11 agency rebrands of 2022

Many agencies took the chance to remake themselves this year. Some shops, such as Weber Shandwick and Mother, repositioned while David adopted a new visual identity. But the agencies on this list started the year with one name and are ending it with another.

In some cases, the rebrand isn’t official until the start of next year (we're looking at you, WPP). From Accenture swapping "Interactive" for "Song" and The Richards Group shortening its name to TRG, here are this year’s 11 notable agency rebrands.

Accenture Song

The biggest agency rebrand of the year was likely Accenture Interactive changing its name to Accenture Song, effectively consolidating over 40 marketing, communications, and consulting companies under one name and P&L. This includes global agencies such as Karmarama, King James, Bow & Arrow, The Monkeys, Fjord, SinnerSchrader and Rothco changing their brand names.

"You either grow into the future or you're shrinking into the past,” David Droga, CEO and creative chairman of Accenture Song said about the decision to alter the $14 billion business in April.

The name “Song,” Droga said, “has a certain soul to it” and reflects a “combination of humanity and technology. I want something that distinguishes who we are and where we are, but is not too tricky.”

Noticeably absent from the consolidation and rebrand was Droga5, which continues to operate under its own name. 

“It’s the only global brand agency that we have, it’s recognized by clients and talent everywhere," Droga said. When asked whether there’s a possibility for the Droga5 name to be subsumed into Song, he said, “If it was for the better for the company? Yes."

Read more: Inside the Accenture Song rebrand

Dentsu Creative

One of the most talked-about rebrands of 2022 was Dentsu Creative, formed this summer in a consolidation of DentsuMB, 360i and Isobar, and led by Global Chief Creative Officer Fred Levron. The rebrand included images and iconography that embraced Dentsu’s Japanese roots. The move was led by Levron and Wendy Clark, who was global CEO of Dentsu International at the time but is departing the holding company at the end of the year amid a restructuring that folds Dentsu International into its Japanese parent.

Since the rebrand, Levron has made some significant hires. Most recently, Paulo Fogaca, the former global CEO at Gut, was named Dentsu Creative’s U.S. CEO. Dentsu Creative also brought on Pedro Perez as chief creative officer for Chicago and Rafael Rizuto as the chief creative officer for the U.S. and Hispanic LATAM.

TRG

The Richards Group was long due for a change after its founder Stan Richards stepped down in 2020 following racist remarks he made during a client meeting. This year TRG was born, a new name accompanied by a revamped logo, which, instead of its original bright red background with white lettering, features the three letters with various colors almost resembling a rainbow.

This move was a significant shift for the agency, which carried its original moniker since 1976.

The news came a week after it was reported that Stan Richards’ holding company, SBR Real Estate Holdings LP, sold the Dallas headquarters that was built to house the agency in 2013.

"Stan Richards hasn’t been a part of our agency since October of 2020,” a TRG spokeswoman told Ad Age in January. “We did let him know about the evolution of our agency’s brand identity. He wants us to succeed and understands our desire to transition to a new look and a far more progressive outlook."

The Brandtech Group

In January, You & Mr Jones changed its name to The Brandtech Group.

The company, founded in 2015 by former Havas Global CEO David Jones, rebranded all entities that previously carried the You & Mr Jones name (such as You & Mr Jones Media). Its individual group companies, which include in-housing specialist Oliver, creative agency Gravity Road, influencer marketing agency Collectively and filmmaking specialist Mofilm, retained their existing brand names.

Jones told Ad Age in a January interview that the name change reflects the "journey" of the company from a startup to a global company with more than 5,000 employees.

“When we were a tiny company with no clients, I felt like You & Mr Jones seemed like a great name for the business," he said. "We've grown pretty dramatically over the last six years. We're the world's largest digital partner for a lot of big brands and big global companies. And what was an idea when I started, which was 'brandtech,' has actually become a category, and given we own the name and have the ability to use the name, I just felt the time was right to make the change."

The new agency logo includes an homage to the old name. The “&” from You & Mr Jones is featured prominently next to the words "The Brandtech Group." 

EssenceMediacom and GroupM Nexus

In April, WPP’s GroupM announced several shakeups within its media agencies. Essence and Mediacom are merging to form the new entity EssenceMediacom, which won’t officially launch until January 2023. As part of the restructuring, Finecast, Xaxis and GroupM Services combined to form GroupM Nexus. Mindshare merged with performance marketing shop Neo. All of these moves were steps to simplify GroupM’s operations.

Nick Lawson, who was then the global CEO of MediaCom, stepped in to lead the new EssenceMediacom as global CEO. EssenceMediacom will encompass 10,000 employees across 125 offices.

