By Matt Davidson

France has a rich cinematic tradition that rivals Hollywood's in terms of artistic quality, if not global ubiquity. So it was no small job when French media company Pathé (U.S), owner of 280 theatre screens in France and the Netherlands, asked corporate identity specialists Landor Associates (U.S) to give the firm a corporate makeover.

Pathé, which was growing through acquisition and trying to differentiate itself from companies such as Sony and Virgin, charged San Francisco-based Landor with creating a radical new look that would redefine the brand. The goal was to unite the company's fragmented structure internally while projecting a new, confident external voice.

"They knew they had to move from being this restricted, conservative brand to being more dynamic," says Landor's Margaret Youngblood, creative director on the project. "It was time to bring their corporate identity back to a place where people could communicate with it. It was about people having a relationship with it."

Tired and true
Pathé's identity rested on its logo, which featured a stylised rooster on a yellow background with the company name in heavy sans serif type underneath. It was conservative from an identity standpoint, but also hugely visible, appearing in all of the company's

The original logo, while a good mix of flair and solidity, failed to convey the dynamism that Pathé Chairman Jérôme Seydoux wanted for his growing company.

advertising and on signs on Pathé theatres. And that was part of the problem. "When you wanted to run it large on the side of a building, it made it look like a chicken restaurant," Youngblood dryly notes. The new identity would have to include a logo that would work equally well on letterhead and on billboards.

In further researching the brand history, Youngblood and her team found old posters from the era of silent pictures when Pathé manufactured cameras and phonographs. Though dated, these depicted a company with a proud tradition of innovation, independence, and integrity. And always there was the rooster, a symbol not only of Pathé but of France itself. The rooster would have to remain.

As it turned out, the rooster would become more prominent in the company's identity than at any other time. Landor's bold idea was to thrust the brand into the future by giving the bird a starring role in a design that was visually dynamic and outspoken. In the new identity, the rooster became "Charlie," a kind of mascot for the company who proudly proclaims the company name with the use of speech bubbles (one for "Pathé," one for the accompanying exclamation mark).

Charlie (who is named after founder Charles Pathé) appears in various poses and is meant to symbolise the proud history of the company. Though slightly irreverent, Charlie serves as a unifying figure within the company and as a powerful brand "spokesperson" in the public sphere. Landor rounded out the identity with a new orange and black colour scheme, an emphasis on black and white photography, and Franklin Gothic as the typeface. "We decided this was really about speaking loud and clear," Youngblood says.