B R A N D I N G

It’s called 3

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Now you’ve heard that ourname is ‘3’, we hope youwon’t forget it. When yousee it, you won’t believe it.”

Hutchison Group Managing DirectorCanning Fok is talking to the assembledpress corps, and there’s no need for himto repeat the word or spell it out.

The July 3 statement ends months of speculation about what Hong Kong-based conglomerate HutchisonWhampoa Limited will call its globalthird generation (3G) business.

When the moniker turns out to be3, it all seems to add up.

“We now have a brand that willallow us to go anywhere in the world,”Mr Fok adds.

But the world has had to wait awhileto actually see the new logo, whichremained a close-guarded secret foranother three months. Until now.

33 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 andsimplicity. There is no need to translateit across different languages – somethingeven the mighty Coca-Cola has to do insome places.

In a world where numbers are theGlobe’s Lingua Franca, 3 is easy toremember, difficult to forget – regardlessof dialect. Wherever it travels, 3 is pro-nounced in the local language. In English-speaking countries it’s “three”, but in Italyit’s ‘tre’, in Austria ‘drei’ and so on. In HongKong it will be ‘saam’ – the same thingeverywhere, and everywhere different;global and local at the same time.

During a detailed naming exercisewhere many identities were considered,3 was drawn out of the name “Hutchi-son 3G”. However, the name 3 and theideas behind the customer experiencewill transcend the technology driving it,and won’t get hamstrung by it. So, if thetechnology evolves to 4G or 5G or 10G,it really won’t matter.

CORE CONCEPTRecognising the importance of brand-ing, Hutchison Whampoa brought in anin-house team – the Global BrandGroup – to create and manage itsbrands.The team is led by brand veter-ans Doug Hamilton and Keith Kirbywho together worked on Orange (seesidebar p.18) and other Hutchisonbranding projects.

“The core idea behind the brand isthe coming together of things that areuseful with things that are enjoyable,”

3G

says Hamilton, who is Global CreativeDirector. “So for example, if a business-man accesses his corporate Intranetthrough a handset, that’s useful, but with3 it will be enjoyable too.”

Keith Kirby, Director of GlobalBranding and Culture, adds:“For all thepeople around the world working hardto launch the service it’s a huge and dif-ficult task, but for customers it will feellike a natural next step. It’s a step onfrom the past but, more importantly, thefirst step of something new that hasnever existed before. Revolution orevolution, it doesn’t matter.

“The core idea is supported by a setof values that take the brand deep intothe Group’s operating companies aroundthe world. So, while the underlyingtechnology may be complex, 3 will dobusiness in a way that is simple, human,open, positive, creative and passionate.”

The Global Brand Group brought awealth of talent and experience to thetable. It was their job to carefully con-sider each and every element of the newentity. Brand strategist Simon Jamesonfocused on positioning, typographerMiles Newlyn developed the logo andtypefaces while senior designers DarenCook and Michael Wallis worked on theoverall style and feel across advertising,literature, websites and other mediums.

Having created the 3 brand identity,the Global Brand Group subsequentlyworks with companies in each operatingterritory to introduce and manage thebrand so as to maximise synergy and sharing.

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it looks like this“We focused on three key functions thelogo should perform,” says Hamilton.

“First, we should recognise it whenwe see it or read it.

“Second, we should be able toremember it. We can’t expect customersto remember everything, so we’d likethem to remember 3 instead of some-thing else.

“And, third, we should understand itspotential. We not only recognise andremember something good, we come tounderstand what we can expect from it.That’s the most fugitive part to capture.”

“The 3 logo has been developed foran ‘on-screen’ world,” explains Kirby.“The ‘outside’ of the logo is a threedimensional, 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 ofcolour. Wherever it can be done – onthe handset, on the Internet, on somesignage and on TV – the colours are inmotion. Not static, but moving. Not oneflat colour but three dimensional andfull of colour. Or you could say, cool onthe outside, hot on the inside.”

now we see it

IN NUMEROLOGY, THE “LUCKY”number 3 is associated with enter-tainment, effervescence, optimism

and clarity.In Chinese, 3 is considered very

lucky. It sounds similar to “liveliness”or “life” and also alludes to ideas ofinfinity, 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. Itenables multiplication, geometry, calcu-lus and the triangle.

You can only truly know where youare if you have 3 co-ordinates.

