Odebrecht Group Businesses: they have adopted a new logo, and some have changed their names. This move is a result of the Group’s new brand architecture, which has adopted the single-brand model: the holding company, Odebrecht S.A. and all Group Businesses will bear the name Odebrecht and use the same logo. The individual companies’ brands are set apart by the wording that identifies their sector, market or business activity. For specific reasons, Braskem and the EEP - Estaleiro Enseada do Paraguaçu shipyard have not adopted the new model for the time being. The use of a common brand for Odebrecht Businesses meets a need dictated by decentralized and diversified operations in several countries worldwide. This special insert to issue #165 of Odebrecht Informa magazine presents part of this story and the guidelines for the creation of the Group’s new brand architecture, recounting how it was designed and how it is being applied.
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 3
3/22/13 10:07 PM
INTRODUCTION
Marcelo odebrecht PRESIDENT AND CEO OF ODEBRECHT S.A.
“The essence of our identity is our culture” Marcelo Odebrecht, President and CEO of Odebrecht S.A. introduced the Odebrecht Group’s new brand architecture at the organization’s General Meeting on December 19, 2012, at the Iberostar hotel in Praia do Forte, on the north coast of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. About 900 people attended the meeting, including Shareholders and Group Members.
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 4
3/22/13 10:07 PM
Almir Bindilatti
Marcelo Odebrecht at the Group’s Annual Meeting: highly qualified communication with the communities where Odebrecht is present
During his presentation, based on five major themes
rose from 3,100 in 2010 to 11,300 in 2012. “We are
that cut across the entire organization (People,
increasingly in the news,” he concluded.
Productivity, Synergy, Image and Sustainable Growth), Marcelo explained what Odebrecht’s new
He also underscored the diversified and capillary
Brand Strategy represents in the segment on Image:
operations of the Group’s companies and the
“It is the sum of what we are, what we believe and
significant growth of new types of clients, such
how we act. It is therefore our identity.” And he
as users of urban transport and sanitation (water
warned: “We need to communicate our identity,
and sewer) services and buyers of commercial
whose essence is our corporate culture, practiced by
and residential real estate. As a result, he drew the
knowledgeable people. We must never communicate
attention of the Group’s leaders to the global impacts
what we are not.”
of local actions: “Today, international news agencies provide immediate responses to local events.
He stressed the role of qualified communication with
Everything we do can represent a boost or a hit to
the communities in the countries and regions where
the international image of our brand.”
Odebrecht’s companies work, and presented figures that reveal the increasing interaction of the Group’s
The Leaders (CEOs) of Odebrecht’s Businesses
people and businesses with their local environments.
displayed their new logos on their presentations at
These numbers included the growing number of
the Annual Meeting. Only Braskem and EEP have
mentions of Odebrecht in the Brazilian media, which
kept their original names and logos.
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 5
3/22/13 10:07 PM
INTERVIEW
Márcio Polidoro RESPONSIBLE FOR CORPORATE COMMUNICATION
Creating more value Márcio Polidoro, the officer Responsible for Corporate Communication at Odebrecht S.A., headed the process of building the Group’s new brand architecture. In this interview, he answers five questions from Odebrecht Informa about the project he helmed.
will be called Odebrecht and use the same logo – except for Braskem and EEP. How is each business distinguished? Márcio Polidoro – Through a unique description associated with the Odebrecht brand. These descriptions reflect what the brand is all about. Their goal is not to create value, because that’s the role of the brand. The description should be plain and simple, so as not to distract attention from the brand and make it easy for people to understand
What led Odebrecht to adopt a new brand
the activity in question.
architecture? Márcio Polidoro – We needed visual reinforcement
Why was the single-brand model adopted?
of the sense of belonging to the same organization,
Márcio Polidoro– Because it was the most
for the Businesses and people. Moreover, we
appropriate one for an organization that is
also needed to demonstrate the organization’s
distinguished by a unique corporate culture. The
commitment to each of its companies. We also
single brand not only identifies us but sets us apart.
needed to express alignment of beliefs, values,
It spotlights the entire Group without detracting
vision, goals and priorities in an organization
from its parts, because they are all echoed in a logo
that operates in a decentralized manner and
with the same design.
with broad geographic scale, but with the same entrepreneurial culture. We believe that this new
What is the main advantage of this new model?
model meets all those requirements.
