Creating a future-facing new brand for JDA Software

For over 35 years, JDA Software has provided supply chain management, domain expertise and data science support to the world’s leading manufacturers, retailers and logistics companies. While the brand’s rich legacy was well-known throughout the industry, the company set its sights on a transformative priority for growth: enabling a seamless, AI-driven platform for digital commerce. Enter Lippincott— we were tasked with repositioning, renaming, and refreshing JDA’s visual identity while retaining its long-established reputation with its customers and 5,300+ global associates.

To start our journey, we identified key questions we had to answer in order to guide the creation of a new brand: who is JDA, today and tomorrow, and what is the right name to embody our strategy and grow with it? Answering these required both internal and external input, from leadership interviews and employee surveys, to feedback from customers and prospects.

The insights mined from our research pinpointed clear criteria for the new brand: We had to showcase JDA as a leader in AI/ML, and in both cloud-based and on-premise supply chain solutions. We had to continue to build its reputation as an integrated, end-to-end solutions provider. And we had to make prominent its ability to outpace competitors with its unique scale, expertise, and investment in innovation.

The new name, Blue Yonder, was elevated from an acquired brand that focused on AI in supply chain and retail solutions. It signaled, to the market and employees alike, that the company was championing new frontiers while doubling down as the only end-to-end supply chain brand in the industry. The name carried an aspirational weight, with the promise of possibilities and the clarity of insight.

To support the name, the tagline needed to be both inspiring and clear. “Fulfill your potential,” encompassed the aspirational criteria while speaking to the fulfillment of customer expectations as well as the functional dimension of customer ordering. With its fresh and modern appeal and future-forward sentiment, the new tagline was a perfect complement to enhance and support the new brand positioning.

To visually empower and bring life to the new brand, we created a unique logo that symbolizes the intelligent connections and added value that Blue Yonder brings to its partnerships across industries. The visual system leverages JDA’s existing equity in the color blue, with a streamlined secondary color palette that imbues consistency across all brand touchpoints. The evolved photography and iconography styles are modern, high-impact and functional, showcasing the diverse perspectives of the new company’s offering.

From brief to completion, the partnership of JDA and Lippincott proved that established brands can do more than simply adapt to change; they can lead it.