It’s a name, a number and a logo atthe same.

THE RIGHT NUMBER

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3G

“By the time we’ve finished, the measureof our success will simply be how manypeople can’t imagine life without 3.”

— Canning Fok

The logo introduces a new dimen-sion to a common symbol; it is recog-nisable but also new. Everyone under-stands the numeral, but the brand bringsfresh meaning.

“It doesn’t say what the technologycan do,” says Hamilton,“but gives someindication of how it will be for the cus-tomer, useful and enjoyable at the sametime. People see different things in it:ferns, flowers, birds, jungles, waves,Japanese graphics…mostly living grow-ing things.”

Because the brand is being builtglobally, it has to be simple and strongand should transcend local language andcultural barriers.

Across the cultural kaleidoscope,colours are metaphors for our moodsand a reference to our world, yet colourscan mean different things in differentcountries. In China, red is lucky.

Elsewhere it means fire, passion, orManchester United. In the UK, purpleis royal, spiritual and magical, but in Italyit is associated with death. Green canmean prosperity, or even a political phi-losophy. In the emotional prism, bluesignifies peace or sorrow, orange iswarmth, yellow is joy, and so on.

In uses where the logo cannot beanimated, the brilliant, ever-changingshades are captured at six points in thecycle – red, orange, yellow, green, blueand violet. Six colours, one logo.There’salso a monochrome version for blackand white applications.

This is an unconventional approachcompared with many brands that relyon a dominant single signal colour.

The design lexicon is extended withthe Tristar symbol, a dynamic represen-tation of 3.

You’ll see it on a key on your hand-set that takes you to content, on thewebsite and also in a repeating patterndeveloped to be used subtly.

“The pattern is like the lining of asuit,” says Kirby, “you wouldn’t wear iton the outside, but come across it almostunexpectedly. So, for example, you’llfind it in packaging but not on the out-side of the box – it’ll be inside. Cool onthe outside, hot on the inside, just likethe logo.”

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the natural next step, not by trying tochange people or how they live theirlives, or imposing what we think they’dlike, but through fulfilling them betterby delivering more usefulness and morepleasure in ways that they choose.”

THAT WAS THEN; THIS IS NOWBehind the name and logo lies a newadventure.

3 is the door to a brand-new mobilemulti-media communications categorywhere the experience is more varied,more useful and more enjoyable than itstechnological predecessors.

Quite simply, 3G is better than 2G.More inspiring, more relevant and moreliberating.

3 merges mobile telephony with thepower of the Internet and the eye of aTV camera.

It delivers the convenience of aPDA, the entertainment value of anMP3 player and the fun of a gamesarcade.

As such, it can assume the gravitas of

CLEAR AND SIMPLE“We were keen to avoid the hype thatcan sometimes surround brands,” saysKirby, “it wasn’t long ago that over-promised, over-hyped products and ser-vices of all kinds involved a trade-off.What was promised was not necessarilydelivered. So why not call it somethingobvious?

“3 will launch gently at first, in tunewith reality and not making emptypromises. Brands are incredibly impor-tant. People are more individualisticthan ever and express their individualitypartly through the brand choices theymake – if we each look at ourselves weselect a portfolio of brands that attract usand 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 thatincludes delivering what we say we will.We no longer expect to make choicesbetween pleasure and performance, weexpect both at the same time, experi-encing usefulness more enjoyably andenjoyment more usefully. 3 doesn’tpromise perfection in a fantasy future. Itaims to deliver what we really want inthe real world as it is, not what we aretold we want in a world as it ought to be.”

Adds brand strategist SimonJameson:“We don’t have to create a rev-olution in people’s behaviour, we haveto deal with the real revolution thatexists now. A demand for more enjoy-ment, more usefulness and less restric-tion.The technology is real; it’s time toput it all together. We’d like to deliver

next step

a board meeting or the levity of arock’n’roll concert.

Mobile phone companies are notthe only competitors. 3 will also becompared to Playstation, X-Box and ahost of entertainment and communica-tion options.

After all, this is a category that com-bines voice communications withmusic, entertainment, video, photogra-phy, multi-media, global positioning,and more.

Soon,we will be able to pay with ourmusic system or call a friend’s camera.

the natural

3G

IT’S HERE TO STAYThe brand is a charming new arrival –modest but not self-effacing; confidentand composed.

