The Brand Strategy Consultancy Yellowwood, part of the KIng James Group and  TBWA\Worldwide, is back-pedaling and presenting an implausible creative spin in the justification for its severely disliked new logo for the City of Cape Town.

David Blyth, Group Managing Director of Yellowwood, explains the elements of the logo design, for which work commenced in the agency on 6 January and on which 140 hours was spent.  Interesting is to read the website, which informs that the focus of Yellowwood is to ‘build valuable brands for ambitious businesses‘, hardly a description of the City of Cape Town!  From its list of services offered, it sounds more like a brand development consultancy than an ad agency, which is how the local media have described it.  One can be pretty certain that Yellowwood did not write the strategy, and that it was presented with an ‘academic’ document which had to be translated into a logo!

The Yellowwood website states that the consultancy links its client businesses to their brands via marketing strategy, brand strategy, research insights (which appear to be lacking, no Capetonians having been interviewed for the strategy input nor about the appeal of the logo), data analytics, and strategic design solutions.  In its Design section, which appears to be a lesser service, being last on its list of services, it states that its designs are based on ‘strategic insight’.  Clearly the logo is a failure as Yellowwood was not involved in the strategy!  Other public sector clients are the Western Cape government (via Carol Avenant, who worked there previously and now works for the City of Cape Town’s Integrated Strategic Communications and Branding department) and Iziko Museums.

Yellowwood’s justification for its logo design is as follows, as reported in the Cape Argus: Continue reading →