BRANDING

It’s called 3 3G 3 3 THINKING

First, Hutchison secured 3G licences. Then it moved quickly to roll out the technological building blocks. Now the new identity is revealed.

By Mark Caldwell

ow you’ve heard that our WHY 3? says Hamilton, who is Global Creative name is ‘3’, we hope you The name was chosen for its brevity and Director.“So for example, if a business- won’t forget it. When you simplicity.There is no need to translate man accesses his corporate Intranet see it, you won’t believe it.” it across different languages – something through a handset, that’s useful, but with NHutchison Group Managing Director even the mighty Coca-Cola has to do in 3 it will be enjoyable too.” Canning Fok is talking to the assembled some places. Keith Kirby, Director of Global press corps, and there’s no need for him In a world where numbers are the Branding and Culture, adds:“For all the to repeat the word or spell it out. Globe’s Lingua Franca, 3 is easy to people around the world working hard The July 3 statement ends months remember, difficult to forget – regardless to launch the service it’s a huge and dif- of speculation about what Hong of dialect. Wherever it travels, 3 is pro- ficult task, but for customers it will feel Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison nounced in the local language.In English- like a natural next step. It’s a step on Whampoa Limited will call its global speaking countries it’s “three”, but in Italy from the past but, more importantly, the third generation (3G) business. it’s ‘tre’, in Austria ‘drei’ and so on. In Hong first step of something new that has When the moniker turns out to be Kong it will be ‘saam’ – the same thing never existed before. Revolution or 3, it all seems to add up. everywhere, and everywhere different; evolution, it doesn’t matter. “We now have a brand that will global and local at the same time. “The core idea is supported by a set allow us to go anywhere in the world,” During a detailed naming exercise of values that take the brand deep into Mr Fok adds. where many identities were considered, the Group’s operating companies around But the world has had to wait awhile 3 was drawn out of the name “Hutchi- the world. So, while the underlying to actually see the new logo, which son 3G”. However, the name 3 and the technology may be complex, 3 will do remained a close-guarded secret for ideas behind the customer experience business in a way that is simple, human, another three months. Until now. will transcend the technology driving it, open, positive, creative and passionate.” and won’t get hamstrung by it. So, if the The Global Brand Group brought a technology evolves to 4G or 5G or 10G, wealth of talent and experience to the it really won’t matter. table. It was their job to carefully con- sider each and every element of the new CORE CONCEPT entity. Brand strategist Simon Jameson Recognising the importance of brand- focused on positioning, typographer ing, brought in an Miles Newlyn developed the logo and in-house team – the Global Brand typefaces while senior designers Daren Group – to create and manage its Cook and Michael Wallis worked on the brands.The team is led by brand veter- overall style and feel across advertising, ans Doug Hamilton and Keith Kirby literature, websites and other mediums. who together worked on Orange (see Having created the 3 brand identity, sidebar p.18) and other Hutchison the Global Brand Group subsequently branding projects. works with companies in each operating “The core idea behind the brand is territory to introduce and manage the the coming together of things that are brand so as to maximise synergy useful with things that are enjoyable,” and sharing.

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now we see it it looks like this “We focused on three key functions the logo should perform,” says Hamilton. “First, we should recognise it when we see it or read it. “Second, we should be able to remember it. We can’t expect customers to remember everything, so we’d like them to remember 3 instead of some- thing else. “And, third, we should understand its potential. We not only recognise and remember something good, we come to understand what we can expect from it. “The 3 logo has been developed for That’s the most fugitive part to capture.” an ‘on-screen’ world,” explains Kirby. “The ‘outside’ of the logo is a three dimensional, cool titanium shell, repre- senting all that’s useful. And the ‘inside’ of the logo, representing all that’s enjoy- able, animates across a spectrum of colour. Wherever it can be done – on the handset, on the Internet, on some signage and on TV – the colours are in THE RIGHT NUMBER motion. Not static, but moving. Not one flat colour but three dimensional and N NUMEROLOGY, THE “LUCKY” full of colour. Or you could say, cool on number 3 is associated with enter- the outside, hot on the inside.” I tainment, effervescence, optimism and clarity. In Chinese, 3 is considered very lucky. It sounds similar to “liveliness” or “life” and also alludes to ideas of infinity, continuity and eternity. In fairytales there are always 3 wishes. There were 3 wise men. 3 introduces the idea of another and contains the essence of mathematics. It enables multiplication, geometry, calcu- lus and the triangle. You can only truly know where you are if you have 3 co-ordinates. It’s a name, a number and a logo at the same.