Márcio Polidoro – It reinforces the concept of a diversified organization, facilitates external
What is the main change implemented through
perceptions and brings the visual expression of
the new brand architecture?
our organization closer to what we really are,
Márcio Polidoro – From now on, the holding
eliminating the fragmentation caused by multiple
company, Odebrecht S.A., and all its businesses
logos without a unified design and color.
6
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 6
3/22/13 10:07 PM
A Changing Brand In the beginning, the Group’s logo was a symbol made up of the initials of Construtora Norberto Odebrecht (CNO).
Next, the names Odebrecht and Construtora Norberto Odebrecht were adopted and the logo was reduced.
Then, the name Odebrecht was replaced by the acronym CNO. At the time, multiple logos coexisted within the Group.
The green Odebrecht logo appeared in the 1980s to represent the Group. The holding company, Odebrecht S.A., adapted it from Construtora Norberto Odebrecht’s logo.
The name Odebrecht appeared in red for the first time in the signature of the Engineering & Construction business
The new logo, introduced in 2013 for all Group Businesses, incorporates the color red and the font of the previous two brands
7
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 7
3/22/13 10:07 PM
INTERVIEW
Holanda Cavalcanti
laura Garcia BRAND STRATEGY MANAGER – INTERBRAND
How the new brand was born Laura Garcia: process guided by the idea that the brand is an asset that must be managed to make it understandable to stakeholders
Odebrecht hired the British firm Interbrand, which
to the changes now underway, the Group will gain
has operated in Brazil for 10 years, to design its
a new level of recognition. “Odebrecht is a major
new brand architecture. Rio native Laura Garcia,
company that needs a major brand.”
the firm’s Brand Strategy Manager, was assigned to direct the project, which took over a year to
What was the challenge you were presented with?
complete. Laura and her team visited the Group’s
laura Garcia – Odebrecht has an entrepreneurial
jobsites, industrial plants, concession companies
philosophy that embraces the decentralization of
and offices in Brazil and other countries. “We started
its businesses. Therefore, each company created
out by trying to understand Odebrecht, with its
and managed its own brand. But this did not lead to
decentralized operations and unique culture, which
an overall brand perception. The challenge we were
is rare in other companies,” she says. “Only then
presented with was to help Odebrecht solve this
could we begin to arrive at the best visual solution
dilemma.
for expressing the challenge we were presented with.” In this interview, Laura Garcia discusses
How did you conduct that process?
the process of creating Odebrecht’s new brand
laura Garcia – We realized that one of the two
architecture, the guiding premises for that process,
parts of the dilemma would have to give way. What
and the results achieved. She believes that, due
prevailed was the premise that Odebrecht needed
8
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 8
3/22/13 10:07 PM
“OUR GOAL IS TO SEE THE ODEBRECHT LOGO APPLIED THE SAME WAY EVERYWHERE”
entrepreneurial organization that operates in different businesses and countries. To do so, we needed a single logo that could withstand structural changes. A logo that could be managed centrally in a decentralized organization. How did the visual expression of these concepts develop? laura Garcia – We had a reference, which was
to establish its image as a group, and to do that, it
the Engineering & Construction business’s logo.
would have to adopt the same logo, what we call
Based on that, we sought to strengthen that logo’s
a monolithic brand architecture, which required
best features, which was the use of the color red,
centralized management of this issue. It wasn’t
an expression of strength and achievement. We
easy, because the culture of decentralization is very
inverted the red and white and created elements
strong at Odebrecht. We discussed it extensively,
that make up and highlight the new logo. We
but in the end the organization’s leaders understood
also brought in more elements to create a visual
the proposal and adopted the suggestions.
system that resulted in the Brand Territory, a website for Group members that explains the new
In the early stages of your work, what most
brand architecture and contains the manual for its
caught your attention about Odebrecht?
applications by all the companies [that use it].
laura Garcia – What impressed us most was the organization’s strong personality, which stems
What is the standard used for the descriptions
from the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology.
accompanying the logo?
