Bank Cler: A new bank for Switzerland

Bank Cler Filiale Broschüren

The launch of Bank Cler challenges the cosseted and self-contented retail banking industry in Switzerland. Scholtysik & Partner developed the strategic positioning, the brand promises and values, the name, the tonality and the design of the new Swiss bank.

With a new name and a clear strategy the former Bank Coop positions itself as a true alternative for private and corporate clients. The new name is telling: Cler is Rhaeto-Romanic and means clear, simple, distinct. Bank Cler will make banking as straightforward and enjoyable as possible. At the same time, Switzerland’s youngest bank stays committed to its social responsibility and cooperative heritage.

A perfect start

As of May 20th, 2017, the new Bank Cler becomes visible, audible and tangible throughout the country. The reopening of the central Zurich branch at Uraniastrasse with its characteristic interior mark the official launch. Concurrently, all 32 branches throughout Switzerland were overhauled and re-open on Monday. The national launch campaign “Time to talk about money” from ad agency Heimat Zürich starts simultaneously in TV, out-of-home, web and print. The new website, e-banking and social channels on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and LinkedIn are launched at the same time.

Branch Urania, Zürich
Branch Urania, Zürich

«Time for a new Bank»

Fabian Sander, Partner at Scholtysik & Partner, summarizes the reorientation: “In the last few years, the Swiss changed their perspective on banks. They missed a fair and decent bank. A bank that sees itself as the lobbyist of its customers. A bank that assumes its social responsibility for Switzerland. At the same time, the omnipresent digital transformation changed clients’ expectations: banking needs to be way more simple and cheaper. We want the option to do everything conveniently online, but without missing the possibility of personal consultation. Exactly this is where Bank Cler sews on. It is the Swiss bank with a social conscience that seriously cares about its clients and uses all opportunities offered by digitization to make their lifes simpler. ”

Striking Challenger-Design

The design of Switzerland’s youngest bank breaks with industry conventions and stands out. In every facet, it underscores the aspiration of the Bank Cler brand: clearer, fresher, more digital. Scholtysik & Partner developed the entire appearance of logo, color, typography, imagery, icons and linguistic tonality as well as brand-typical interface components and animation styles. In close cooperation with our digital partner agency Namics the principles of user experience and web design were developed agile in joint teams.

Digital first

The whole brand design is focused on the ongoing process of digitization of banking. Highest standards of accessibility were taken into consideration when designing brand color and brand writings. An extensive icon set served the UX needs in the web as well as the signaging in reality. Characteristic micro-animations make the interactive experience subtly brand-typical.

More about design

Filiale Urania, Zürich
Filiale Urania, Zürich

Cooperation with selected specialists

As a lead agency, Scholtysik & Partner supported the bank in choosing specialized partners. Among the chosen ones were: advertising agency Heimat Zürich, the PR consultants of Farner Consulting, retail specialists of Mint Architecture, sound experts of the Department of Noise, the digital agency Namics, the fashion designer Lela Scherrer, various IT providers, trademark lawyers and market research institutes.

Close cooperation of bank and branding agency

Mats Bachmann, Head of CEO Office and Project Manager for Bank Cler: “With Scholtysik & Partner we quickly developed an extremely open and direct cooperation. We have repeatedly challenged the agency and they challenged us back resulting in a constant stream of fresh and innovative solutions. The outcome of this close cooperation is setting an example in the Swiss banking landscape and paving the way for retail banking of the future. “