everything explained above.

The strategy became the idea. “Time to talk about money” today is both the brand’s new claim and its longterm communication platform, activated with hero campaigns and always-on both on brand level and for communicating the offering. With a never-done-before act of transparency, the price the bank paid for thousands of different billboards became their individual message. With films focusing on cultural insights (such as dealing with joint bills in restaurants etc.) we raised awareness for the new brand and its mission. Online content is becoming a platform for everyday life topics all about money. Opinion leaders become the ambassadors for our campaign by talking about money-related topics in the context of their communities. Reacting to news within hours, the brand’s perspective is manifesting in unexpected contexts.

Conventionally, banks are driven only by the most boring marketing question: “What are the customer’s needs?” That’s why banks end up with campaigns looking one like another. Obviously, this couldn’t be our approach. In contrast, we pitched the client by transforming their challenge into our strategic plan: If nobody is waiting for you, do what nobody is waiting for.

Switzerland is the land of money with the most money-driven society. Your banking account is opened before you are born, savings rate are the highest worldwide. As money is so important, it’s a real stigma; In Switzerland, you don’t talk about money. But actually, talking is the starting point for finding solutions; exactly, what a bank should stand for. Based on the above mentioned down-to-earth-culture and the brand’s accessibility for everyone, the brand strategy was about to be built on a clear vision: destigmatize the topic of money by framing it as most natural thing in the world. The strategy “It’s time to talk about money” was introduced to the client on one slide posing one question: How much do you make a month? After some seconds of uncomfortable silence we revealed our plan and the platform was sold.

Taking a clear stance and doing the unexpected paid off. Bank Cler keeps on outperforming the competition in all relevant dimensions. A dramatic raise of brand awareness resulted in already every second Swiss knowing the youngest bank of Switzerland today. It’s perceived to be fresher and more dynamic than any other bank. The communication is beats the market clearly on the dimension “different from other brands”.

Apart from business success (e.g. raise of new assets under management or mortgages issued), the most important success is the brand strategy became the raison d'être for the whole organization. “Let’s talk about money” became corporate mission: As starting point for interviews of mass media with the bank’s CEO, brief for innovation in products & services up to sponsoring initiatives. Bank Cler thanks to the brand strategy became the only Swiss bank with a clear brand positioning people can put in words.