In all the countries we visited, we found people
laura Garcia – We needed to resolve a key issue,
whose language is consistent and on the same
since some companies’ segments are based on
page, with the same proactive stance and sense
expertise, and others on markets or regions. Thanks
of responsibility for their business, and a can-do
to the client’s decision to change the names of some
attitude. We realized that all that had to be
companies so they start with the name Odebrecht,
expressed in the new logo.
we arrived at a satisfactory solution. So then we established that the descriptions that accompany
After that immersion, how did the work proceed?
the logo should reflect the company’s specialty
laura Garcia – We put together a set of perceptions
(Agroindustry, Infrastructure, Environment, Real
and, working closely with the client, established the
Estate Development, etc.).
basic premises of the project, guided by the idea
As a result, we made significant progress toward
that the brand is an asset that must be managed
achieving our goal, which is to see the Odebrecht
with a view to ensuring that its stakeholders
logo applied the same way everywhere, thereby
understand it. Another decisive vector was
expressing the understanding that we’re talking
the idea of building a general perception of an
about the same organization.
9
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 9
3/22/13 10:07 PM
FEEDBACK
Companies are already using the new logo Group companies are already changing their logos on the basis of the organization’s new brand architecture. Odebrecht Informa obtained feedback from three of the officers responsible for introducing the new logos. See what Odebrecht Agroindustrial Communication Manager Andressa Saurin, Odebrecht Oil & Gas Communication Manager Bárbara Nitto, and Odebrecht Realizações Imobiliárias Marketing Director Sergio Kertész have to say about the changes underway.
10
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 10
3/22/13 10:07 PM
Edgar Ishikawa
Andressa Saurin (background), with Fabio Rimoli, Fernanda Kato, Karina Lara and team leader Genésio Couto (foreground)
Andressa Saurin Odebrecht Agroindustrial “In our case it’s a total transformation, because we’re changing the company’s name and logo. It’s a huge job, but I’m very happy because I always thought that we should take the name of our parent brand. In fact, here at ETH we have always been Odebrecht, because we always seek to apply the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology to the fullest extent. The only thing that’s changing now is that our name reflects all that. To launch the new name and logo, we created a campaign titled ‘Today
“OUR MAIN FOCUS WAS ON INFORMING OUR MEMBERS ABOUT THE CHANGES FIRST. MOST OF THEM LIVE IN SMALL TOWNS IN THE MIDWEST OF BRAZIL”
we are more.’ Precisely because we already were Odebrecht on a daily basis. Today we are more,
11
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 11
3/22/13 10:07 PM
FEEDBACK
because we have Odebrecht in our name, on our name tags, uniforms, and business cards. The color red that is now on Odebrecht Agroindustrial’s logo is the color of accomplishment. It has always been in our blood. “Our main focus was on informing our members about the changes first. Most of them live in small towns in the Midwest of Brazil, where Odebrecht Agroindustrial is the largest employer. We had to give them our full attention, since they mobilized their lives to work at ETH, were groomed at ETH, brought their families to ETH, stopped receiving the Family Grant to work at ETH, and suddenly ETH changes its name, colors, it becomes something else. All this could be confusing, so we are giving
Bárbara Nitto
them our full attention. In addition to a series of
Odebrecht Oil & Gas
internal communication programs, our CEO Luiz
“I think that the use of a single brand is really
de Mendonça and the leaders of our agroindustrial
the best way forward for Odebrecht. It is easily
hubs got to work, interacting with local mayors and
recognizable for everyone and expresses the same
communities to explain the change. We also used
stance, the same culture of a single organization
radio spots and commercials on local TV channels.
whose operations’ goals and objectives are on the same page.
