Qudos Bank rebrand
Banking for all life’s destinations
We’ve worked with Qudos Bank as their lead creative agency for some time, rolling out campaigns and communications. At the same time, we were helping to refine their brand, story and voice; working on the roots of their brand. We knew they had great pride in their heritage and cared deeply about their customers — who also happened to be their owners. They’re a customer-owned bank and they’ve never forgotten it. This time, they wanted a refreshed visual identity, and a brand campaign to match.
Where it all began
In 2016, Qantas Credit Union changed its name to Qudos Bank after its membership had grown far beyond Qantas employees, and Qantas wanted to reclaim the use of their name. Their brand was bright, bold, zany and youthful.
With this change, Qudos found new and younger customers, but the loyalty of their original customers had always remained. This left them with a dilemma: which direction to go? The team had a strong sense of what made Qudos ‘Qudos’, but it was getting lost in their bold branding.
So, they approached us to help them create a new visual identity and a brand campaign to roll it out.
The right words to tell a story
Qudos wanted to remain connected to travel, but add an element of lifestyle and freedom to their brand. After all, their products are still connected to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program, and it was a way of appealing to future customers.
We worked on a tone of voice that followed the colour scheme; a little more composed but always assured. We also rewrote their story to distil the past and point to the next chapter.
With the tagline “For all life’s destinations”, they could reach into new spaces while alluding to their beginnings.
Reflecting to go forward
Banks have many stakeholders and it’s a delicate process creating change. Through workshops, we heard the Qudos team’s concerns and found their successes.
When we talked about where their brand was going, we learnt that heritage was still hugely important to them, and we needed to introduce it in a way that looked to the future but never forgot the past.
Less colour, more confidence
Before, Qudos used many colours and combinations in their visual identity. So we decided to strip it back.
By being more consistent, they could be more recognisable. It’s always hard to let go of more visual options, but with a smaller palette, there’s more space to be creative and confident with it. Or as one of their team said: “It makes us look more ‘us’.”.
Awards all round
As proof of how much they care, they recently earned Canstar’s Customer-Owned Bank of the Year and MOZO’s Australia’s Best Large Mutual Bank for 2020. They’re awards that they (and we) are very proud of.
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