Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) has announced an investment in its brand – recently valued at R4 billion by Brand Finance – to align with its evolved business strategy and a rapidly advancing digital business environment.
“A lot has happened since our last brand refresh in 2006, both in terms of our operating strategy and the business environment in general,” says RMB Chief Executive Officer James Formby.
“The latest investment in our brand reflects these changes, ensuring that the RMB brand remains relevant, modern and distinctive in the broader African market and with our growing client base.”
Watch the evolution here:
The new brand reflects RMB’s over-arching purpose, which is to liberate diverse talent to do good business for a better world.
“Our purpose is the deepest expression of why our brand exists,” says Formby. “We have always had a strong focus on talent, ethics, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit. These factors are reflected in the various building blocks that make up the brand.
“There are numerous touchpoints that shape our brand in the hearts and minds of our employees, clients and society to bring the purpose to life – from the way our people engage with clients, our events, our advertising, our communication and the types of business opportunities we undertake, to the everyday experiences people have with RMB.”
Reinforcing the foundation – Traditional values. Innovative ideas.
RMB’s long-standing tagline Traditional values. Innovative ideas. remains a central part of the current brand iteration, as it perfectly captures the bank’s ongoing operating philosophy and approach to doing business.
“The strong values on which our founders started the business are still relevant today, as is our constant pursuit of innovation in order to ensure success for our clients,” says Formby.
“The brand refresh is symbolic of the confidence that we have in our business. Similar to the way we invest in our infrastructure and people, the brand refresh is a necessary investment in RMB and will be done in a responsible way.”
Formby says RMB will continue to execute on its strategy and set the business up for future success. The refreshed brand will play a role in ensuring this is the case by reflecting a contemporary African brand that is rooted in purpose and shaped by client needs.
Simplifying the lion
The ever-evolving world of technology has also influenced the brand evolution.
“As we design for a digital world, we need to keep things as clean and simple as possible,” says RMB Chief Marketing Officer Alison Badenhorst. “As such we have evolved our logo. The old logo, which shows a standing lion holding a key, has been distilled to an icon of the lion’s head, conveying simplicity, modernity, stature and strength.”
The new logo represents an evolution rather than a revolution, retaining a sense of familiarity and building on the strength of RMB’s brand.
“The RMB lion’s head represents our African heritage, strength, and the pride we take in doing good business,” says Badenhorst. “The subtle use of orange is associated with joy and the African sunshine. Together with the black and white, it makes the brand look more contemporary.”
The new RMB brand will be rolled out in a phased approach starting November 2020.
