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Troubled CA Disassociates Company from Computers.
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Author: Anderson, Diane
Section: News
STRATEGY
| Troubled CA Disassociates Company from Computers |
Name change, logo, $15M push makes bid to refurbish image.
TRYING TO COMBAT a
negative image after a high-profile accounting scandal, Computer
Associates is changing its name and logo, all part of a $15
million-plus effort to inspire its users and investors to "Believe
again" in the company.
The ad campaign for
the enterprise software firm, now known simply as CA, breaks this week.
The effort, via Interpublic Group, New York, will communicate the new
brand promise of simplification and unification.
Print executions,
aimed at C-level executives, will run in publications like The New York
Times, Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times. Three-page ads
start with an open letter from CEO John Swainson, outlining CA's new
vision. The chief exec invites readers to turn the page to view a
spread depicting an image of a child playing with a radio-controlled
airplane. Text: "Remember when technology had the power to inspire you?
Believe again."
The newspaper splash
will be followed by ads in IT and business publications showing the
child with a walkie-talkie and a microscope. CA's re-vamped logo, via
Sequel Studio, New York, brings the two letters closer together to
suggest unification.
"We talked to
customers worldwide to research perception of us in the market," said
CMO Donald Friedman, a former IBM marketing exec who joined CA in
April. "We have revitalized the company by changing our executive team,
our infrastructure, our accounting, our legal."
Friedman said the
name change reflects the fact that "we aren't in the computer
business--that's not the company anymore. We are proud of our
metamorphosis and now need to enhance our image and tell the story."
The campaign comes as
CA is in transition. Swainson, another IBM alum, took over last
November. His predecessor, Sanjay Kumar, was indicted in September 2004
amid a government probe into accounting irregularities that splashed
the company's name on the front pages. (Kumar is currently awaiting
trial on charges of securities fraud and obstruction of justice.)
The company paid $225
million to shareholders to avoid criminal prosecution by the Securities
and Ex-change Commission and the U.S. Justice Department for
fraudulently recording and reporting revenues. In addition, investor
Sam Wyly has engaged in very public proxy fights with the company,
waged via newspaper ads.
When CA last month
posted a $41 million profit for its fiscal second-quarter after a
string of losses, Swainson said the company is recovering from "a
near-death experience."
Rob Enderle at
Enderle Group, San Jose, Calif., a tech industry research fim, dubbed
CA as "the Enron of the software world … they aren't out of the woods
yet. If the goal of the name change is to distance themselves from the
mistakes of the past, clearly this won't do it because everyone's been
calling 'em CA forever."
Enderle said CA has
long been known as a company that acquired other companies and "raped"
them. The firm had such a negative reputation that people refused to
buy CA products, he asserted.
Based in Islandia,
N.Y., CA also is conducting an internal campaign targeting its 15,000
employees. Workers will be greeted this week with brochures, pins, hats
and a call to be "brand officers." CA wants to boost the morale of
employees and make the company a place where people are proud to work.
"This is the most
extensive employee communication I've ever seen," said Terry Peigh,
svp/media director at Interpublic Group, which--via a team of agencies
led by Draft, New York--gained the account in December 2004.
CA spent $47 million on measured media last year, per TNS, but just $4 million January-August 2005.
PHOTO (COLOR): Plane talk: New ads include open letter from CEO Swainson.
~~~~~~~~ By Diane Anderson
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