18th September 2007
FITCH COMPLETES “KAZKOM” RETAIL BRAND PROJECT FOR THE LARGEST BANK IN KAZAKHSTAN
In the summer of 2007 Fitch has completed a major retail project for KazKommertzbank – creating a new brand KAZKOM for its retail operations. KazKommertzbank was founded in 1990 and since then has grown to become a leader in Kazakhstan’s corporate banking. The launch of the new KAZKOM brand is a reflection of the new business strategy of the bank. It aims to bring together all retail products and services for individual customers and for small/medium enterprises. According to Andrei Timchenko, the Managing Director of KazKommertzbank, “The launch of KAZKOM brand symbolises the new attitude of Kazkommertzbank towards its clients. The bank aims to become more available, convenient, easy and emotionally attractive. We are used to being the best corporate bank, most reliable, strongest and biggest. Now we aim to become one of the best retail banks in Kazakhstan using our experience in the corporate sector and the trust of our Kazakh and foreign investors”.
The cooperation between KazKommertzbank and Fitch continued for a year, and during this time Fitch has developed brand strategy, new visual identity, visual language and applications for the KAZKOM brand. Fitch also consulted KazKommertzbank on its KAZKOM advertising and internal communications’ materials. An important role of Fitch during this project was to provide recommendations on how to improve interiors of the KAZKOM retail branches and align them with the new KAZKOM brand strategy and visual identity.
The ‘KazKom’ name came as a recommendation from Fitch to KazKommertzbank. During the initial stages of the project, Fitch discovered that many consumers prefer a shorter version of KazKommertzbank’s name. Fitch helped KazKommertzbank conduct additional consumer research and in the end, the decision was made to change the retail bank’s name to ‘KazKom’.
The key brand values Fitch wanted to express in the new visual identity were optimism, openness, freedom, friendliness and Kazakh origins. Fitch wanted to create a fresher and friendlier image for KAZKOM. The shades of orange and images of people looking up to the sun were added to help express these ideas. The new visual language was to underline the national identity of KAZKOM – the key element in the new visual language is the circle –a beautiful symbol, easily recognised by the people of Kazakhstan. A friendly and optimistic colour palette imitates the feeling of positive change that is happening in both Kazakhstan and KazKommerzbank.
During the initial brand audit in Kazakhstan, Fitch discovered that most branches of other Kazakh retail banks have quite a formal atmosphere inside. Fitch wanted to create a different atmosphere for KAZKOM retail branches – more of a friendly home that customers enjoy coming back to. To help achieve this task Fitch created more relaxed waiting areas including improvements to existing bespoke furniture, for example, by designing round tables where a customer and a bank consultant can have a better dialogue and work together. All of this helped to create a more comfortable atmosphere in KAZKOM branches.
The first results of the new brand launch look very promising for KAZKOM – just a few weeks after the first pilot retail branch was opened, 30% of consumers from the main KazKommertzbank branch shifted to the new “KazKom” branch. Andrey Timchenko, Managing Director of KazKommertzbank says: “Fitch brand consultancy helped us to choose a fresher and more attractive positioning for our retail clients, to form our brand philosophy and brand values”.
For more information, please contact Elena Chuvakhina; Head of Business Development, Russia. T +44 (0)207 479 0543. E elena.chuvakhina@fitch.com