SPHERE 14 3G

Elsewhere it means fire, passion, or Manchester United. In the UK, purple is royal, spiritual and magical, but in Italy it is associated with death. Green can mean prosperity, or even a political phi- The logo introduces a new dimen- losophy. In the emotional prism, blue sion to a common symbol; it is recog- signifies peace or sorrow, orange is nisable but also new. Everyone under- warmth, yellow is joy, and so on. stands the numeral, but the brand brings In uses where the logo cannot be fresh meaning. animated, the brilliant, ever-changing “It doesn’t say what the technology shades are captured at six points in the can do,” says Hamilton,“but gives some cycle – red, orange, yellow, green, blue indication of how it will be for the cus- and violet. Six colours, one logo.There’s tomer, useful and enjoyable at the same also a monochrome version for black time. People see different things in it: and white applications. ferns, flowers, birds, jungles, waves, This is an unconventional approach Japanese graphics…mostly living grow- compared with many brands that rely ing things.” on a dominant single signal colour. Because the brand is being built The design lexicon is extended with globally, it has to be simple and strong the Tristar symbol, a dynamic represen- and should transcend local language and tation of 3. cultural barriers. Across the cultural kaleidoscope, colours are metaphors for our moods and a reference to our world, yet colours can mean different things in different countries. In China, red is lucky.

“By the time we’ve finished, the measure You’ll see it on a key on your hand- set that takes you to content, on the of our success will simply be how many website and also in a repeating pattern developed to be used subtly. people can’t imagine life without 3.” “The pattern is like the lining of a suit,” says Kirby, “you wouldn’t wear it on the outside, but come across it almost — Canning Fok unexpectedly. So, for example, you’ll find it in packaging but not on the out- side of the box – it’ll be inside. Cool on the outside, hot on the inside, just like the logo.”

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CLEAR AND SIMPLE “We were keen to avoid the hype that can sometimes surround brands,” says Kirby, “it wasn’t long ago that over- the natural promised, over-hyped products and ser- vices of all kinds involved a trade-off. What was promised was not necessarily delivered. So why not call it something obvious? next step “3 will launch gently at first, in tune with reality and not making empty promises. Brands are incredibly impor- tant. People are more individualistic than ever and express their individuality partly through the brand choices they make – if we each look at ourselves we select a portfolio of brands that attract us and we want to be associated with – each portfolio contributes to our indi- viduality. “We want 3 to be part of that port- folio for all the right reasons, and that includes delivering what we say we will. We no longer expect to make choices between pleasure and performance, we the natural next step, not by trying to expect both at the same time, experi- change people or how they live their encing usefulness more enjoyably and lives, or imposing what we think they’d enjoyment more usefully. 3 doesn’t like, but through fulfilling them better promise perfection in a fantasy future. It by delivering more usefulness and more aims to deliver what we really want in pleasure in ways that they choose.” the real world as it is, not what we are told we want in a world as it ought THAT WAS THEN; THIS IS NOW to be.” Behind the name and logo lies a new Adds brand strategist Simon adventure. Jameson:“We don’t have to create a rev- 3 is the door to a brand-new mobile olution in people’s behaviour, we have multi-media communications category to deal with the real revolution that where the experience is more varied, a board meeting or the levity of a exists now. A demand for more enjoy- more useful and more enjoyable than its rock’n’roll concert. ment, more usefulness and less restric- technological predecessors. Mobile phone companies are not tion.The technology is real; it’s time to Quite simply, 3G is better than 2G. the only competitors. 3 will also be put it all together. We’d like to deliver More inspiring, more relevant and more compared to Playstation, X-Box and a liberating. host of entertainment and communica- 3 merges mobile telephony with the tion options. power of the Internet and the eye of a After all, this is a category that com- TV camera. bines voice communications with It delivers the convenience of a music, entertainment, video, photogra- PDA, the entertainment value of an phy, multi-media, global positioning, MP3 player and the fun of a games and more. arcade. Soon, we will be able to pay with our As such, it can assume the gravitas of music system or call a friend’s camera.

