Displaying items by tag: Brand

Bangladesh: LafargeHolcim Bangladesh has unveiled new branding for its Holcim Strong Structure cement product. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim presented launching the new packaging to distributors and retailers at a virtual event.

Chief executive officer Rajesh Surana said, "LafargeHolcim Bangladesh always emphasises innovation and customer satisfaction. As a part of this, we are unveiling the new look of our Holcim Strong Structure bag. The new look of the bag is really attractive and reflects our stronger brand image and product differentiation. We are committed to providing the best product, for our customers to build their dream homes.”

LafargeHolcim became Holcim this week with the launch of its new group identity. It also released a manifesto. Corporate names and logos come and go in the swirl of capital but straight up declarations of intent are rarer. Companies in the normally conservative building materials sector don’t tend to do this. This is more the terrain of political movements. So what’s going on?

Figure 1: From a merger of equals to building progress for people and the planet, the LafargeHolcim and Holcim logos.

Looking at the new logo gives us a few clues. The light grey-brown Tetris-style ‘L’ and ‘H’ letters symbolising the ‘merger of equals’ have gone. In its place come two circular symbols that look like they might connect. Together they give the impression of a slanted figure of eight or a lemniscate (infinity symbol). All of this is set to a few shades of blue and green. Could these two symbols be suggesting recycling or the circular economy? Who knows, but hopefully the advertising agency that came up with it was well remunerated. Luckily for us Holcim’s chief executive officer, Jan Jenisch, explained it, “Today marks a milestone for our company in our transformation to become the global leader in innovative and sustainable solutions.”

The manifesto is clearer. Entitled ‘Building progress for people and the planet’ it lays out some of the problems facing the world, such as population growth, urbanisation and climate change mitigation. It then addresses how Holcim is already tackling these issues and how it wants to go further in becoming part of the answer. This is the big vision so it doesn’t trouble itself with the detail on how, for example, the company is going to eliminate process emissions from clinker production on its journey to net zero. This is after all the big pitch to hearts and minds. It also doesn’t stain its fingers with anything suggesting who is going to pay for this grand noble ambition. We’ll have to wait for the next investor’s event to discover how much of this dream washes over into the private equity and pension fund crowd.

In Holcim’s defence, as one of the world’s largest building materials producers, it needs to carve itself a grand vision to occupy within a future preoccupied with climate change. Pretty much everyone in the developed world uses products manufactured by Holcim and its competitors even if they don’t realise it. Yet they are increasingly becoming more aware of the negative issues raised by environmental campaigners. Over in the developing world, adequate housing and infrastructure provision are live political issues for many as economies grow. Threading the needle to tie these trends together is quite the challenge for Holcim and the others. As a public company it serves its shareholders, but, as a multinational wedged in the middle of the climate change debate cascading into global politics, it ultimately answers to everyone. Hence a mission statement or a manifesto makes sense.

Meanwhile, for a glimpse on the Chinese approach to these kinds of problems, China National Building Materials (CNBM) subsidiary China Building Materials Academy (CBMA) signed a knowledge sharing agreement this week with the Canada-based International CCS Knowledge Centre to collaborate on carbon capture technology. The project plans to start with a 155kg CO2/day pilot on an active cement plant kiln. If successful, the study could lead to CNBM rolling it out across its entire cement operations. This would be hugely significant globally and given the scale of the Chinese industrial sector there’s also a reasonable chance it could happen at speed. If this occurred CNBM could leave the politics to its owner, the Chinese government.

Switzerland: Holcim has unveiled its new corporate brand identity as part of the change in group name from LafargeHolcim. The new group logo consists of a white letter H, for Holcim, on a two-tone green and blue backdrop. The group says that the new identity unites its market brands behind its purpose of ‘building progress.’ The change is intended to mark its transformation into a global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions and signify its focus on developing green cities, smart infrastructure and improved standards of living globally.

