Since the deal to combine UBM and Informa was finalized last June, the new company had been known as Informa Exhibitions, but much of its UBM branding stayed in place in Asia, particularly in China and Hong Kong. That is no longer the case. The division of Informa PLC created by the combination of UBM and Informa has been renamed and rebranded as Informa Markets as the public company continues to expand its product offerings beyond exhibitions. “Informa Markets really brings to life the role we play helping to bring energy, opportunity, growth and success to the specialist markets our customers operate in, and to our customers’ businesses,” said Charlie McCurdy, CEO of Informa Markets.
The new name “acknowledges that companies who are exhibitors are more and more conscious of the interconnection of the spend for market access, including trade shows,” McCurdy said. “The more we can help companies organize their approach to the market and their customers and prospects, the better partner we can be to help them achieve their goals.” “As we brought these two companies together over the course of the last year, we found we had an opportunity to recast these two strong brands into one consistent and shared identity,” McCurdy told. “What we do is bring healthy commercial activity to markets, verticals or industrial sectors. We have summarized this as being a ‘market maker,’ but there are more things we can do.”
After the deal closed last year, an extensive brand review began across the enterprise at all levels, including executive leadership, product management and customers. “It’s a pretty classic process of rebranding that involves everything from in-show on-site signage to office location signage and business cards,” McCurdy said. With a portfolio of 550 B2B events, Informa Markets has a sizable presence in the world market, including the U.S. where the company organizes several leading shows, such as MAGIC, Licensing Expo and World of Concrete. The company, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and part of the FTSE 100 Index, designed a new logo and launched a new corporate web site. “Similar to how people and companies evolve, so has our brand identity,” said Richard Brook, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Informa Markets. “The new Informa Markets identity is a fantastic representation of what and who we are today, and how that will develop in the future as we continue to advance and provide platforms that facilitate connections and the best customer experience.”
To prepare for the roll-out, Brook and his team put together an extensive planning and communication strategy. “The brand is applied in multiple places, and we are a diverse organization serving multiple markets and communities around the world,” Brook said. “Creating an inventory of logos and references to the company was slightly challenging to say the least. The key is thinking through the impact on colleagues and doing it in sustainable way.”
