A Brand Book
Commonwealth Bank Australia
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia have a proud history, strong values and iconography, however they didn’t promote their essence in a cohesive, engaging or easy-to-understand way. They had multiple documents that talked about their history, vision, strategy, values, approach to advertising, architecture etc, however none of these documents were synthesised, linked or easy to read.
A brand guide needed to work hand-in-hand (but not duplicate) other documents such as the advertising and briefing guidelines and the customer satisfaction booklet. It needed to drive and inform how they behave and make decisions, to build the mythology of the Commonwealth Bank and become their coveted bible.
The immediate issue to resolve was Group Brand Architecture. A vast amount of work had been undertaken prior to our introduction to the project, but no one had managed to distil the information into a clear and concise map of the group brands and their relationship to each other.
It became apparent that other issues existed in terms of cataloguing brands, as some where not listed under the most appropriate category. We also discovered a number of brands that lived in a previously unrecognized category of ‘migrating brands’, which needed to be acknowledged so they could be managed as such.
Using our proprietary process The Brand Solar System, we were able to gain quick approval of the relationship to each other of every type of brand contained in the Commonwealth Bank Groups brand portfolio.
The creation of a Brand Bible could begin and we followed a simple path, our processes always accommodating the nuances of different clients, but never anything other than clear and concise.
The work culminated in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s first brand bible. 92 pages of information delivered in a beautifully designed Brand Guidelines document, with a simple language and format that anyone can understand.
The book contains a healthy amount of illustration and photography, which combined with the easily accessible text makes our brand guidelines document something that is understood, enjoyed and therefore used.
