MenuA wild chase of geese.
March 7, 2019
Sometimes when a company launches a new brand, one wonders if they are embarking on some kind of wild goose chase. This occurred once again on February 21, when Accor Hotels Group unveiled its latest brand identity.
The launch of the new brand was timed to coincide with the introduction of its new loyalty program, now called Accor Live Limitless. It was previously called Le Club Accor Hotels.
Accor is a Paris-based hotel group, operating “almost 4,800 hotels, resorts, and residences across 100 countries”. The hotel brands include Sofitel, Novotel, Fairmont, among others. They also operate a host of related services.
The founders of Accor began their business with launching the Nototel hotel brand and grew largely by acquisition. Following the merger with Jacques Borel International (a global company with a network of [about 20 brands of] restaurants, managed food services and purchasing groups), they created the umbrella corporate brand, Accor, in 1983.
In the brochure marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of the company, they recounted the story of how the Accor name and logo were selected: “…the two proposals (for name and logo) were posted in the lobby of the head office in Evry, and everyone who came in was asked to check off their choice. It was an approach that would give communication specialists a heart attack because one and all could express their opinion: employees, suppliers, visitors.”
One can’t help but wonder whether the company also posted other queries in their lobby, requesting “employees, suppliers, visitors” to opine on other strategic decisions.
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Since 1983, the logo has been updated several times, in 1992, 1997, 2007, 2011, 2016, with the latest this past month. There is no criticism that can be made of individual logo designs. The initial version looks dated now (unfortunately better resolution images of the 1983 and 1992 versions could not be found), and yes, while a flock (or skein) of geese is an unusual symbol for a hotel group, it is not a bad thing if it works. And, conceptually, it does work.
The two most interesting logos are the 2007 and 2019 versions. The 2007’s depiction of the geese in an M.C. Escher-like play of positive and negative shapes is interesting, certainly more so than the single goose of the 2011 logo. The new symbol is the most elegant, with the goose visually forming the letter A with a diagonal bar. The goose in this instance, however, seems to have transitioned to a more swan looking shape.
The problem here is the frequency of change. The longest any of these logos lasted was ten years, and it’s been only three years since the previous iteration of the logo was launched. While there is no question that a lot has happened to the company since 1983, one gets the impression that something else is at play here – does management have trouble with long-term planning? Or, are they still asking anyone who wanders by, what they think of the logo?
One also can’t help but wonder how much all these changes are costing the company. How many signs need to be taken down and new ones installed every three to ten years? Over time, this can get to be very expensive.
These changes in brand identity, including changing the corporate name to Accor Hotels in 2016, only to now change back to Accor, raise questions about the management of the company. Do they have the long-term strategic thinking and perseverance required for this large enterprise? Or, is this a house of cards waiting to come tumbling down?
More analogous, will they kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?
