Transforming McGraw Hill Financial into S&P Global

McGraw Hill Financial, a company with a diverse portfolio of financial services and products, sought to reposition itself as a leader in financial reporting, analysis, and insights. The company aimed to distance itself from its legacy identity associated with the textbook publisher, and unify their recently acquired companies under a cohesive brand identity and architecture. This transformation needed to be implemented on a global scale, affecting well-known brands such as Dow Jones, S&P 500, Market Intelligence, Indices, Ratings, and Platts.

Landor was tasked with developing a comprehensive brand architecture, naming strategy, and rebrand for McGraw Hill Financial. The challenge was to create a strong branded house while acknowledging that the McGraw Hill name itself lacked significant equity in the financial sector. Conversely, many of the company's products and acquisitions, such as the S&P 500, carried substantial brand recognition and value.

After careful analysis, Landor identified the S&P 500 as the strongest source of brand equity within the company's portfolio. This insight led to the development of a new overarching brand name: S&P Global. The strategy involved leveraging the existing equity of the S&P name while creating a unified identity for the entire company.

For the subsidiary brands, Landor developed a product-line sub-brand approach. Well-established names like Platts were retained but transformed into consistent word marks. These were integrated into a common identity and naming convention, resulting in entities such as "S&P Global Platts" and "S&P Global Market Intelligence." This approach allowed the company to maintain the value of recognized brands while clearly associating them with the new S&P Global identity.

The rebranding strategy was successfully implemented across the company's global operations. The transformation from McGraw Hill Financial to S&P Global has significantly increased the company's brand awareness in the financial sector. The new brand architecture effectively positioned S&P Global as a unified leader in financial analysis and insights, moving away from its previous association with textbook publishing.

Moreover, the flexible brand architecture has paved the way for future growth, making it easier to integrate new acquisitions under the S&P Global umbrella. This successful rebranding not only enhanced the company's market presence but also created a scalable framework for future expansion and diversification in the financial services industry.