UOB marks 80th anniversary with refreshed brand identity

SINGAPORE – United Overseas Bank’s (UOB) has launched a new brand campaign as part of its 80^th anniversary celebrations, centred on its commitment to customers and employees.

Launched today, the campaign is timed to coincide with the first day on which UOB opened its doors at Bonham Building, Raffles Place in 1935, and features a new strapline ‘Right by you’.

Gan Ai Im, head of Brand for the UOB Group said the new brand campaign captures the ethos that has driven the bank’s achievements over the past 80 years.

“It reflects how we will be guided into the future in our decision-making, behaviour and relationships with all our stakeholders – derived from the collective voice of our customers and colleagues,” she said. “At the heart of it all is that while time changes the environment and circumstances, but we will stay true to and uphold our values to do what is right, always.”

The campaign also introduces a refreshed logo, which is a contemporary version of UOB’s red five-bar logo mark along with a new corporate seal, an interpretation of the traditional Chinese seals, as part of the bank’s brand identity.

The brand campaign will first be launched in Singapore and will be rolled out progressively in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China and Hong Kong in 2016.

In response to queries by Campaign Asia-Pacific, Jean Khong, Group Strategic Communications and Customer Advocacy at UOB said that details of on-ground events and activities in conjunction with the bank’s anniversary are expected to be announced over the next few weeks for Singapore.  

Similar activities will be launched in tandem with the brand campaign’s regional rollout.

Khong added that the bank expects the changeover to its new branding across its global network to be complete within the next 12-18 months. The bank did not disclose the investment made into the brand campaign.

To define the positioning for the brand campaign, UOB conducted research, which focused on its customers from Retail to Wholesale Banking across its regional network.

The bank ran an online exchange over nine months to draw insight from a cross-section of its employees ranging from the newly hired to the ones who have been with the company for 40 years.

FutureBrand London led the research and strategy development while the creative execution was produced by advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty with media buys managed by ZenithOptimedia.

Members of the public will be able to read about UOB’s brand campaign here.