Branding banks - austerity and the rise of the banking startup

With this lack of consumer confidence in mind I was interested to see two fairly recent re-brands from a couple of well known banking institutions that have generated some noise in the design community. These rebrands, or brand updates, have also made me take a look at the visual identity of some of the newer banking services that have cropped up recently. In particular those startups that are disrupting the high street bank model and exploiting the dissatisfaction the public has with the familiar high street names. I was interested to know how these new banking startups were presenting themselves to the outside world, who they seem to be targeting and how they were differentiating themselves from the familiar high street banks.

The retro banding of NatWest and the Co-op

Firstly, the dinosaurs. Both the Co-operative and NatWest Bank have updated their corporate identity: the Co-operative have delved into their history and re-introduced their iconic logotype from the sixties, while NatWest have updated their logomark taking influence from a single image in an old brand guideline, again from the late sixties. They have also produced supporting graphic collateral for the use in print advertising and in-store displays.

It is not a surprise that the Co-operative wanted to undertake a rebrand. The Co-operative has suffered from their own self-inflicted pains, announcing losses of £2.5bn in 2014 and also suffering the ignominy of having their Chairman Paul Flowers plead guilty to drug charges and pictured in the tabloids half naked with crisps balanced on each nipple. Not the greatest press a financial institution could have.

Brand as archaeology

With this in mind, updating a brand identity using collateral from the past seems a wise move. Going back to a logotype which has an intrinsic nostalgia, from a more (seemingly) innocent time is a logical step. The Co-operative needed to reinvent themselves and show the world they have changed, while attempting to keep some connection with whatever positive attributes the general public still have; time is a great healer and most things take on a rosy hue when removed by a few decades.

The effect this rebrand has is neatly summed up by a user comment on www.thenews.coop:

“That is the Logo I recognise & love - traditional Co-op values”

Of course a logo in itself cannot have values, but the author of this comment has positive associations with the Co-operative which they associate with branding from the past. Re-branding with a whole new visual identity would have been perceived by the public as what it would be; a (relatively) cheap way of attempting to distract and move away from the Co-operative’s problems.

So onto NatWest and their brand update. I am not sure exactly why NatWest have refreshed their brand. They certainly don't have the problems that have plagued the Co-operative. Looking through the various industry blog posts that have cropped up in regards to the rebrand, I found a couple of quotes originating from the design agency responsible: “stand out from its competitors” and “engaging, unique and stands out both online and on the visually ‘noisy’ high street”. So it seems a fair assumption that NatWest wanted to simply freshen up their identity to try to be a little more noticeable and relevant in the market.

When taking a look at the new logomark, the addition of shading to make obvious the three ‘blocks’ that make up the logo seems rather pointless.

The original logomark of three cubes was conceived to illustrate the coming together of the National Provincial Bank, the Westminster Bank and the District Bank, something that has no relevance today, and was probably phased out from the logomark for that exact reason.

Unlike the Co-operative update there is no logic or rational to the NatWest update that I can see. Much of the NatWest supporting visual assets look great, if not a little zeitgeisty. Unfortunately this supporting collateral seems disconnected with the updated logomark. As a whole it’s all a little disjointed. Apart from adding some life to their visual language it’s hard to see what NatWest were aiming for with this brand refresh.

The banking startups

Turning our attention to those pesky disruptors, I took a look some new kids on the block that have been getting a little press: Monzo, Atom Bank and Zero Financial.