All involved – from top manage-ment to junior staffers throughoutEurope, Asia, Australia and beyond – are guardians of 3.They embody – andlive by – its core values: Creative,Human, Open, Simple, Positive andPassionate. They aim to ensure that 3delivers on its promises and maintains itsappeal over time.

“In the UK, the licence is for 20years,” says Hamilton. “We are makingsomething that will live and prosper forat least 20 years. We don’t have topromise everything on day one; we haveto deliver everything that we promiseon day one.We don’t promise too muchat the beginning and risk disappoint-ment but we promise enough to make it exciting.

“The brand is not a chameleon, butit has flexibility built in.

“Consider Madonna: She’s beenfamous for around 20 years and she’sbeen through a whole lexicon of per-sonas.

“Someone asked her: ‘How comeyou are always changing?’

“She said: ‘I never change, I just getmore revealing’.

“We’re on to something with thisbrand that can become more and morerevealing over time. Not changing tokeep up with fashion and trends, butconfident enough to keep hold of theworthwhile and change other things.”

“A word or image is symbolic when itimplies something more than its obviousand 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 ideasthat lie beyond the grasp of reason.”

— Carl Jung

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ALL IN ONE; ALL AT ONCEHenry Ford famously said: “People canhave the Model T in any colour – so longas it’s black.”

Mr Ford’s unbending approach tothat immortal brand seems a far cry frommulticoloured, multifunctional, multicul-tural 3.

But Doug Hamilton believes thereare quite a few similarities between whatHenry Ford did for the automobile in the20th Century and what 3 will do formobile communications in the 21st.

“Ford didn’t invent the engine,dynamos, starter motors, refine petrol ortarmacadam or any of the other elements,but he put them all together and made itpossible for ordinary people to enjoysomething that was previously out oftheir reach.”

The Orange experience left competitors green with envy.Some wags dubbed the new brand a lemon, but it wenton to become a sweet success for all involved.

In 1994 Hutchison contracted branding consultancy Wolff Olinsto create and manage its nascent mobile telecoms (2G) brand.

With Doug Hamilton charged with devising the new company’sidentity Orange re-wrote the branding rulebook, wrong footingcompetitors and emerging as the benchmark in the sector.

Notwithstanding its subsequent triumph, the radically differ-ent approach of Orange was seen as a tremendous risk at thetime of launch.

The name and visual identity had no apparent link with the

worlds of technology and communication. The brand’s appealwas emotional as well as rational, speaking more about the cus-tomer than the product.

The brand identity, name and the visual style all created highawareness and customer sign-up levels in record time.After onlytwo years, Orange was better recognised than any of its rivals.

Thus Orange became the benchmark for the marketplace andput the squeeze on competitors to rethink their positioningstrategies.

When the company was sold to Mannesmann in 2000 itfetched US$14.6 billion, giving Hutchison the financial clout toinvest in next generation 3G.

ORANGES & LEMONS

more than a number

And, in spite of his conservativeapproach to colour, Henry Ford did not put the brakes on development.Motorists now have air-con, suspension,ABS braking…

“Similarly, Hutchison didn’t inventthe technology, but is putting it togetherlike it should be,” explains Hamilton.

“As [Group Managing Director]Canning Fok says:‘By the time we’ve fin-ished, the measure of our success willsimply be how many people can’t imag-ine life without 3’.”

3’S COMPANY3G is an entirely new product category,so it was natural and inevitable that a newbrand would be born. In corporate terms,the launch of the 3 brand is equivalent towelcoming and naming a new additionto the family.

Over the past three years Hutchisonhas positioned itself as a serious player inthis high-risk, high-gain marketplace.Starting from virtually zero, the Groupinvested widely in the 3G sector.

Cash-rich from the 1999 sale of its2G business,Orange, for US$14.6 billion,the company began by purchasingUMTS spectrum licences, first in the UKthen in Europe and further afield as theycame to market.

Reflecting the exuberance in thetelecoms sector at the time, prices beganto skyrocket as 2G players, eager to bepart of the “next big thing” pushed the

bidding into the stratosphere. It was thenthat Hutchison, reasoning that prices hadgone too high, pulled out of the Germanauction and helped restore some coher-ence to the marketplace.

When the dust had settled it turnedout that the Group had shopped wisely,paying between 20% and 50% less perMHz than its rivals.

