Switzerland's largest bank drops a global marketing initiative that ties in with its ambitious growth plans. Rather unsurprisingly, Credit Suisse's name is a big no-show, finews.asia learns.
In April, just a month after Credit Suisse's rescue was announced and well before the takeover was finalized, UBS started to think about the future image of the new, combined bank. The results of that exercise came into full view on Tuesday during the bank's worldwide launch of its new brand campaign.
In the Double Digits
It is the first major initiative of John McDonald, who joined UBS a year ago as group chief marketing officer. It will also be the bank's largest campaign since 2015's «Life's Questions» under McDonald's predecessor, Johan Jervøe.
McDonald, who has managed campaigns for the two card giants Mastercard and American Express, told finews.asia that this initiative represents one of the most substantial brand investments that UBS has made in recent history. The bank will not disclose the exact costs but they are likely to be tens of millions of dollars, with French media group Publicis Group and brand consulting firm Prophet both helping with the large-scale project from their Zurich and international office locations.
(Image: Linkedin)
«Banking is our craft»
While the previous campaign emphasized the so-called «soft» or intangible aspects of banking, MacDonald is taking the opposite approach by focusing on the concrete, namely craftsmanship. «Banking is our craft» is the high-level slogan that will now be applied to all of UBS's main business activities (as examples, «Managing Wealth is our craft» or «Investing is our craft»).
The campaign is intended to be highly modular and adaptable for use across all media and social media channels. It is intended to keep changing as long as necessary based on how it develops and grows.
Implicit Swissness
One important thing that McDonald doesn't want to touch is the existing UBS logo with the keys. «Marketing experts often make the mistake of overturning well-established brands for the sake of renewal,» he warns. For him, it is entirely out of the question, as the UBS brand already fully reflects the values of trust and expertise. Instead, it is a matter of broadcasting those values globally. The declared goal is to convey a message that moves existing and future clients and the employees of both UBS and Credit Suisse. The focus on craftsmanship, McDonald says, points to the precision and expertise of the institution's services, as well as to the values that the bank associates with itself, including trust – and passion.
Even though the campaign will not be running in its home country at launch, the quality of «Swissness» will still be alluded to implicitly. UBS still wants to use the country's longstanding reputation to score points with its international clientele although there won't be any of the more customary, and explicit, images of mountains and Swiss flags in it. Credit Suisse visuals or advertising messages will also not be part of the current effort. «The campaign is intended to make the UBS brand even better known to a global clientele and to support the global growth of the combined bank», McDonald explains.
Asia in February
The campaign will start in the US and UK, followed by Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico, as well as the Middle East. Then, in tandem with the Asian Lunar New Year in February, it will launch in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan – followed by Australia later in the year.
Switzerland will remain on a different track as the integration of Credit Suisse's business is still underway. Given that, the current campaign using the «A bank like Switzerland» catchphrase will continue, with both the local and international campaigns seen complementing one another.
