Last month, Arcadis consolidated its brand identity with the launch of a single operating model for global markets. Henceforth, the Netherlands-headquartered design and consultancy outfit will operate internationally under one brand.
The move sees the phasing out of legacy brands Langdon & Seah, Hyder Consulting, ARCADISLogos, and EC Harris. The group’s architectural brands, Callison and RTKL, have merged to create CallisonRTKL. The updated brand has been adopted across the 70 countries in which Arcadis operates.
As one might expect, a brand relaunch of this magnitude represents no mean feat. As such, a selection of the firm’s senior management figures embarked on a world tour in a bid to facilitate in-house integration, and to promote awareness amongst the company’s customer base. It was during the Middle East leg of this expedition that I sat down with Arcadis’ CEO, Neil McArthur; CEO Continental Europe, Stephan Ritter; and CEO Middle East, Wael Allan. The trio were eager to explain the thinking behind the rebrand, and what it means for their clients.
“At the last count, we had 13 brands around the world,” McArthur begins. “With the launch of this single brand, Arcadis is now able to position itself as the leading design and consultancy for natural and built assets globally. It enables us to show that we have the full set of capabilities to serve our clients throughout the lifecycles of their assets. In practical terms, it means that we can present one set of business cards that really delivers on our operating model, which is to be ‘seamlessly global’ in serving our clients, irrespective of who they are and where in the world they are located.”
Allan adds: “Regionally [in the Middle East], the coming together of EC Harris and Hyder Consulting, under the umbrella of Arcadis, really unifies and strengthens our offering to local clients. We’re now able to offer the whole range of services. This move will enable us to use our global expertise to benefit clients the Middle East.”
Impressive though this sounds, I was keen to drill down to what this move will mean for Arcadis’ clients in practical terms. Will the firm’s customers notice the difference?
McArthur responds by pointing out that in the past, clients have traditionally associated his group’s personnel with their respective legacy outfits. He explains: “Despite our best efforts, our employees’ client relationships have tended to be understood within the context of their legacy companies’ capabilities. The launch of one brand for global markets allows us to have the conversation with our clients that we are all Arcadis. We’re not a group of firms; we’re one firm with one operating model, and this model enables us to access capabilities irrespective of where in the world they are required. Put simply, Arcadis can now offer clients a broader set of capabilities for a broader set of needs.”
Encouragingly, the changes that have been implemented as part of Arcadis’ rebranding process run far deeper than name alone. The group has been completely restructured.
“We’ve invested heavily in creating a more global operating model,” explains McArthur. “We now have global sector leaders: 13 executives for our 13 major cities around the world. In addition, we have 18 ‘core value proposition’ leaders, who sit within Arcadis’ global business lines. For example, we have one person who drives and builds our programme management capability globally. This model enables us to access the very best set of capabilities to suit our clients’ needs, irrespective of their location.”
Furthermore, all legacy companies involved in the rebrand have gone through what the Arcadis chiefs call ‘the co-creation process’. A steering committee was established with senior-level representatives from each outfit, and over a six-month period, the company’s new market strategy was devised.
