"You don't need a lot of experts, just the right ones"

Advertising Week: What are the branding challenges for private banks and what were they specifically at VP Bank?

Chris Steinacker: In our day-to-day consulting work, we see that banks in particular are currently having great difficulty in differentiating themselves from the competition. The task of finding answers to the challenges of digitization has long since reached the executive floors of the leading companies in both industries. And the solutions - "becoming simpler", "becoming faster", "acting in a more customer-oriented way" - have also been identified.

Two central challenges that VP Bank also had to answer were, first, how can we offer our clients these solution approaches in a way that is typical for us, relevant to our clients and differentiates us from the competition? Secondly, how can we ensure that the entire organization - and not just the Brand Management department - introduces measures to ensure differentiation at the performance level as well? Our answer to these questions is clear: with a unique and inspiring positioning that leverages what has made the company successful in the past to face the challenges of the future together. Once you have found this specific identity, the "reason & way of doing things" and stand by it, you are well positioned for the future.

Felipe Gomez de Luis: The challenge for us is that we serve both private and intermediary customers. There are worlds in between, in fact you would have to have two companies for that, because the way of communicating is fundamentally different. While intermediary customers value speed, efficiency and low costs, private customers need extensive advice in order to be able to develop trust. So the challenge is to create a brand that appeals to both sets of customers and meets the needs of both. This is our specific situation, which of course also played a central role in the brand refresh.

Dominik Streich: Another challenge is certainly that in a private bank there are very few contact points where you come into contact with customers. But these should not appear stiff and uniform, yet follow a clear idea. So our approach to a boutique bank helped us move away from: "All walls must have the same color in every branch and the reception should be equipped with the logo and the same furniture according to the CI, to a freer CI approach. One that allows each branch to be designed as the space, culture and corporate goals of the particular location demand." So not a standard Hilton, but a boutique hotel.

VP Bank is not only active in Vaduz and Zurich, but also operates branches outside of Europe. What influence did the various locations have on the refresh?

Chris Steinacker: VP Bank is anchored in Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore, Russia and Hong Kong. The locations are much more than simple branch offices. They speak a common language, but with a regional accent. In developing the positioning, the respective country managers were asked in workshops to work out the specific requirements and challenges in their markets, so that we could define answers for them from within the brand. We then paid special attention to the cultural difference between the European and the very important Asian region by bringing in an expert as an advisor to ensure that everything we developed would also resonate in this important market.

Dominik Streich: The external consultant from Singapore was very valuable to us because he was able to provide very differentiated information on the individual countries. With his experience as a former Head of Marketing at top international banks, he was able to provide us with the relevant insights. We like to talk about "Asia", but the differences from country to country are of course enormous. His knowledge also influenced our design.

Felipe Gomez de Luis: In addition to the intensive examination of Asia, we were also on site in Luxembourg to work on the brand strategy together with the employees based there. Together with them, we sharpened the success drivers of the VP Bank brand specifically for their needs and adapted them to their market.

Where did you start with the brand refresh?

Felipe Gomez de Luis: As mentioned at the outset, the goal was to make the VP Bank brand "fit" for a successful present and future. The visual brand presence is the first measure that becomes visible to clients, but there are a lot of other measures that bring the company noticeably closer to its customers. We knew that we had to work visually on the brand to make it tangible for the digital channels. But at the same time, we took the opportunity to sharpen the strategic brand positioning that was already in place.

Chris Steinacker: It is very important in a brand refresh to find answers to the challenges of modernity and not to lose sight of one's tradition. After all, what you have done in the past and how you have done it has often made you successful for a long time. The first step to solving this apparent dilemma is not to see tradition and modernity as contradictions. On the contrary, facing up to the challenges of modernity is a tradition in all companies that are successful in the long term.

Dominik Streich: In the design, we introduced a simplicity in the color scheme and illustrations through the guiding idea of "Clarity": away from the bronze-colored-dark blue-heavy, towards more light blue, more lightness and freshness. The combinability of imagery and illustration style was another important point. Until then, the illustrations were lifted up as if on a pedestal by the very reduced black-and-white photography style. Now we have chosen a very illustrative photography style that corresponds with the illustrations. We focus on a statement, convince through clarity and reduced formal language.

You talked about boutique character. What exactly did you mean by that?

Dominik Streich: Bringing out the "sense of place", the individuality of each location, was a central element of our concept. Just like a boutique hotel. There, the vase in the right corner plays a role, even how and which flowers are arranged in it. Or which coffee is served how. Details that may be small and subtle, but as a whole make all the difference. Especially in a private bank. We have developed a visual world for each location that, taken as a whole, creates a clear picture and demonstrates a clear attitude to excellence.

Chris Steinacker: Today, it is no longer a question of defining every touchpoint in detail in a guideline - that is not in keeping with the times. What is needed is a living, interpretable system that can be used to convey a feeling. Hence the combination of strategic sharpening, performance sharpening and visual refresh. The feeling conveyed by the visual appearance should not be any different from that during a consultation.

Felipe Gomez de Luis: We deliberately made only minor adjustments, but we did so very thoughtfully, as we did with the Tone of Voice for VP Bank. "You don't need many experts, just the right ones." We have deliberately kept the language simple and avoided technical terms. This expresses our attitude better. It comes across as clearer, more positive and comes across as a universally accepted truth. This tone goes well with the image. Both convey clear lines, good thoughts, natural competence. This gives us a noticeable freshness and modernity.

The brand refresh is a co-creation between the VP Bank branding team and Hotz Brand Consultants. How did the collaboration work?

Dominik Streich: I think it's no longer appropriate for an agency to serve up a ready-made refresh to a well-established in-house design team, to prescribe everything and to think that we know everything better, what's good and right for them. Of course, we bring our competencies and services to such a collaboration, and so does our client. That's why co-creation is so important, because it's simply a win-win situation.

Felipe Gomez de Luis: At VP Bank, we have our own branding department with the competencies of a full-service agency. Until now, we were used to doing everything ourselves. During the agency evaluation, we therefore focused particularly on which of the selected agencies was willing to engage in a constructive game of ping-pong. Hotz has always lived the co-creation approach, so we had a good feeling right from the start, which has been confirmed in the eight months of collaboration.

To communicate the brand refresh, a brand experience party was held for the employees. How do you imagine this?

Felipe Gomez de Luis: We didn't tell the employees what was coming and let the party kick off first like the semi-annual number presentations. We wanted to create an experience that would stick. The concept: a fair. After the presentation, employees could experience the brand messages at various experiential booths. For example, at a race simulator that had to be operated by two people. The driver was given a blindfold and was guided through the track by his teammate via headset. At the beginning, the teams were still struggling and first had to develop a strategy for working together, but as a result the driving style became better and better and more fluid. The brand message, clearly, right? "You don't give trust, trust grows". Or a virtual reality station linked to the message, "Let's reach the horizon, let's keep doing it." Or a facial expression quiz that is all about understanding customers and knowing what they really need, because nothing is as personal as the care they receive. It is imperative that employees know the brand messages in order to act as brand ambassadors, because they embody the essential part of the brand. The event definitely created an atmosphere of moving forward and prepared the employees for the future and its challenges. (Interview: Nora Dämpfle)