Where it had won licences, theGroup moved quickly to begin buildingthe infrastructure that would make it allwork.

“We have a ‘Rolls-Royce’ networkoperated by ‘Rolls-Royce’ companies,”Mr Fok observed.

The company now has a presence innine nations on four continents. Thefootprint currently includes Australia,Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland,Israel, Italy, Sweden, and the UK.

In the 3G arena, all are unproven.From a standing start, 3 is taking an earlylead in building an efficient infrastruc-ture, creating a powerful brand androlling out a succession of compelling,differentiated services that will win aloyal customer base.

In time, 3 will become a covetedbrand that is strongly identified withspecific services and qualities of thecompany.

In turn, the company will deliver onits promise to be the best in the category.

The brand will thus evolve into avaluable commodity in its own rightwith a measurable worth. 3 will come tomean more than a number.The symbolwill take on an added new dimension.

This is 3’s strategy.The stage is now set for a brand

new show.

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POWERFUL PORTFOLIO

3G

WITH A DIVERSIFIED PORTFOLIO COVERING 41countries, Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) isthe blue-chip “brand behind the brands”, associated

with a wide range of branded products and services under itscore divisions – Ports,Telecommunications, Property & Hotels,Retail & Manufacturing, and Energy & Infrastructure.

Although dubbed “The Quiet Corporation” by some observers,the Group and its subsidiaries have won numerous regional andinternational awards for achievements in management, strategy,performance, deal-making and investor relations.

“The Group is a 21st Century role model of the corporationthat builds new brands,” says Global Creative Director DougHamilton. “It is creator and owner of some of what couldbecome the world’s most valuable trademarks and the same‘Hutchison DNA’ runs through all of them. Hutchison compa-nies are all part of the same culture.”

Hutchison’s corporate culture is diverse, determined, effi-cient, ethical, integrated, international and innovative. It is com-mitted to quality service and consistently gets results, as therecord shows.

In the past decade thePARKnSHOP chain ofsupermarkets has grown intoone of the region’s largestfood retailing concerns, oper-ating around 250 stores inChina, Hong Kong and Macau.This year it was named HongKong’s “Most FavouredBrand” in a survey conductedby independent researchhouse Ipsos-Reid.

A flagship of Hutchison Port Holdings, HongkongInternational Terminals(HIT) owns and operatescontainer terminals in HongKong. It is widely regarded inthe shipping business as amodel of unrivalled efficiency.

Husky Energy is a Canadian-based energy and energy-related company. The brand is well known and widelyrespected in the industry.

Hong Kong has long lookedto Watsons Water for pureand convenient drinkingwater and the brand hasadvanced its reputation andmarket share throughout theregion. Market dominance has been achieved by a continuous commitment to quality, reinforced through ongoing innovation.

In just a few years POWWOW has emergedas the biggest water coolerbrand in the UK, powered bya distinctively witty and freshmarketing approach.

Fortress is the leading elec-trical retailer in Hong Kong.With over 60 stores, it setsthe pace in its category, offer-ing popular internationalbrands of household appli-ances, consumer electronics,computers, office equipmentand accessories.

Operating under HutchisonE-commerce Limited and ini-tially targeting Hong Kong,bigboXX.com is a first of itskind B2B e-commerce portalspecifically dedicated to serv-ing office administrators andfinance managers. It includes acomprehensive range of over6,000 office supplies productsas well as a Print Centrecatering for digital and offsetprinting.

Our Lucaya Beach & GolfResort on Grand BahamaIsland has a distinctive islandplayground image reflectingits idyllic Caribbean settingand lifestyle.

Watsons Your Personal Storeis the Asia Pacific’s most popu-lar health and beauty chainwith over 600 outlets in HongKong and the Mainland,Macau,Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia,Thailand and the Philippines.

Harbour Plaza Hotels &Resorts is a highly respectedplayer in the hospitality indus-try. Its hotels in Hong Kongand Mainland China provide adistinctive blend of comfort-able elegance, understatedluxury and first-class facilitiesand services.

Formed in March 2000,LINE (Logistics InformationNetwork Enterprise) is thesupply chain solutions andlogistics services division ofHutchison Port Holdingsgroup. LINE streamlines themovement and handling ofgoods and provides collabo-rative networks and visibilityservices globally.

Hutch is a relatively newaddition to the Group’s brandportfolio. It has been devel-oped for the telecoms busi-nesses in India.