The challenge
Branding is all about telling a story, but sometimes you need to go on a journey of discovery to identify the story before you can tell it. In 2017 we were approached by Swedish bank payment provocateurs Entercash. They needed help in formulating their story, and once found, use it as a foundation to build a totally new brand identity.
Entercash's technology allowed anyone with a European bank account to purchase goods and services from any merchant in 18 European countries, without the need for a third party payment solution. No more redirects. No more Paypal, no more Visa or Mastercard. And payments were instantaneous, so the value proposition was most definitely there. But what was lacking was any engaging brand story. Entercash were a tech solution looking to grow, but needed help finding their way. Our job was to move them away from dull, technical powerpoint presentations to a fully branded marketing platform.
The first thing we did was to hold a number of workshops with their sales and marketing teams, to try to understand what their product actually did. It took a while, but finally a lightbulb went on; the solution was actually brilliantly simple once you understood it.
We needed a brand positioning statement, one that worked for both banks and merchants. And soon we created one: 'The EU's most advanced solution for payment between merchants and consumers.' Now we knew what we were going to say, we needed to start building the brand. We carried out branding workshops with key stakeholders to determine what the company stood for, as well as their ambitions for the next three years.
Graphic identity
We created a whole new brand identity, and then proceeded to roll it out across all customer touchpoints: website, client presentations, marketing material, kyc flows, product demos, infographics, powerpoint templates, email invites; you name it, we designed it. We also carried out photoshoots to show the human faces behind the Entercash offer.
Obviously the website was Entercash's shop window to the world, and we soon started work there. We built a new information architecture to showcase their offer, and to tell the story of their phenomenal progress in getting their direct bank payment technology adopted by almost every major European bank. The Entercash team had already successfully signed up over 4000 European banks to their system. This meant over one hundred million bank account holders could now use Entercash as a payment choice from their online bank.
The website was primarily aimed at merchants, to help them understand the ability of Entercash to seamlessy facilitate instant payments for goods and services to a massive new Europe-wide customer base, but there was also end-user content and an FAQ section.
The fully responsive site contained product demos as well as deep-dives into some important industry verticals, explaining the benefits to end-customers in e-commerce, travel, igaming and digital goods.
Entercash sales tool
Entercash wanted to create a detailed breakdown of current payment trends for each of the 18 countries covered by their network, so we created a simple graphical tool which gave an overview of the potential for growth in each market.
ICE 2018 Trade Show
Entercash asked us to get involved with designing and building their trade show stand for ICE 2018 in London. No problem. We started with 3D modelling the space for optimal use of the square footage available. We needed to make a big impact, so we planned to maximise the vertical space as well. We planned to use mood lighting to stand out from the competition, and we wanted to use bold, simple and iconic shapes for the best effect.
We took a huge cube, which covered the total available floor area, and suspended it at the maximum allowed height in the space. Then we created rooms within the space at ground level. Once the basic shape was finalised, we set about adding the branding elements. We brought in German light artist Elke Harras to create the flowing ambient lights which would add a unique atmosphere to the space.
We wanted the company's logo to be visible from as far away as possible. So we made it big. Very big. Once the design was approved, we sent over the plans to the stand constructors in London. We received regular progress reports, and it all went smoothly and profesionally.
The final result was impressive. It stood out from a mile away, and once final details were in place, like the iconic Barcelona chairs and the glass cube were installed, we had a guaranteed success on our hands.
We must have done something right. In 2019 Entercash are bought out by their biggest competitor!
