Bank Muscat. Rebrand

Bank Muscat is one of the GCC’s oldest and most iconic financial brands, with a network of 100 branches, it is also one of the largest.

• Brand had experienced recent, significant growth, now it needed an identity to reflect who they were today and the new challenges faced
• Need to convey change of focus – from growth to greater customer satisfaction
• Relevance was being reduced due to existing, ‘old fashioned’ brand design using well-aged visual forms and Islamic pattern making
• How to modernize brand but not dislocate customers or lose its essential nature.

To achieve a clear and engaging migration, the brand team:

• Presented benchmark brand evolution case studies – inside and out of the sector.
• Set a frame work to navigate through potential identity outcomes
• Helped key stakeholders visualize an evolution into a modern financial brand
• Drafted a new slogan supporting ambition to enhance customer satisfaction
• Researched icon cognition with TA (100% recall on black & white icon), built stakeholder confidence to become ‘symbol-only’, set framework for future identity
• Set up a simple dual-language type system using SST Arabic, enabling singular font applications across both languages
• Retained signature red
• Reduced branding element usage within layouts, providing greater space for marketing to attract attention
• Simplified graphic language, from signage system to digital UI.

The Bank Muscat rebrand eventuated a sympathetic brand evolution:

• Core equity is retained, brand belief is enhanced amongst key stakeholders
• Contemporary financial services is conveyed through brand design
• Visual devices echo the brand mark, legacy iconic form is represented thoughout the graphic language and typographic form
• Brand rolled out across over 100 branches and met with incredibly positive reaction.

• Research
• Brand Strategy
• Consultancy
• Graphic Design
• Print Management
• Copywriting

See Bank Muscat’s website here and their social feed here.