ETS Debuts Bold Global Rebrand Expanding Focus on Enabling Future Readiness

ETS, a global education and talent solutions organisation that enables lifelong learners to be future ready, announced its global rebrand. The 75-year-old company is reasserting its commitment to advancing the science of measurement to build the benchmarks for fair and valid skill assessment to power human progress. The organisation is driving impact by promoting skill proficiency, empowering upward mobility and unlocking more opportunities for everyone, everywhere.

ETS, which is best known for being the world’s largest private educational measurement, research and assessment organisation, is leveraging its new look, feel and platform to tell a story that spans not only traditional education but workforce and beyond. The organisation has long operated in a category that has undergone significant transformation in the last several years. In response, ETS is itself undergoing a business transformation, redefining a new category, expanding globally and widening their view to meet the organisation’s mission in new and different ways.

“For me, brand transformation is business transformation,” said Michelle Froah, global chief marketing and innovation officer at ETS. “Our goal from the outset has been to build a brand that not only reflects our business transformation, but also propels it forward. With our brand relaunch, we’re not only supporting what people know and can do, but reintroducing what ETS knows it can do for businesses, governments and learners across the globe as the leader for education and talent solutions.”

Code and Theory was brought on to tell ETS's story. It unified all ETS offerings under the single brand narrative across visual, verbal and digital expression. The new brand aligns with the company's vision and social impact mandate, reinforcing its commitment to shaping the future of education and work. The relaunch encompasses a new brand, brand architecture, design system, and development of a new website experience.

The refreshed logo comprises a new symbol - ‘The Source’ - along with a new wordmark. ‘The Source’ includes a stylised asterisk shape with an upward diagonal slice pushing through it. The asterisk shape is a nod to the symbol that is typically associated with notation of footnotes. It was carefully selected to symbolise that ETS is elevating its ground breaking research from out of the footnotes in this new rebrand as the source that builds new benchmarks for education and talent solutions across the globe. The upward diagonal slice symbolises human progress, serving as a reminder of what ETS aims to achieve.

"Few clients have had as much disruption and change to navigate as ETS, which has evolved its business to give talent the chance to learn new and better skills in today’s ever-changing world,” said Michael Treff, CEO of Code and Theory. “While always purpose driven, ETS’s new brand transformation cements its mission and clarifies its services for the needs of tomorrow. They are anticipating what’s next and what’s needed to become the industry-leading voice for the new landscape of talent globally."

Code and Theory, head of brand strategy Stacy Tarver Patterson, says, "In a world where traditional education is increasingly falling short of the holistic talent needs to power the economy of the future, ETS is leading the way. They are expanding their services to get closer to the area of impact: future readiness. That's the real purpose of ETS. Getting more businesses involved in this purpose will affect real change. Yes, it's about assessing people, but it's increasingly more about building and amplifying the skills of tomorrow."

At launch, ETS went live with a campaign across digital and print, with The New York Times serving as the epicentre of its media. ETS also included a relaunch of its website to reflect the new brand with improved user experience optimisation, simplified navigation and a keen eye on accessibility, ensuring they met their own strict accessibility standards and guidelines. 

Alongside the rebrand, ETS also launched a ground breaking, inaugural research report on April 16th in collaboration with The Harris Poll called, The Human Progress Report. This annual report unpacks the key factors that impact building prosperous societies across the globe, from the perspectives of more than 17,000 people across 17 countries. The Human Progress Index that was identified as part of the initial study will be the focus of benchmarking in the years to come to measure global attitudes about access to education, upward and social mobility and reskilling and upskilling.