Chief executive officer Jan Jenisch said, “Our world is changing in many ways, with population growth, urbanisation and the climate challenge. We are determined to play our part to accelerate low-carbon and circular construction so that we build a net-zero future and raise living standards for everyone. Our new group identity sends a signal to the world that we are fully committed to building progress for people and the planet.”

Lafarge and Holcim merged in 2015 becoming LafargeHolcim. LafargeHolcim’s shareholders later voted to change the company’s name to Holcim in May 2021.

Bangladesh: LafargeHolcim Bangladesh has unveiled its Supercrete Portland limestone cement (PLC) bag redesign. The new bag features the tagline ‘Top quality, proper construction’ in Bengali. The Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim subsidiary produces the cement with limestone from Meghalaya, India. It says that its product is the only PLC on the Bangladeshi market.

India: A high court has ruled that all cement producers have the right to use common words on their cement bags, even where those words are trademarked by another producer. The Times of India newspaper has reported that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has until mid-July 2021 to respond to the ruling. JK Cement previously launched the legal action against the BIS’s blanket ban on trademarked words including ‘super,’ ‘strong,’ 'damp-proof,' 'corrosion-proof' and 'weather shield.'

India: JK Lakshmi Cement has launched an advertising campaign called ‘Show Strength.’ The campaign draws attention to the strength of the company’s cements while encouraging Indians to rely on the strength of their own effort and expertise to overcome the negativity holding the country back, according to Exchange4media. The advertising agency involved with the promotion said, “Show Strength captures the brand’s values, leadership stance and social intent. We are hoping to bring in desired results for the company through this campaign.”

Mexico: Shareholders of the former Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua have approved a name change at an exceptional general meeting. The company will now trade as GCC.

Chief financial officer Luis Arias said, "We changed the name to GCC to better reflect our 2025 vision: to be the best cement company in North America with the proper balance of people, profit and the planet. It unifies our brand in multiple countries, mirrors the stock ticker and reflects how the market best knows us." He continued, "I wish to thank our shareholders for supporting and approving our new corporate name; we are now an organisation with a new name and renewed vision."

Bangladesh: Cricketer and Bangladesh national team captain Tamim Iqbal has secured a brand ambassador contract with Seven Rings Cement. United News of Bangladesh has reported that the parties signed the contract at a ceremony at which director and chief executive officer Raihan Ahmed and chief financial officer and company secretary Kausar Alam were in attendance.

Iqbal said, “I am very proud to be associated with Seven Rings Cement, which is the only cement company that has three cement plants in three different places in Bangladesh."

Turkey: The Turkish Cement Manufacturers’ Association (TÇMB) has announced that it will be continuing its work under the new name of TürkÇimento.

Chair Tamer Saka said “We've witnessed enormous changes in managerial, social and economic areas for a while, like all the countries of the world. In this environment of transformation and uncertainty, which is even more complicated with the pandemic in which institutions like us have a great responsibility to direct the future. The most important aim of our association is to carry our sector, which is the most important player of the Turkish economy, forward with the experiences of our institution. We will achieve this as a sector with social sensitivity which generates added value, maintains corporate confidence, invests in humans and pioneers in digitalisation, technology and innovation." He added "We are embarking on a new vision journey to bring our industry to the forefront with its pioneering, socially sensitive, sustainable and innovative activities and practices and to raise awareness among stakeholders of all our activities as a pioneer for more and better.”

The organisation represents the interests of 66 plants in the country.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has partnered with mixed-martial arts organization ONE Championship and its heavyweight world champion, Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera, for a marketing campaign. The ‘Built to Excel’ campaign will feature Vera highlighting the similarities of his path to being a champion with Holcim Philippines’ journey in establishing itself as, ‘the leading building solutions provider in the country.’ The campaign will highlight Holcim Excel, the company’s general purpose cement brand which is set to celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2021. Holcim will primarily use social media for the campaign and produce materials for its trade partners nationwide.

Filipino-American Vera won the inaugural ONE Heavyweight World Championship in December 2015 and has held the title ever since.