Familiar (CP) logo fades into history Wednesday amid changing media landscape

By GREGORY BONNELL
Canadian Press
Sept 16    

TORONTO (CP) - Generations of Canadian newspaper readers have grown accustomed to the ubiquitous - if not somewhat anonymous - (CP) hallmark that has preceded millions of news reports over the years.

But as of Wednesday, the familiar logo of The Canadian Press will fade into history, a victim of a media environment that's more competitive than ever and where establishing a "brand" is seen as essential in today's multimedia world.

Retiring the (CP) service logo is among several steps the national news service, founded in 1917, is taking to strengthen its brand in a competitive media environment. In place of the (CP) at the beginning of a report, the full name of The Canadian Press will be spelled out instead.

"The media know us very well in this country as . . . a very trustworthy news source. Generally, the consumers haven't," said Eric Morrison, president of The Canadian Press.

"For the general public, they really didn't know what that CP symbol meant. I think replacing it with the name will make it a little clearer, that it's The Canadian Press and it's the Canadian news service."

The retiring of the (CP) logo is part of a larger branding campaign aimed at raising the agency's profile with a readership that now has countless ways to access Canadian Press news from hundreds of online sites.

The company has also unveiled a new logo that plays up the "Canadian" part of its name: a stylized Canadian flag that features a red maple leaf flanked by two quote marks.

Another significant step will see Broadcast News, the agency's broadcast subsidiary, start using The Canadian Press name in its audio reports. It's part of a strategy that will see the agency's myriad services, which include photos, graphics, and online video, presented under a single banner: The Canadian Press (La Presse Canadienne for the French service).

"This is really an attempt to pull all that together and put us under one brand in English, one brand in French," Morrison said.

Paul Knox, chair of Ryerson University's school of journalism, said the strategy should make selling The Canadian Press to the masses much simpler.

"It's more likely they're going to absorb one brand than six brands," said Knox.

"Whether they actually understand what Canadian Press is is another question. It's one that's not going to resolved simply by consolidating all of the brands into one."

To that end, Morrison said the rebranding would be followed by ads in member newspapers and on television explaining the news agency's role in shaping the Canadian media landscape. Co-branding opportunities with members and clients are also in the works to further raise the agency's profile.

The rebranding leans heavily on the agency's reputation as a trusted source of news.

"To the public, the important thing is whether they trust it or not. I think that in general, (The Canadian Press) is generally a trustworthy brand in terms of accuracy and fairness," said Knox.

"From the point of view of making it simpler to understand what is a (Canadian Press) story and what isn't in all types of media, obviously it's a calculation that it's going to make that easier."

The rebrand might also make it a little easier for the agency's employees to communicate just who they work for.

"Obviously, in this country there can be a lot of confusion between CP and the old CP Airlines and CP Hotels," said Morrison.

Not to mention Canadian Pacific Railway.

Tell someone you work at The Globe and Mail or CBC and recognition is immediate. Tell them you work at CP and expect either a glazed look or a misdirected belief you're into trains and hauling freight.

"I'll never forget meeting a man at a media party a decade ago who was, at that point, a high-powered Crown attorney," said Lee-Anne Goodman, media and culture writer for The Canadian Press.

"He asked me where I worked, and when I said 'CP,' his eyes lit up."

What followed was an enthusiastic recounting of the storied career the attorney's father enjoyed with Canadian Pacific in Thunder Bay - and Goodman's laboured explanation of who she really worked for.

A former Ontario bureau chief and senior editor at the wire service's Toronto headquarters, Goodman admitted to having "mixed feelings" about the rebrand.

"Certainly, everyone in the media knows immediately what company is being referenced when someone shouts out in a newsroom: 'CP is reporting Harper's called an election' or whatever it is," she said.

"But outside media circles, even in very educated non-media circles, CP says nothing."

Morrison said it's time to combat that lack of public recognition.

"Our (reputation) among the people who know us, it's fantastic, you can't beat it in the industry," he said. "Now we just have to be a little more conscious of the end user."