MBANK – THE FUTURE OF BANK BRANDING

The project was recognised with a gold medal in the Transform 2014 competition in London under the “Best corporate rebrand following a merger or acquisition” category.

BASELINE SITUATION

BRE Bank, BRE Private, Multibank, mBank used to be 4 independent, specialised banks constituting part of a single bank group, the BRE Group – the third largest bank group on the Polish market. BRE was a typical corporate bank, BRE Private operated as a wealth management division, Multibank was aimed at affluent customers while mBank was a typical on-line bank. mBank (according to the Brand Z methodology) was the strongest Polish brand. It was a love brand adored for challenging the financial market status quo.

THE CHALLENGE

To transform an ineffective multi-brand architecture of the BRE brand (house of brands) into a universal bank that uses the brand name and the brand equity potential of mBank (branded house). To make a single modern universal bank with varied personality adjusted to different segments out of 4 differing, specialised banks with great reputation. To design an identification system that will embody the innovativeness of the bank and its product range. To retain the iconic character and personality of mbank and at the same time entirely change its profile and coverage.

SOLUTION

We grasped mBank’s essence expressed with a colourful flower and translated it into an innovative, colourful identification system (barcode) reflecting the new bank vision (a perfect scanner of varied financial needs of different groups and microsegments). We mixed (1) a striped template of a folk costume from the Łódź region with (2) a barcode as a symbolic scanner of the financial needs of Poles and (3) a ribbon that represents BRE Group’s positioning slogan: “our people make the difference”. We abandoned the concept of a single logo expressing the domination of a financial dictator for a multitude of logotypes-pictograms presenting how the bank adjusts each time to individual situations and needs of its customers.