!?: We find Pearson’s new logo—a capital “P” made up of an exclamation mark and question mark—to be quite fitting after a momentous 2015. Its sale of PowerSchool, The Financial Times and stake in The Economist Group, all profitable businesses, took us by surprise and left plenty of questions where the world’s biggest publisher was going. (The marketing video describes the new branding as “vibrant and practical, modern yet classic….and seriously good fun.”)
In his 2016 look-ahead, chief executive John Fallon called upon the public to “hold us accountable for our actions and our impact.” It also promised efficacy audits of its products starting in 2018. He also had this to add:
Some question whether a sense of social purpose and a profit motive can go hand in hand. At Pearson, they always go hand in hand because the profit we make is the by-product of making a useful and meaningful addition to society.
By the profit measure, 2015 was rough; Pearson stocks on both the New York and London exchange tumbled after the publisher issued profit warnings. Fallon surely has plenty of work cut out.