“Through GroupM Nexus and our agency powerhouses Mindshare, Wavemaker and EssenceMediacom, we are building a tech-enabled future, side by side with our clients, that is accountable to advertisers’ growth goals and to our vision for an advertising ecosystem that works for everyone," Christian Juhl, global CEO of GroupM, said in an April statement.

Vayner3

In July 2021, Vaynermedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk launched VaynerNFT with Anheuser-Busch InBev as its first client. As part of the partnership, VaynerNFT dropped a collection of 12,722 NFTs for Bud Light prior to the beer brand’s Super Bowl spot that featured NFTs and promoted its light beer brand Bud Light Next. In November 2021, Vayner also helped release 1,936 Budweiser-themed NFTs, which sold out in an hour.

Almost exactly a  year later, the NFT consultancy was rebranded as Vayner3 to reflect a shift in the company’s strategy to focus on broader Web3 work rather than just NFTs. This came around the same time as work in the metaverse had grown in popularity in the industry and multiple agencies launched their own Web3 consultancies.

“I have always believed that technology is a tremendous tool to help us understand consumer behavior and drive social interactions through culture,” Vaynerchuk said in a July statement about the name change. “The world of Web3 is the next iteration of consumer behavior.”

Orchard

In May, New York-based agency Lightning Orchard named former Droga5 London Chief Creative Officer David Kolbusz its new chief creative officer. At the same time the agency, which was launched in 2019, dropped the first part of its named and rebranded to Orchard. Since then, Kolbusz helped create two notable campaigns for Champ Sports and Ocean Spray.

mSix&Partners

In March, Global media network m/SIX, which is a joint venture between The&Partnership and WPP, rebranded to mSix&Partners. Along with the new name came a new “Further Faster” brand positioning.

“Our name must reflect who we are and who we want to be, an agency that is at the forefront of data, tech and media, and knows how to connect that to brand experience, communications and unique ways of working; mSix&Partners does that perfectly,” Jack Swayne, managing partner and global CEO of mSix&Partners, said in a March statement.

Insomnia Labs

In August, New York-based agency Luna Market, which was behind some notable NFT drops, rebranded as Insomnia Labs. The rebrand was a pivot to becoming more of a Web3 agency. It also helped curb any comparison with an unrelated cryptocurrency also called Luna that crashed in dramatic fashion several months prior.

The agency achieved early success through collaborations with major brands such as Under Armour, with which it created NFTs based on Steph Curry’s shoes via a partnership with the agency Berlin Cameron. As larger ad agencies and holding companies increasingly embraced Web3, Insomnia found it difficult to compete for brand partnerships, according to an August Ad Age article. 

“We want to swallow up a part of the market that we think we fit into rather than trying to compete with a space where there’s tons of resources being thrown behind,” Insomnia’s Co-Founder Jack Cameron said.

Design Bridge and Partners

In another case of WPP merging and rebranding agencies, the holding company merged design agency Design Bridge with Superunion, a brand and design consultancy, to create Design Bridge and Partners. Design Bridge works with clients such as Diageo, Unilever, Mastercard and Fortnum & Mason. Meanwhile, Superunion is known for work it's done for clients including NASA, Bank of America, Intel and BBC.

The rebrand will become official in January. As part of the move, John Morris, the CEO of Design Bridge, will take on the role of CEO of the new global business; Jim Prior, currently CEO of Superunion, will become chair.

Brand Performance Network

In October, Stagwell rebranded its Stagwell Media Network into the Brand Performance Network, focused on combining agencies with creative, commerce, and media expertise under one umbrella. The news came a couple months after it was announced during an earnings call that Crispin Porter Bogusky, Forsman & Bodenfors, Observatory and Vitro were going to join the network. The network also includes agencies such as Gale, Assembly, MMI, Ink, Grason, Multiview, Brand New Galaxy, and Locaria.

Human Standard 

Phenomenon changed its name to Human Standard after 16 years. The Los Angeles-based creative and strategy shop has created notable work for clients like clients DC Entertainment, The Nature Conservancy, American Express and Stash Tea.

“The world has certainly changed since we were founded 16 years ago, and we’ve also been on a transformational journey,” said Human Standard President Tara Mellett, in June. “We looked back and saw an experienced, established team that exists to do great work, trusted client partners and a skillset that crosses a range of human talents and experiences. It felt right to affirm all of these important elements and present ourselves to the world as Human Standard.” 

As part of the transition, Phenomenon’s Detroit-based growth-marketing arm was rebranded as Posthuman.