The union of an agency that was in charge of creating iconic brands, with a consultancy that worked to give them life was what the market demanded for some years. This 2021, Landor & Fitch arrives to satisfy this demand.
After a two-year work process, which suffered adjustments with the appearance of COVID-19, the two firms of the advertising and communication holding company WPP came together to build more global brands, with purpose and that promote positive cultural change.
“It is the perfect combination of disciplines. Today, in addition to thinking about how the brand will look, how it will speak and express itself to the consumer, we are committed to its construction from the true purposes of development, and we make sure that it is really meaningful for the human being “, explains Gabriel Miller, President of Landor & Fitch for the Americas.
One of his most recent works shows the results of this bet. Six years after having undergone its last redesign, Landor & Fitch unveiled Renault’s new visual identity last May. From the French car manufacturer they said that the mission was to find the balance between modernity, internationality and the heritage of the brand, so they decided to eliminate signatures and fonts, but maintain its essence.
“We came to break paradigms and help clients understand what it really means to make a brand,” adds Marcela Garcés, general director of Landor & Fitch Mexico.
Expansion: What are the elements that stand out in building a brand?
Gabriel Miller: We can bring it to life by focusing on three different areas, which we call PHD. That is, through the physical world (physical), the human (human) and the digital (digital). Brands have physical experiences, the consumer can walk into a store or supermarket to get a piece of cloth or a computer and can touch it. Perhaps the process by which you make that purchase is through a digital transaction. And, it may be that customer service, with the employees you dealt with and the way the process is handled is from the human side. So physical, human and digital coming together to bring these brand experiences to life is where we are now.
E: How to ensure the interaction of people with brands in the ‘new normal’?
GM: The immediate future is to bring more brand experiences to life, I think the way we experience the outside world is changing dramatically. We hear words like single channel and multi channel… the way people are touching brands has evolved, we are going to see more popular stores, retail stores, online experiences that are closer to what people feel in the physical world. We are going to create brands that bring more excitement and loyalty to multiple generations of people.
E: In the midst of the pandemic, what challenges did making the alliance take shape?
GM: This creation was on the way long before the pandemic started. We have worked for about two years in this new entity, but it was a challenge because, like everyone else, we were thinking about how the business would work efficiently in the future by working virtually, how to get the work done, how to get clients. , etc. We are a company of human beings (between 300 and 375 employees) and we have the innate will to make things work, to persevere through whatever it takes. That showed us that, in fact, we can work more efficiently in a virtual way, to get more things done and faster. So we were able to create this new entity: Zoom, FaceTime, iChats became real life for us.
Just as we like to create brands from the inside out, we decided to create Landor & Fitch by understanding ourselves. We decided to embrace change, see each other through the screens, and accompany each other with mental health sessions. In the end we realized that we were very successful doing it. The culture, among all our offices, is stronger than ever.
E: What is the importance of Mexico for the company?
GM: There are two things that Mexico gives us. The first is that we are not the same. We are not looking at everything from the point of view of someone from New York, California or Chicago, the country helps us provide a better rounded demographic and psychographic perspective on what is happening in the customer journey , and they are an integral part of how we see. and we express the brands. The second question is that I am a person who leads with my heart and then with my head, when I look at the Mexican team I realize that they have an emotional perspective in the work they do, there is this passion that comes out of the team and that really permeates the rest of the Americas region.
Marcela Garcés: We are in Mexico between 50 or 55 creative and strategic people. While Latin America is one of the first stages of the brand, in Mexico we have already been able to take a step forward as a country to help the region to be better, we are an essential part of it.
E: What are the local growth expectations?
GM: It’s definitely going to continue to grow, I know there are economic differences and different governments, but branding is going to be more powerful than ever in emerging markets.
MG: We have been seeing exponential growth in the last seven years in the country and in the business as Landor. We are specializing, becoming more specific, bringing innovation to our portfolio offering and opening new clients, categories and ways of doing business, which will allow us to have a brighter future.
E: Have you already gained new clients in Mexico?
MG: We are in a very early stage of branding, there is still not a great awareness of what Landor & Fitch is, but we have already gained some important clients, basically in the categories of experiences such as sports and retail. Like Landor, in the last year we have brought in three large projects that are in development and will continue to grow now that the pandemic is more under control. In six months or a year, you will see the work that Landor & Fitch is doing as a unit.
