There was significantly more behind the scenes. It would be very similar to what PwC just paid for (rebranding from PriceWaterhouseCoopers) [1].
Accenture was a rebrand of Andersen Consulting, the consulting division of Arthur Andersen, the large accountancy. The Big-5 accountancy gave them their entire brand position, so the creation of the Accenture logo involved all of the campaigns for them to emerge, not just the logo or mark. This is also why their ads are in every airport—the brand identify had to be built from scratch. For Accenture, it ended up being exceptional timing, considering the Enron scandal would emerge in a year or so and end up destroying Arthur Andersen.
Most of the accountancies examined spinning out their consulting divisions, similar to Accenture. I wouldn't say the results were as successful as Accenture for those that chose to rebrand. E&Y sold their group to Cap Gemini, becoming Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, and eventually just Capgemini. PwC was going to spin out their division as "Monday", but instead ended up selling the group to IBM (only to eventually restart again). KPMG had BearingPoint, which eventually went bankrupt. Deloitte contemplated rebranding their consulting group as Braxton, but it never happened.
Accenture was a rebrand of Andersen Consulting, the consulting division of Arthur Andersen, the large accountancy. The Big-5 accountancy gave them their entire brand position, so the creation of the Accenture logo involved all of the campaigns for them to emerge, not just the logo or mark. This is also why their ads are in every airport—the brand identify had to be built from scratch. For Accenture, it ended up being exceptional timing, considering the Enron scandal would emerge in a year or so and end up destroying Arthur Andersen.
Most of the accountancies examined spinning out their consulting divisions, similar to Accenture. I wouldn't say the results were as successful as Accenture for those that chose to rebrand. E&Y sold their group to Cap Gemini, becoming Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, and eventually just Capgemini. PwC was going to spin out their division as "Monday", but instead ended up selling the group to IBM (only to eventually restart again). KPMG had BearingPoint, which eventually went bankrupt. Deloitte contemplated rebranding their consulting group as Braxton, but it never happened.
All in all, seems like the $100M was worth it.
[1] http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662367/pwcs-mighty-morphin-logo...