METRO AG is a German wholesale company headquartered in Düsseldorf, founded in 1964. The company’s visual identity centers on a typographic wordmark set within a blue rectangle, with the brand name rendered in yellow. This basic composition has been a consistent element of the METRO brand across its corporate history.
Design and History
The METRO brand was founded in 1964, and its logo has undergone several iterations since then. Between 1964 and 2011, the logo featured dark yellow lettering on a blue background; in 2011, the logo was lightened in color. [1]
A significant corporate change occurred in 2016 when Metro Group AG refocused on its wholesale business. The new corporate logo adopted the wordmark of the Cash & Carry subsidiary, accompanied by the slogan “Zum Handeln geschaffen” (Made for Trade). [2] After the demerger of the group into two entities in July 2017, the wholesale business continued under the name METRO AG with a new logo and corporate identity. [3]
In 2018, Serviceplan Campaign Hamburg developed a new global brand campaign and brand identity for METRO Wholesale, built around the claim “Your Success is our Business.” The new identity was rolled out across all countries where METRO operates. [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The current METRO brand logo is described as a blue rectangle with the brand name in yellow. [5] The 2018 brand identity introduced the “Angle of Success,” a recurring triangular graphic element with a 16-degree slant. This angle is derived from the logo itself: it is created by drawing a diagonal line from the bottom left to the top right corner of the blue rectangle. The angle serves as a unifying design element across METRO’s communication materials and represents shared growth. [5]
Typography and Design
As part of the 2018 corporate design developed by Serviceplan Campaign Hamburg, the type foundry Cape Arcona was commissioned to design a corporate font for METRO Wholesale. The resulting typeface, CA Metro, was based on the CA Cula font and functions as both a display and text font across posters, price labels, point of sale materials, brochures and the website. In keeping with the “Angle of Success” concept, stroke endings in the CA Metro typeface are designed at a 16-degree angle to support the corporate design. [6]
In October 2024, METRO introduced a new tagline, “Enabling Moments,” which was described as rounding off the existing brand identity rather than replacing it. [7]
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