International Law

McMillan Binch Mendelsohn rebrands as McMillan

By Doug Jasinski

McMillan Binch Mendelsohn has taken the plunge this week and rebranded as McMillan, (going to McMillan LLP as the legal name). The new wordmark makes clever use of typography in formatting he "i l l" in the firm's name in a bar chart style and adopting a crisp, modern, orange and charcoal grey colour palette. A half-page full-colour ad in yesterday's Globe and Mail brought the change to my attention and a visit to their website confirmed they have backed up the new brand with an equally strong new web presence. The print ad graphics use logo elements to convey four key firm messages (guidance, high performance, positive outlook and leadership) and these same visuals are given an interactive treatment in a small flash piece on the firm website's homepage.

The trend towards shorter law firm names has been ongoing for a few years now and the single name format is the boldest iteration of this pattern. Marketing literature makes reference to consumers only having recall for 3-4 syllables (not names) when it comes to brand recall so from that perspective, moving to a one word name makes good sense assuming that single name is distinctive enough to stand on its own. Additionally, it conveys a more business-oriented approach to the brand that can resonate well with many firms' desired corporate client base. Kudos to McMillan's marketing team and firm management this time out - this is a good example of Canadian legal branding done right.

Full post as published by Legal Marketing Canada on May 29, 2008 (boomark / email).