MAFF joins ministries in move to alter image

The Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries & Food (MAFF) is the latest government department to hire a design consultancy to enhance its image, at an estimated cost of 100,000.

MAFF has appointed design agency Tatham Pearce (TP) to review the ministry’s name and its visual identity. This will lead to a launch of the new look, after which TP will instruct staff within MAFF on how best to communicate the values behind the new identity.

The agency has also been briefed to advise the ministry on how to fight negative perceptions of it from the public which have developed through its association with scares like BSE and E.coli.

Design industry sources suggest the cost of such a project is likely to be about 100,000, although the ministry itself says it is not able put a figure on the project.

Last week, the Department of Culture Media & Sport hired CDT Design to a similar brief.

Other appointments include that of Sampson Tyrrell Enterprise, which has been briefed to come up with a brand identity for the Government’s New Deal welfare-to-work programme. “Our job is to help government identify the appeal and translate the strategies into accessible consumer propositions that attract them,” says Sampson Tyrrell.

The COI’s has also been appointed to provide a new logo for the Department of the Environment Transport & Regions.