Decades ago, we pioneered Disruption® as a business transformation methodology. To us, Disruption® has never been a catchphrase or trend. It’s a mindset. A behavior. We don’t dabble in it. We embody it, day in and day out. It’s how we’ve created some of the world’s most iconic brands and work.

Disruption® asks us to avoid the boring, the mundane, and the ruts. To break conventions, fight the unexpected, and return the status quo to the sender. As with most things, what was once fresh and exciting can become tired, leaving us with a desire for novelty, for change. It’s time to evolve. It’s time for a refresh.

In recent years, we have shifted our offering. We are no longer just an advertising agency, but a total brand experience company. As we evolve, our identity must evolve alongside it.

We believe in staying ahead of the curve and pushing the boundaries of creativity, that’s why we’ve created a design system that utilizes forward-thinking technology in practical ways.

We developed The Disruption® Font: a powerful online tool that allows real-time customization of TBWA Grotesk. With its smart and intuitive design, users can select from an expansive selection of filters, weights, and sizes to create disruptive, unique, and eye-catching text.

We also incorporated MidJourney into our design system toolbox. The use of AI-generated visual assets allows us to always stay fresh and up-to-date, reflecting the latest trends in the design world. Our AI-powered design system not only guarantees a consistent look and feel for our brand but also provides us with the opportunity to continuously evolve and adapt.

As the TBWA Collective, we see Disruption® as an act of creation, not of destruction. As an antidote to incrementalism. It is central to our culture, and the way we operate. Applying our Disruption methodologies to ourselves to transform our business, and in turn, evolve our visual identity speaks to the tenets of Disruption and our value “We are always in beta.”

Our redesigned visual identity unites our Collective through a shared visual language grounded by core visual identities while allowing the freedom and flexibility for unique expressions of the cities and the people that make up TBWA.

TBWA’s updated global design system was announced to the 11,000+ employees in our Collective, which spans over 80 countries around the world. We developed https://branding.tbwa.com/, where all branding elements were available. Offices updated all their collateral to the new branding in the Spring of 2023 and the custom font was pushed to computers across the network in a system update.

The website houses the following elements:

Brand Guidebook, which includes instructions on how to use MidJourney and do’s and don’ts

Fonts: TBWA Grotesk (Custom Font), Archivo (Google Slides Font), Disruption Font Generator

Colors: TBWA Color Palette, Presets for Adobe Suite

Logos: TBWA Logos & Brandmaark, Disruption Icons

Presentation Templates: PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides

Case Study Templates: PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides

Marketing Materials, Global Creds, Global Creds (Google Slides), Email Signatures, Social Assets, Post templates

Print Materials: Letterhead, Business cards

3D Icons: 3D Asset Library

Visual Identity: ID Video

Our new design system signals our business transformation from an advertising agency to a total brand experience company and unites the 11,000+ employees across more than 80 countries in our Collective through core visual equities.

Each office and member of our Collective is also represented through our 3D illustrations that celebrate diversity – through unique and iconic cultural representations of cities in our Collective, as well as diverse skin tones, body types, gender expression, abilities, ages, and more.

Our business and visual identity system evolutions evidence that Disruption® is not just lip service, but how we approach internal and external initiatives. The good work we do has to start with ourselves first so we can meet the market with a strong position and offering.