• by Judy Warner , February 14, 2007

Can a business go forward by reaching back? The Travelers insurance company intends to find out.

As part of an anticipated global rebranding initiative, Citigroup yesterday unveiled its new corporate identity, dropping the group and umbrella, and said it had sold the distinctive trademark back to its original, and some would say, better-suited owner.

As a result of that transaction -- neither the purchase price nor terms were disclosed -- The St. Paul Travelers Companies, Inc., will change its name to The Travelers Companies. The insurance company, with offices in Minneapolis/St. Paul and Hartford, Conn., expects to begin incorporating the symbol of protection into its name, pending regulatory approvals, by March.

For the next several days, according to Travelers' spokesperson Marlene Ibsen, ads reintroducing the umbrella will run in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, and newspapers in the Twin Cities and Hartford. Travelers' creative agency, Fallon of Minneapolis, is working on how to dovetail the umbrella into a broadcast and print campaign tagged "In-synch" launched by Travelers last year.

It is believed the umbrella first appeared as an illustration in an ad for Travelers in 1870 and was adopted as the corporate mark in 1959. The insurer was synonymous with the umbrella until it was acquired by Citigroup in 1993. Citigroup then incorporated the umbrella into its brand signature and retained rights to the trademark after it sold Travelers to The St. Paul Companies in 2004.

"Our research continued to show that the trademark red umbrella was more connected with insurance, specifically St. Paul Travelers," said Citi Chairman and CEO Charles Prince.

The trademark transaction was negotiated in the last few weeks following news reports that Citigroup was weighing a rebranding initiative that featured an arc over the Citi name.

"The red umbrella is one of the great American business icons. It's a familiar representation of protection and insurance that is in-synch with our customers' ever-changing needs," said Travelers' Chairman and CEO Jay Fishman. "Bringing back the umbrella and changing the company name will further advance the highly regarded Travelers brand."

As for the effect on Citi, last month a branding expert noted that an identity initiative of this scope meant more to internal stakeholders such as employees than to the average bank or investment customer.

Don Giller, senior director at Brand Equity, who has worked on scores of identity projects for a broad array of clients, predicted in January that in a year or less, few people would recall that Citibank or Citigroup ever existed -- except, maybe, in archives.

"My guess is that externally, the name change will not be a huge switch for clients, but internally it will be a much bigger deal. It's a demarcation of the new leadership," he said when the news leaked in January.