The Nielsen Company

New:  Name and logo

Launched:  January 18, 2007

Story in brief:
It's a change of name, from VNU Group to Nielsen, as this Netherlands-based "global information and media company" chooses to adopt its best-known subsidiary name as a master brand umbrella. Says CEO David Calhoun, "Nielsen is one of the great names in the information services industry."

This is also the un-doing of a 1998 name change, to initials. VNU was formed in 1964 by the merger of two Dutch publishing companies. "V.N.U." was an abbreviation of the Dutch words "Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeversbedrijven" which translates to "United Dutch Publishing Companies." With global expansion and a changing business focus, the full name was limiting so the company took the easy out ..."VNU," hardly a tower of brand strength.

Private equity firms acquired VNU in 2006 ($9.85 billion) and hired Calhoun, from GE, to run it. He cut jobs 10% and sold its European business magazines (keeping, for the time being, Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter... for their sex appeal?). Calhoun also decided to consolidate a diversity of subsidiary brands, many of them "Nielsen" but with no visual commonality, and to work toward "truly integrated marketing and media services" under one brand. He retained Landor to plan and design the brand.

Credits:
C.E.O. - David L. Calhoun
Identity counsel and design - Landor NY
Guidelines pdf

First Impressions:
Name decision: a no-brainer.  VNU was the wrong choice to begin with, in effect a placeholder.
Design decision:  What happened? Landor is capable of good design work, but this isn't it. The graphic differentiator can't decide whether to be a blue 'n' or nine dots... and can't really be both! Personally I'd go with the dots, which suggest multiplicity of parts or strengths, while the cute blue 'n' merely corrupts the integrity of the Nielsen name. The letterforms themselves, in weight, tone and personality seem an inappropriately delicate redrawing of  the 1988 Tobias mark; graphically, VNU had more guts.


Other comments:
The formal name: why the "The?" Always a weakener, in my experience, introducing all kinds of ambiguity... starting with alphabetical listings (Neilsen Company, The?). It is now correct, for example, to refer to Mr. Calhoun as CEO of the The Nielsen Company. Prediction: insiders will start using "TNC."