MetLife Says Goodbye to Snoopy

Today, MetLife debuted a new brand identify, including a revamped logo and tagline, marking the most extensive visual change the brand has undergone in over 30 years. The move comes more than a year after the life insurance company launched a review of its creative account in March 2015 and appointed Argonaut to handle the account last September. 

"We decided to transform the MetLife brand because our company is undergoing a pretty significant transformation," said Richard Hong, SVP of global brand and marketing at MetLife. "We are changing the very way we do business. We're becoming more focused on the types of customers we serve, and the brand has to reflect that. Moving forward the MetLife brand is going to be viewed in a much more modern, consumer-facing and purposeful lens to match where the company is going."

Long synonymous with Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, the company will phase out the use of those comics characters. A blue and green stylized "M" will now serve as the logo, alongside a multichannel visual identity and a new tagline: "Navigating life together."

The new look was created by agency and brand consultancy Prophet, which was heavily involved in helping MetLife redefine its overall brand strategy late last year, a move that helped trigger the decision to rebrand. It also gave the agency a leg up in the ensuing pitch process. "We had a very in-depth knowledge of the desired personality of the brand," said Craig Stout, associate partner and creative director at Prophet. "We created a symbol that could tell that story – two pieces coming together creating a new monogram."

But the logo is just the central cog in an all-encompassing "design system" that also includes a new color palette and strategies for typography, photography and illustration, said Howard Pyle, SVP for customer experience and design at MetLife. "The logo changing is a very, very big deal for us, but this idea of backing it up with a design system is the real hard work that we’re going to be doing over the next several years." 

The new branding will roll out throughout 2017, with print ads launching Oct. 21 and TV spots debuting in December. MetLife will also run ads in Mexico, Korea and Japan.