Page 15 - Sphere No.7 (Oct 2002)

S PHERE
13
N ow you’ve heard that our
name is ‘3’, we hope you
won’t forget it. When you
see it, you won’t believe it.”
Hutchison Group Managing Director
Canning Fok is talking to the assembled
press corps, and there’s no need for him
to repeat the word or spell it out.
The July 3 statement ends months
of speculation about what Hong
Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison
Whampoa Limited will call its global
third generation (3G) business.
When the moniker turns out to be
3, it all seems to add up.
“We now have a brand that will
allow us to go anywhere in the world,”
Mr Fok adds.
But the world has had to wait awhile
to actually see the new logo, which
remained a close-guarded secret for
another three months. Until now.
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
WHY 3?
The name was chosen for its brevity and
simplicity. There is no need to translate
it across different languages – something
even the mighty Coca-Cola has to do in
some places.
In a world where numbers are the
Globe’s Lingua Franca, 3 is easy to
remember, difficult to forget – regardless
of dialect. Wherever it travels, 3 is pro-
nounced in the local language. In English-
speaking countries it’s “three”, but in Italy
it’s ‘tre’, in Austria ‘drei’ and so on. In Hong
Kong it will be ‘saam’ – the same thing
everywhere, and everywhere different;
global and local at the same time.
During a detailed naming exercise
where many identities were considered,
3 was drawn out of the name “Hutchi-
son 3G”. However, the name 3 and the
ideas behind the customer experience
will transcend the technology driving it,
and won’t get hamstrung by it. So, if the
technology evolves to 4G or 5G or 10G,
it really won’t matter.
CORE CONCEPT
Recognising the importance of brand-
ing, HutchisonWhampoa brought in an
in-house team – the Global Brand
Group – to create and manage its
brands. The team is led by brand veter-
ans Doug Hamilton and Keith Kirby
who together worked on Orange (see
sidebar p.18) and other Hutchison
branding projects.
“The core idea behind the brand is
the coming together of things that are
useful with things that are enjoyable,”
3G
says Hamilton, who is Global Creative
Director. “So for example, if a business-
man accesses his corporate Intranet
through a handset, that’s useful, but with
3 it will be enjoyable too.”
Keith Kirby, Director of Global
Branding and Culture, adds: “For all the
people around the world working hard
to launch the service it’s a huge and dif-
ficult task, but for customers it will feel
like a natural next step. It’s a step on
from the past but, more importantly, the
first step of something new that has
never existed before. Revolution or
evolution, it doesn’t matter.
“The core idea is supported by a set
of values that take the brand deep into
the Group’s operating companies around
the world. So, while the underlying
technology may be complex, 3 will do
business in a way that is simple, human,
open, positive, creative and passionate.”
The Global Brand Group brought a
wealth of talent and experience to the
table. It was their job to carefully con-
sider each and every element of the new
entity. Brand strategist Simon Jameson
focused on positioning, typographer
Miles Newlyn developed the logo and
typefaces while senior designers Daren
Cook and MichaelWallis worked on the
overall style and feel across advertising,
literature, websites and other mediums.
Having created the 3 brand identity,
the Global Brand Group subsequently
works with companies in each operating
territory to introduce and manage the
brand so as to maximise synergy
and sharing.