The Signal
Usually, the brand has fallen behind the business. The company has added services, moved into new markets or changed how it works, and the brand still describes the company as it was a few years ago.
The first thing we ask is whether your strategy has changed. The answer decides everything that follows.
Refresh or Rebrand
A wrong call here is expensive in both directions. An unnecessary rebrand wipes out the familiarity your customers have with you. A refresh that should have been a rebrand leaves your brand describing the wrong business.
If your strategy hasn't changed, and you're adding products or services that fit the direction you're already on, you need a brand refresh. Think of it as renovating your house: new kitchen, fresh paint, better lighting. Same address, same foundations, and everyone still knows where to find you.
If your strategy has changed, and you're going after a new audience or offering something built around a new way of engaging, you need a rebrand. That is upgrading to a new neighbourhood. You bring what you've learned, and the design represents your values, but you start with a new address and have to tell people where you are.
The First Weeks
We start by listening. A focused conversation, often with your key stakeholders, covers the business, the opportunity, your current environment and what success looks like. We're looking for the root issue, whether that's misaligned operations, a customer journey with obstacles in it, or a brand that says different things in different places.
Then we review what you already have: strategy, brand work, branch formats, operational requirements and existing spaces. You can also choose a focused brand and environment alignment review, which gives you an independent view of where your spaces support your strategy and where they don't. It often becomes the brief for the next stage.
From there we define scope, priorities and stakeholders, and tailor the brief.
What We Insist On
We insist on understanding what's already in place before any design begins. We assess how well your environments support your strategy, find the gaps, and only then design. We also insist that operations sit alongside brand: the service model, the customer journey and the way the business needs to function shape the space as much as the logo does.
And we ensure you can see the result before it's built, with high resolution visuals and immersive previews, so stakeholders far from the room can sign off with confidence.
After 35 years across Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Brazil, we know a brand has to feel at home locally and still hold to an international standard.
In Practice
Access Bank in Nigeria is a good example. The strategy was digital self-service as the main way customers bank, with one team member per branch advising rather than processing transactions, an operational and financial decision. We turned it into a space: instead of counters and teller lines, the branch was planned around customer independence, with open planning, simple customer journeys and digital touchpoints, so it welcomed people new to self-service. Access went on to invest heavily in digital channels and later launched Access Express, a self-service electronic branch format.
Bank of Abyssinia in Ethiopia shows a defensive version. Banking was likely to open to foreign players, so the bank's strategy was to internationalise its look and protect its market share. We planned the interiors and façade treatment across the group, including private bank lounges and ATM lobbies, with new branches rolling out from May 2018.
The Common Mistake
Institutions often treat the strategy as finished once it's written. Most of the organisations we work with already have a defined strategy and brand. What's missing is the translation into a clear design brief for branches and customer touchpoints, so the space supports the behaviours the strategy intends.
The result is often a network that has fallen behind. National Bank of Kenya had one of the country's largest branch networks, but the branches were dated and it was losing market share. The 2013 rebrand and branch redesign signalled a more contemporary bank, and the bank was recognised for its standard of service in 2015.
The other common mistake is treating a merger or rebrand as a new name and logo. The CBA and NIC merger into NCBA worked because the branches physically demonstrated to customers that something new had been created.
Timing & What You Walk Away With
Timing depends on scope, and the proposal sets it out alongside the deliverables, responsibilities and commercial structure. The time frame from initial project start to finish varies from 3 to 15 months, with a rollout application following on after that, heavily dependent on branch numbers and budgets.
- A brand diagnosis or alignment review, which often becomes the brief.
- Brand strategy development, where required.
- A design brief that aligns strategy, operations, customer experience and brand intent.
- Concept and experience development covering spatial response, customer journeys, look and feel and key touchpoints.
- High resolution visuals and immersive previews.
- Technical documentation, a clear guide to every component of the kit-of-parts needed to deliver the operational requirements in a branch.
- Oversight of delivery in appropriate stages and durations.
- Graphics and signage drawings and guidelines.
- Rollout support across multiple locations.