A household name nobody knows
I just heard ADM’s new tag line this morning in an NPR ad. I don’t think it’s bad marcomm per se. The problem is that this is ADM’s third tag line in as many years.
The company used to call itself “Supermarket to the World.” This slogan is presumably what gave rise to the domain name admworld.com. They introduced “The Nature of What’s to Come” in early 2001, according to PR Watch. An advertising campaign just begun in November unveiled the new tag line, “Resourceful by Nature.”
Rebranding may be a B-school recipe for curing a company’s public image ailments and is a typical first project for new management. But it gives me the sense that this is an organization that doesn’t know who it is.
Happily, I work for an organization with a firm grasp of its identity and an understanding of what makes us the best at what we do. Over our monthly lunch with management, employees will be talking today about the direction the company will take in the next few years. Pat sent us a preview this morning, and it looks well thought out. 
