The consulting company’s recent brand refresh centers on embracing change. This makes sense given world events. However, “change”, is pretty much a buzzword. The campaign, Let there Be Change, depicts small and seismic changes. The anchor video features quick cuts of deep-thinking technologists, an amateur swimmer, the “Big Bang”, manufacturing processes, synchronized dancers, and plants blooming in stop-motion.
Sadly, the video could be for any entity, from Amazon to a yoga studio. Even the voice-over fails to attain any specificity. It is cookie-cutter and vague. The work comes from Droga5, an agency bought by Accenture Interactive in 2019.
The previous campaign, High performance. Delivered., ran for over a decade. It centered on results for clients. Airports, at the time, held rows of billboards. Each a tangible testimonial from big clients. This was safer than its investment in Tiger Woods. For a time, Accenture featured him with slogans like “Go on. Be a Tiger,” and “We know what it takes to be a Tiger.” Those slogans were widely lampooned.
For the new campaign, Accenture has tripled its media spend to US$90 million. Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture, explained the big idea was underway prior to COVID-19. Technology was driving transformation, “requiring companies to reimagine everything and requiring economies and entire industries to rebuild. In this moment, to emerge stronger there is only one choice: embrace change and ensure that it benefits all – your customers, people, shareholders, partners, and communities.”
The revised purpose statement, “to deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity”, is to guide the strategy for its 500,000 employees. Accenture does approximately 70% of its business in digital, cloud, and security. In 2019, it spent US$900 million on R&D, US$900 million on training and development, and US$1.5 billion on acquisitions.
Clearly, it is a giant. These big players now resemble utilities rather than relevant and cool advisors. McKinsey’s brand feels like a stodgy, ancient law firm. Many professional service firms brand and market from a stance of, “you need us more than we need you”.
Accenture’s humongous effort comes across as generic. It is safe, devoid of passion and humanity. In fact, it is so unremarkable, so sanded down, that it feels like an insider’s joke, an orchestrated parody. Accenture’s anchor video states, “With a bang, energy and change came to every part of the universe,” and “Change is all around us,” and “Change, it continues”.
The video reminded of the faux brand video from the hit show, Silicon Valley. The company at the show’s center, Pied Piper, pivots its business from compression to data to a new Internet over five seasons. The fictional company invests in the brand to explain itself to customers and investors. The result is, Tables. Arguably it is better that Accenture’s work. You be the judge.