SPHERE 16 3G

IT’S HERE TO STAY “In the UK, the licence is for 20 The brand is a charming new arrival – years,” says Hamilton. “We are making modest but not self-effacing; confident something that will live and prosper for and composed. at least 20 years. We don’t have to All involved – from top manage- promise everything on day one; we have ment to junior staffers throughout to deliver everything that we promise Europe, Asia, Australia and beyond – on day one.We don’t promise too much are guardians of 3.They embody – and at the beginning and risk disappoint- live by – its core values: Creative, ment but we promise enough to make Human, Open, Simple, Positive and it exciting. Passionate. They aim to ensure that 3 “The brand is not a chameleon, but delivers on its promises and maintains its it has flexibility built in. appeal over time. “Consider Madonna: She’s been famous for around 20 years and she’s been through a whole lexicon of per- sonas. “Someone asked her: ‘How come you are always changing?’ “She said: ‘I never change, I just get more revealing’. “We’re on to something with this brand that can become more and more revealing over time. Not changing to keep up with fashion and trends, but confident enough to keep hold of the worthwhile and change other things.”

“A word or image is symbolic when it implies something more than its obvious and immediate meaning. It has a wider ‘unconscious’ aspect that is never precisely defined or explained. As the mind explores the symbol, it is led to ideas that lie beyond the grasp of reason.” — Carl Jung

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bidding into the stratosphere. It was then that Hutchison, reasoning that prices had more gone too high, pulled out of the German And, in spite of his conservative auction and helped restore some coher- approach to colour, Henry Ford did ence to the marketplace. not put the brakes on development. When the dust had settled it turned than Motorists now have air-con, suspension, out that the Group had shopped wisely, ABS braking… paying between 20% and 50% less per “Similarly, Hutchison didn’t invent MHz than its rivals. a number the technology, but is putting it together Where it had won licences, the like it should be,” explains Hamilton. Group moved quickly to begin building “As [Group Managing Director] the infrastructure that would make it all Canning Fok says:‘By the time we’ve fin- work. ALL IN ONE; ALL AT ONCE ished, the measure of our success will “We have a ‘Rolls-Royce’ network Henry Ford famously said: “People can simply be how many people can’t imag- operated by ‘Rolls-Royce’ companies,” have the Model T in any colour – so long ine life without 3’.” Mr Fok observed. as it’s black.” The company now has a presence in Mr Ford’s unbending approach to 3’S COMPANY nine nations on four continents. The that immortal brand seems a far cry from 3G is an entirely new product category, footprint currently includes Australia, multicoloured, multifunctional, multicul- so it was natural and inevitable that a new Austria, Denmark, , Ireland, tural 3. brand would be born.In corporate terms, Israel, Italy, Sweden, and the UK. But Doug Hamilton believes there the launch of the 3 brand is equivalent to In the 3G arena, all are unproven. are quite a few similarities between what welcoming and naming a new addition From a standing start, 3 is taking an early Henry Ford did for the automobile in the to the family. lead in building an efficient infrastruc- 20th Century and what 3 will do for Over the past three years Hutchison ture, creating a powerful brand and mobile communications in the 21st. has positioned itself as a serious player in rolling out a succession of compelling, “Ford didn’t invent the engine, this high-risk, high-gain marketplace. differentiated services that will win a dynamos, starter motors, refine petrol or Starting from virtually zero, the Group loyal customer base. tarmacadam or any of the other elements, invested widely in the 3G sector. In time, 3 will become a coveted but he put them all together and made it Cash-rich from the 1999 sale of its brand that is strongly identified with possible for ordinary people to enjoy 2G business, Orange, for US$14.6 billion, specific services and qualities of the something that was previously out of the company began by purchasing company. their reach.” UMTS spectrum licences, first in the UK In turn, the company will deliver on then in Europe and further afield as they its promise to be the best in the category. came to market. The brand will thus evolve into a Reflecting the exuberance in the valuable commodity in its own right telecoms sector at the time, prices began with a measurable worth. 3 will come to to skyrocket as 2G players, eager to be mean more than a number.The symbol part of the “next big thing” pushed the will take on an added new dimension. This is 3’s strategy. The stage is now set for a brand new show.

