IBM Consulting

Repositioning and creating brand value for IBM

Expertise

Brand Strategy & Identity, Business Transformation

Executive Summary

How do you unify two competing delivery narratives to create a strategic market differentiator? Client Innovation Centers and Global Delivery Exchange represent IBM Consulting’s delivery capability.

We helped them define a value proposition that repointed that delivery arm, as well as a naming strategy, visual identity, messaging frameworks, physical environment design, and a phased global rollout plan

As a result, FutureNow has established IBM Consulting’s delivery capability as a forward-thinking force. It brings together human intelligence, AI, and technology capability to deliver outcomes with certainty, agility, and precision.

Context

IBM Consulting’s global delivery centers, formerly Client Innovation Centers and Global Delivery Centers, needed to reflect a broader role beyond traditional delivery. As AI, hybrid working, and rapid digital transformation reshaped client expectations, “delivery excellence” had taken on a new meaning.

The challenge went beyond renaming. FutureNow had to become a visible, fully embedded proposition within the brand. This included identity, templates, signage, and center rebranding.

The solution needed to shape employee behaviour and the internal experience. With pilot centers in London and Leicester aiming for a 2026 launch, IBM Consulting needed to rapidly define and launch FutureNow, and turn it from concept into operational reality.

The Opportunity

This repositioning gave IBM Consulting the opportunity to redefine delivery excellence for the modern era. It marked a clear shift from process-led messaging to outcome-driven differentiation. Rather than focusing on how work gets done, the new proposition emphasises the future-focused results and clients receive, and the advice that comes from applied thinking.

However, the challenge was developing coherence. Client Innovation Centers highlighted people and progress, while Global Delivery Exchange focused on scale and connectivity. Although both had strengths, they lacked a unified global narrative.

Our Approach

We structured the engagement through time boxed sprints. This prioritised speed without sacrificing strategic depth.

  • An initial four-week sprint focused on positioning and narrative development across two shortlisted names. It delivered refined positioning statements, core narratives, and messaging pillars aligned to IBM Consulting and its “Value Creator” proposition.
  • A separate sprint focused on experience expression, translating the narrative into tangible design recommendations for physical centers, workspace environments, and employee presentation frameworks.

Throughout the process, collaborative working protocols supported progress. Regular check-ins, stakeholder consultations, and iterative refinement cycles helped maintain momentum.

As the engagement evolved, it expanded beyond naming into comprehensive system design. In doing so, it recognised that sustainable transformation required integration across messaging, identity, environments, behaviour, and activation.

Our Work

The unified proposition and expression – FutureNow – captures IBM Consulting’s commitment to delivering the future with immediacy. Our messaging pillars cover key differentiators like global reach, expert-led execution, integrated delivery, and collaboration.

The FutureNow identity system introduced a visual language was designed to symbolise depth, collaboration, and scalability. It included convergence graphics, colour systems, motion logic, and typographic hierarchies.

A FutureNow Playbook brought positioning, presence, promotion, and place into a single activation guide to establish FutureNow as a delivery system and way of working, not just a visual rebrand, and an initial three-phase rollout, Seed, Signal, Sustain, was designed to run from December 2025 through Q2 2026 to launch the new proposition and identity.

Results

FutureNow unified competing narratives into a coherent, compelling proposition. It repositioned IBM Consulting’s delivery capability as a strategic differentiator rather than an operational function. The Playbook enabled faster global activation with greater consistency. It connected leadership intent to daily delivery across regions.

The initial work defined and realised a repeatable, scalable system. This spanned naming, identity, environments, behaviour, and activation. It ensures IBM Consulting can grow FutureNow globally while sustaining authentic local expression.

This engagement built on a decade-long partnership with IBM Consulting. It included prior employer brand strategy and the Skills2Grow campaign, which re-skilled 13,000 consultants. This institutional trust enabled complex transformation at pace.

 

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During our forty years of doing what we love, we’ve developed brands for The Beatles and the NHS and looked after employees at BP and Heathrow, to name just a few.

When you work with us, our consultants, strategists, writers, designers and project managers become a part of your team.

We create trust and deliver exceptional results, taking your brand to new levels of success.

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