From Marketing magazine:
Saffron [Brand Consultants] is understood to have beaten rival design agencies Studio Conran and Dragon Rouge to the account. The £600,000* project, led by Daniel Ritterband, director of marketing for the Mayor of London, kicked off in August last year. Promotional bodies such as Visit London and Think London will be rebranded to fit with the new identity. It had been hoped that the new branding would be rolled out in time for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver next month, but it is now expected to launch in the spring.
The chair of Saffron is Wally Olins who previously co-founded Wolff Olins, the company that came up with the 2012 Games logo. Some will be reassured to learn that Olins himself had sold his stake in the company long before that. Mayor Johnson spending £600,000* on an exercise like this might seem profligate, although, galling as it may be, re-branding exercises can pay dividends - if they're any good, that is.
*Update, 16:15 City Hall has been in touch to say that the sum being spent is £500,000, not £600,000.
