• by January 29, 2004

DRUMROLE PLEASE - After months of study and an untold sum in consulting fees, Carat today unveiled a new corporate identity. It is: "Carat." While some might think that goes a long way toward explaining why Carat is still just a "media" agency, the Riff has the real inside story. As underwhelming as Carat's re-branding might seem on the surface, it actually employs a very sophisticated strategy that synchronizes a burgeoning media and "marketing services" operation that has grown to encompass nine discrete operating units in the North American marketplace: Carat USA, Carat Canada, Carat Latin America, MMA, Copernicus, Carat Interactive, Outdoor Vision, Carat Business & Technology (formerly Carat Freeman), and Carat SCG (Specialized Communications Group). By consolidating these disparate units under a single identity - the flagship Carat brand - the media shop is adopting a "sum of the parts is greater than the whole" approach. The fact is, those parts now add up to more than $4.5 billion in capitalized agency media services. Still, the Riff has to wonder what all the hubbub is about. We thought the Carat brand was strong and vital before the new identity work, though some people still pronounce the brand like it was a root vegetable (the Brit's like to say, Car-Ah!). In any case, the Riff knows there is more to this story and that we will soon see and hear other iterations of the Carat brand. For one thing, the new identity program, especially its new logotype, which was created by design agency North Design, with an on-screen version designed by Moving Brands, both of London, has to be seen to be fully appreciated. Beyond that, the Riff hears the agency may soon be adding a corporate tagline and that it might just be, "Art, Science, Power." Stay tuned.

WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD RIFF WRITERS - Few know better than the Riff that good things sometimes come from bad experiences, but when our Web browser crashed Wednesday amid a torrent of MyDoom virus transmissions, we were hard-pressed to see the silver lining. But that was before the Riff recalled that there are other ways of surfing the Web than Microsoft's creaky Internet Explorer. And while it was only out of frustration that we resorted to downloading the latest version of Netscape's Web browser, we were pleasantly surprised to see how well it functions. In fact, we're finding it much friendlier to use in many regards than untrusty old IE. We especially like the fact that we haven't seen one pop-up ad since we've begun using it.