ORANGES & LEMONS

he Orange experience left competitors green with envy. worlds of technology and communication. The brand’s appeal Some wags dubbed the new brand a lemon,but it wentwas emotional as well as rational,speaking more about the cus- T on to become a sweet success for all involved. tomer than the product. In 1994 Hutchison contracted branding consultancy Wolff Olins The brand identity,name and the visual style all created high to create and manage its nascent mobile telecoms (2G) brand. awareness and customer sign-up levels in record time.After only With Doug Hamilton charged with devising the new company’s two years,Orange was better recognised than any of its rivals. identity Orange re-wrote the branding rulebook,wrong footing Thus Orange became the benchmark for the marketplace and competitors and emerging as the benchmark in the sector. put the squeeze on competitors to rethink their positioning Notwithstanding its subsequent triumph,the radically differ- strategies. ent approach of Orange was seen as a tremendous risk at the When the company was sold to Mannesmann in 2000 it time of launch. fetched US$14.6 billion,giving Hutchison the financial clout to The name and visual identity had no apparent link with the invest in next generation 3G.

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POWERFUL PORTFOLIO

ITH A DIVERSIFIED PORTFOLIO COVERING 41 “The Group is a 21st Century role model of the corporation countries, Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) is that builds new brands,” says Global Creative Director Doug W the blue-chip “brand behind the brands”, associated Hamilton. “It is creator and owner of some of what could with a wide range of branded products and services under its become the world’s most valuable trademarks and the same core divisions – Ports,Telecommunications, Property & Hotels, ‘Hutchison DNA’ runs through all of them. Hutchison compa- Retail & Manufacturing, and Energy & Infrastructure. nies are all part of the same culture.” Although dubbed “The Quiet Corporation” by some observers, Hutchison’s corporate culture is diverse, determined, effi- the Group and its subsidiaries have won numerous regional and cient, ethical, integrated, international and innovative. It is com- international awards for achievements in management, strategy, mitted to quality service and consistently gets results, as the performance, deal-making and investor relations. record shows.

In the past decade the Hong Kong has long looked Operating under Hutchison Harbour Plaza Hotels & PARKnSHOP chain of to Water for pure E-commerce Limited and ini- Resorts is a highly respected supermarkets has grown into and convenient drinking tially targeting Hong Kong, player in the hospitality indus- one of the region’s largest water and the brand has bigboXX.com is a first of its try. Its hotels in Hong Kong food retailing concerns, oper- advanced its reputation and kind B2B e-commerce portal and Mainland China provide a ating around 250 stores in market share throughout the specifically dedicated to serv- distinctive blend of comfort- China, Hong Kong and Macau. region. Market dominance ing office administrators and able elegance, understated This year it was named Hong has been achieved by a finance managers. It includes a luxury and first-class facilities Kong’s “Most Favoured continuous commitment to comprehensive range of over and services. Brand” in a survey conducted quality, reinforced through 6,000 office supplies products by independent research ongoing innovation. as well as a Print Centre house Ipsos-Reid. catering for digital and offset printing.

In just a few years Formed in March 2000, POWWOW has emerged LINE (Logistics Information as the biggest water cooler Network Enterprise) is the brand in the UK, powered by supply chain solutions and A flagship of Hutchison a distinctively witty and fresh Our Lucaya Beach & Golf logistics services division of Port Holdings, Hongkong marketing approach. Resort on Grand Bahama International Terminals Island has a distinctive island group. LINE streamlines the (HIT) owns and operates playground image reflecting movement and handling of container terminals in Hong its idyllic Caribbean setting goods and provides collabo- Kong. It is widely regarded in and lifestyle. rative networks and visibility the shipping business as a services globally. model of unrivalled efficiency.

Fortress is the leading elec- trical retailer in Hong Kong. With over 60 stores, it sets Watsons Your Personal Store the pace in its category, offer- is the Asia Pacific’s most popu- Husky Energy is a Canadian- ing popular international lar health and beauty chain Hutch is a relatively new based energy and energy- brands of household appli- with over 600 outlets in Hong addition to the Group’s brand related company. The brand ances, consumer electronics, Kong and the Mainland,Macau, portfolio. It has been devel- is well known and widely computers, office equipment Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, oped for the telecoms busi- respected in the industry. and accessories. Thailand and the Philippines. nesses in India.

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