The eponymous BoFA or ‘Bank of America’ corporation is now refreshing
its logo for the very first time in the past 21 years or so.
Their all-new logo now features fresh and clean lines with far
more spacing in-between their usual full capital lettering scheme. Also easily discernable is the now very blue shade
in the 'blue on red' color arrangement. While it is true to say that this logo
has a far more modern look to it, but nevertheless it still does not stray far
away from its original flagship design that is basically an icon of American
corporate culture.
o Why Was This Change So Direly Needed?
In fact, Meredith
Verdone, the chief marketing officer at the bank, is very enthusiastic about
the logo design. She said that the all-new logo is in keeping with a massive marketing
campaign that has been designed to propel the bank onto the very top of the
financial world. As a matter of fact, the
whole campaign effectively centers on one question only: "What would you like the power to do?"
She insists that this question is the result of a lot of
effort and hard work regarding the end customers’ expectations from the bank
and vice versa. It also effectively captures the bank’s highly customer-centric
approach and efforts by tacitly acknowledging all of the customers' many goals
and BofA's key role in achieving these objectives.
The main focus of the logo change, as well as the massive
media and marketing campaign accompanying it, is to show that BoFA is a rapidly
modernizing financial power that is making business simple. And what is more,
it is doing so purely on its own terms too.
o A Change That Was A Long Time in The Making
Verdone claimed that the marketing team of the company spent
well over a year in the development of this massive multi-year and multi-phase
campaign. It was a comprehensive ATL and BTL campaign that kicked off with a series
of prime time tv adverts that debuted late last year and also featured the bank’s
Chief Executive Officer Mr. Brian Moynihan.
The all-new logo is centered around the theme of
‘empowering' people. At least this is the message that the bank's chief
executive officer has given to his target audience. In fact, the entire theme
focuses on asking the audience,
"what would they like the power to do the most?” After all, listening to the customers answer that
question is how it is possible to find out what matters the most to them regularly.
Basically, the theme of the logo convoys
different things to different target audiences. For an established business, it
conveys the power to grow steadily. But
for an entrepreneur who is launching is very own business for the very first
time, it denotes the awesome power of near boundless innovation.
From the personal finance point of view, the logo showcases
to the nuclear family, the raw power to own their very own home. Ultimately, it
is all about fueling the nearly unstoppable drive to accomplish great things,
while simultaneously celebrating all of their myriad individual accomplishments.
o The Leading Luminaries of the Campaign
The marketing campaign centered around the new logo
contained a galaxy of glittering stars from a cross-section of society. Some participants
from outside the finance industry included the following:
o
Matt Damon The star of the Bourne series and
other high octane action movies, who
also happens to be the co-founder of Water.org
o
Tory Burch; not only a well-known fashion
designer but also the founding member of the ‘Tory Burch Foundation.’
o
Then there was Ken Burns, the founder of
Florentine Films, who got an opportunity to wax lyrical about the logo change
as well as BofA's rebranding and marketing efforts in general.
o
Sal Kahn, the founder of the Kahn Academy
o
Marc Morial, the incumbent president and also
the CEO of the (universal) National Urban League; and also
o
Tim Shriver, the current president of the
Special Olympics
However, this was but a part of the main campaign. In fact,
both the revamped logo as well as the accompanying marketing campaign are all part
of an overall strategy that is centered around the bank’s need to reposition
the brand, in the eyes of its target market.
o The Bank of America: Leading The Charge into the 21st Century
Here, the core purpose is to better reflect exactly what a well-known,
revamped, and thoroughly modernized but venerable finance company has to offer to
its clients. Especially in today's fast-changing world of cutting edge technological
innovation.
This is why the whole concept of the logo change and the
marketing campaign responsible for introducing it to the world are not
considered to be standalone efforts by the bank, per se. All the parts of the
campaign, while appearing to be ostensibly independent activities to the
layman, are activities that are intrinsically aligned with each other. Here the
principle of the ‘sum being greater than its component parts’ holds true.
The whole campaign has been themed in the following words, “The Power to Make a Difference.”
While it was unveiled during the main holiday season, but it did highlight many
organizations that have been involved in solving various environmental and also
social issues. Here, Verdone herself described the whole concept as a sort of "holistic
vision" and a road map about where BoFA will be going as a future-oriented
business.
The logo change initially happened at the corporate level only,
with changes in business cards and official letterheads being the sole
beneficiaries of this change. This was during the late 2018 period. But as of
now, in 2019, the effects of the change have seeped all the way down to the
bank’s customer-facing services as well.
o Conclusion
The core benefits of this campaign are now slowly being felt
by everyone. This is because of the fact that the institution's vast customer
base slowly but surely wakes up the fact that the company they ‘bank' on (so to speak) is as much a part of the 21st
sentry as its competition.
Ultimately, this logo change is not merely a
juggling of different alphabets, fonts, and hues, but a telling reminder, that
the company is now ready to roar its way into the 21st century,
right along with its customers.
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