The latest Smart Talks meet-up, staged by BT and SmartBill in Bucharest, tackled a topic that always draws a crowd: brands and how they’re built. At Nod Markerspace, in very good company, the discussion focused on what it’s like to be—one way or another—part of the story of strong brands or those just starting out: Sergiu Mircea – Coordinating Director, Marketing & Communication, BT; Ioana Proca – Brand Consultant & Partner, Storience; Adrian Cocan – Manager, Laptaria cu caimac; and Mircea Capatana – Co-founder, SmartBill.

How can a bank have a brand that’s smart and cool? How did Banca Transilvania become the most valuable Romanian banking brand (Brand Finance 2019)? What were the challenges of BT’s rebrandings? Here are the 10 key takeaways shared at the event by our colleague, Sergiu Mircea:

• Over its 25-year history, BT has been through two rebrandings, starting from the original brand.
• The bank’s first logo had a classic concept. A few years later, in 2001, the bank marked a milestone: a major investor, the EBRD, joined the shareholder base, after which a very strong expansion phase began. That led to the first rebranding, in 2003, which delivered a much more modern physical presence through BT’s branches and agencies, and coincided with a new management team—so a new chapter in the bank’s story.
• Just over 2 years ago, we undertook another rebranding at BT. We went to the brand consultant with a few minor shortcomings we felt on the identity side—mainly around visibility—but the consultant came back with proposals for radical changes. If previously our brand identity had a lot of yellow and a stylized shield, the new logo is more colorful. It’s more than a logo; it captures the bank’s essence—its Romanian DNA. That’s a plus, because people feel a certain affinity for local brands, at least in our industry, banking.
• I believe the new logo shifted certain perceptions of the Banca Transilvania brand, first and foremost regarding modernity across the board. But it’s not enough to have a new brand identity: you have to back it up with a series of business moves, marketing and tactics that take you where you want to go as a company. If you want to associate with the younger generation, for example, you partner with Untold. Previously, the BT brand skewed slightly older, but now we have new opportunities for communication and association.
• The biggest challenge in any rebranding is bringing all stakeholders along, because in one way or another, everyone is part of it and has contributed to its growth. Shareholders, clients and employees may be very attached to the old brand and not feel the same affinity for the new one. They want to—and we want them to—be part of the brand story during a rebrand as well, and some of them need to be part of the process; that’s what we did.
• Design is subjective, and when a new brand identity is involved, everyone will have an opinion.
• Our brand rests on three pillars: the bank’s name, the color palette and the icon—the logo. We look at whether these add value to the brand or drain it.
• Every brand has a brand identity manual with rules for how it’s used. In our view, the manual should evolve periodically. Rules are both armor and constraint: they protect you, but can also stand in the way of flexibility when exceptions are needed. If your marketing team is senior enough, it should have the mandate to decide on exceptions, which can then be incorporated into the brand manual together with the brand consultant.
• For BT, the most expensive part of the recent rebranding was replacing signage across more than 500 branches and agencies. For smaller brands, the costliest item is usually the brand consultant—but my suggestion is not to cut corners here, because it’s essential for brand coherence.
• Brand-building communication vs tactical communication: success depends on the seniority of the team coordinating things—the team the management trusts—and it also depends on brand strength. Tactical communication is, of course, more immediately impactful, but you need both. The stronger the brand, the more room you have for tactical campaigns.

Smart Talks, more than banking:

• It’s a series of meet-ups for entrepreneurs, launched by BT and Smart Bill in March this year. These are open conversations with business owners and specialists in fields closely linked to entrepreneurship.
• Smart Talks also has a community involvement component, through donations made by participants to specific projects and social causes.

Interested in the next Smart Talks meet-up? Keep an eye on BT’s Facebook page or Smart Bill, where we announce these events and also stream them live.

Here’s how Smart Talks has looked so far:

• Smart Talks #3: How to build a brand and why it matters
• Smart Talks #2: Entrepreneurship, for real
• Smart Talks #1: Launch. Stories with and about entrepreneurship