2022April 4
The flower remains unchanged, the slogan is completely replaced
The repositioning involved changing the mission and slogan, while the sign was only refined. The prosperity flower symbol was retained and adjusted according to the golden ratio, with the font and color palette updated.
Change component(5)
- Symbol. The prosperity flower is retained, adjusted according to the golden ratio, with sharp corners rounded for harmony with straight lines.
- Color. The old dark green is replaced by fresh green, with a gradient from green to blue.
- Text. A new, more modern font than the old one.
- Slogan. Actions for dreams transformed into For a prosperous Vietnam.
- Mission. Four branches of prosperity are stated: financial, community, physical, and spiritual.
Read at the professional level(4)
- Rounding sharp corners is a decision made instead of the machine. Sharp corners at small sizes either get rounded due to resolution or become jagged. Pre-rounded in the original means you decide that shape, rather than letting each screen decide a different style.
- Color gradients are the most expensive part of the entire set. Gradients cannot be printed in a single color, embroidered, engraved, or hold up well at small sizes. Any set with gradients must include a flat version, as that flat version will be the most used in real life.
- Change the color area, not the hue. Moving from dark green to fresh green steps out of the blue spectrum that most domestic banks use. In terms of differentiation, this is a much bigger decision than simply adjusting the flower shape.
- The most quietly changed font that has the widest impact. It runs across all the bank's text, not just in signage. A font change is like changing the voice of all documents, forms, and screens, much more than what people see in public announcements.
Why change(2)
- The visual aspect is not damaged. What the bank wants to convey has grown beyond the current slogan, so the part that needs to change is the wording, not the visual.
- The new phrase encapsulates the word prosperity that is already present in the legal name, so this is not a borrowed phrase, but rather a reinterpretation of what is already in its name.
Within the brand system(2)
- The new slogan must encompass four branches of prosperity: finance, community, physical, and spiritual. The old phrase spoke about the actions of an individual, while the new one speaks about a nation, so it must be more abstract. That is the price of making a phrase carry four branches.
- The four-branch framework is a place to later attach activities outside the realm of pure finance without rewriting the promise. A wide framework reduces the need for adjustments, but each branch can only be mentioned with exactly one word.
Trade-off(2)
- A light touch on the image means that outsiders hardly notice any changes. This is beneficial because no one has to relearn, but it is also a drawback because the announcement day does not attract attention by itself and must rely heavily on the accompanying campaign.
- The color palette with gradients opens up a modern feel, but it also imposes execution constraints. Every place that prints in a single color, embroiders, engraves, or displays at small sizes needs its own specific guidelines; otherwise, each place will mix its own style.
Professional assessment(4)
- Can be closed. Fix the exact broken parts. The part of the image that is not broken should not be touched, while the text that is cramped should be rewritten. Most businesses do the opposite: when they feel the need to change, they redraw the image, because the image is what is visible and easy to present in meetings.
- Stepping out of the cramped blue zone of the industry is a real differentiating decision, and it can be done without discarding any symbols.
- Still open-ended. A set with gradients requires significantly higher execution discipline, and banks are where signage passes through the hands of many people. Therefore, the flat version is the one that determines how this set performs in real life, and it is not the version that gets publicly announced.
- The new phrase is broad enough that almost any bank can use it. Its strength, therefore, does not lie in the phrase itself, but in whether the bank can do something that competitors cannot say with the same phrase.
Takeaway(1)
- This case clearly separates two layers that businesses often combine into one: the layer for customers to recognize themselves, and the layer to explain what they do for whom. The recognition layer becomes more valuable the older it is. The promise layer has an expiration, and when it expires, it needs to be rewritten, not just redrawn.
Similar case(2)
- Highlands Coffee 2022 In the same year, with a gentle touch on the sign, Highlands simplified to work in all formats, while VPBank adjusted the proportions to support a new statement.
- Petrolimex 2026 Let's choose a narrow bandwidth on the widely covered system, relying on the part that customers are already familiar with.