“This isn’t a change that happened overnight. We started on the February 5th, but it will go on
“At Odebrecht Oil & Gas, we have kept our name
throughout 2013. Changes in the identity of our
but changed the logo and eliminated the initials
units will follow a schedule that will include several
OOG. We won’t have any problems making this
steps, from painting ethanol tanks to changing our
transition. Like many other Members of the former
signs on roads in the Midwest. Everything else will
OOG, I always introduce myself as Odebrecht. The
be done through a comprehensive communication
brand has always come first, followed by the Oil &
program. Our Members breathe change with pride,
Gas segment. In other words, we will keep doing
pride in belonging not only to the company they
what we had been doing already.
work for but to a much larger organization, which further strengthens our journey towards our
“All of our nearly 3,000 Members were informed of
Vision for 2020.”
the changes on January 28th. We sent out an email
12
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 12
3/22/13 10:07 PM
Geraldo Pestalozzi
“WE WON’T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS MAKING THIS TRANSITION. WE’VE ALWAYS INTRODUCED OURSELVES AS ODEBRECHT”
Bárbara Nitto with the mug gifted to all Odebrecht Oil & Gas Members
message to all of them to explain the changes. We put up banners on the oil rigs and in our offices. We left a mug with the new logo and an informative message on everybody’s desk. And we provide the artwork (e-mail signatures, brochures, business cards, computer screen backgrounds, a visual identity manual, letterhead and a PowerPoint presentation template) for the new logo so everyone could make personal use of it. “There will be a transition period, which is normal for such changes. We’re going to be thrifty and use up the materials on hand before having them replaced. It makes no sense to throw them all away. We’ll replace them gradually. Changing the logo on the oil rigs may take a little longer, because it has to be done when the platforms are anchored (’docked’ as we say here). They can only be painted when they’re not operating.”
13
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 13
3/22/13 10:07 PM
Carlos Gueller
Odebrecht Realizações Imobiliárias members wearing the shirt with the real estate development company’s new logo: clockwise, Domitila Carbonari, Amanda Zaragoza, Rafael Lomelino, Leonardo Maia, Fernando Bammerberger, Juliana Cerresi and Sergio Kertész
Sergio Kertész
had a unique identity that was well known in Brazil’s
Odebrecht Realizações Imobiliárias
main cities, and we’ve made sure that we won’t lose
“Making the decision to switch to using a single
that. Our challenge is to take the energy that was
brand was very important. But what will ensure
channeled into consolidating and developing a brand
that the new brand works is its implementation, and
and translate it into this new version.
always taking care of it on a daily basis. This process is just beginning. And it will only go well if we keep it
“For our clients, the impact will be relatively small,
up every day.
because they believe in and trust the Odebrecht brand. But we have to make it clear that our
“Odebrecht Realizações Imobiliárias [Real Estate
personality is still the same; that the focus on
Development] is a company that speaks directly to
our pillars – differentiation, sustainability and
the end consumer, and has a relatively large number
selectivity – is still there. The way we develop
of clients with different profiles. We must make
products, taking care of all stages, remains exactly
sure that these clients understand the purpose of
the same. What we have now is complete alignment
the change, and don’t think that the company is
with our parent company, Odebrecht, both in terms
any different from before, or that the people they
of our visual identity and our name.”
know will not be there anymore. This is an important alignment between our teams and our clients, and it will bring us even closer to our main brand. “We will work with and change more than 90 items, from name badges, cards and stationery to electronic environments, such as the company’s intranet and website. We’ve changed the physical environment of the office and the physical environment of our construction projects. We’ve revised our signaling and signposting manual, and will
“WHAT WILL ENSURE THAT THE NEW BRAND WORKS IS ITS IMPLEMENTATION, AND ALWAYS TAKING CARE OF IT ON A DAILY BASIS”
replace fencing, uniforms, and overhead signage. We
14
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 14
3/22/13 10:07 PM
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 15
3/22/13 10:07 PM
Encarte ArqMarc FINAL ING.indd 16
3/22/13 10:07 PM
Created and produced for Odebrecht S.A. by Versal Editores