We worked on creating a new brand reflecting NCB’s “Ongoing Potentials”. This included building a customer-centric experience, implementing organizational development, and creating a new visual identity and brand environment.
The financial challenge resulting from the Libyan revolution in 2011 was accompanied by the social demand for better banking services and products. To counter this rising threat, National Commercial Bank made the courageous decision to create a new positioning and value proposition to serve as powerful guiding principles for the entire organization. We at Imagine Group worked with NCB over a two-year period to create a brand that unites the business behind a common idea and a positioning that uniquely complements the Libyan region in which it operates, focusing at the same time on the services the bank offers to its increasingly demanding customers. The idea of establishing an elite and corporate branch materialized in “NCB Class.” The name, brand, logo, and designs we came up with helped target VIP customers and large local and international corporations, offering them a wide range of customizable services.
The strong partnership between NCB and Imagine Group started with an in-depth analysis of customer needs and the definition of a brand positioning for the bank. This exploration of customer perceptions and needs pointed to a required customer-bank relationship based on mutual respect and a transparent experience.
“Ongoing Potentials” was chosen as the bank’s value proposition, signifying financial capabilities, a promise of opening opportunities, a service promise of opening access, and a strong promise of transparency.
Six months before the external launching of “Ongoing Potentials”, we worked with NCB senior management across the business to identify what it would do differently in its divisions to deliver the new brand promise. Exercises and tools were developed to help people understand what the new positioning meant for their day-to-day roles.
This provided the crucial guidance that people needed to ensure that when launched externally, the promise portrayed in communications and new retail environments would be delivered in the customer experience.
A fresh visual identity was designed to signal the important changes in NCB banking operations. The brand image took its cue from the heritage of the business. With the original structure of the old identity kept, the building blocks of the brand were designed to be lighter to reflect the opening-up of the business and its transparency.
Advertising campaigns were launched to strengthen the new visual identity of NCB and spotlight its story of change. Marketing collaterals promoted the bank’s services and continuously developed banking solutions.
An important part of our partnership with National Commercial Bank included designing both its international and local cards. This included the bank's Classic, Platinum, and World MasterCard, in addition to Nummou and Tadawoul Cards. This was followed by a strong advertising campaign that promoted the cards and the services they offered.
Redesigning the branch experience reflected the ‘open’ promise in the environment and in the customer’s journey with NCB. Imagine Group assessed the impact of critical customer touchpoints in delivering the promise and, accordingly, redesigned the visual, physical, and verbal experience.
Responding to the bank’s determination to offer digitally and technologically advanced services, we worked on redesigning its website and integrating highly responsive and interactive technology into it. Improving the social media channels of National Commercial Bank has been welcomingly received by people. The steady steps to preserve clients and serve more was crowned by the verification of the bank’s Facebook page with the blue verification badge in early 2020.
Part and parcel of the visual promotional campaigns we developed for National Commercial Bank included videos showing the Bank's services and achievements. Accompanied by interviews with NCB top management, these informative and rich-with-infographics videos were displayed on TV and on NCB's different social media platforms and were positively received by the public audience.
As its logo promises, the services offered by National Commercial Bank expanded by the establishment of National Commercial Leasing Company. We helped showcase NCL wide array of individual and business leasing services for vehicles, properties, construction, oil and gas, transport, real estate, and medical equipment. We journeyed with NCL from the very start; we developed a corporate strategy that showcased its mission, vision, and values, and came up with the brand’s name and logo, employing innovative concepts and ideas in the process.
NCB brand purpose became a core part of its vision, values, and business practices, providing the foundation for all NCB marketing and advertising activities. The success of this program was seen not just in the external launching but also in the way people from across the entire business seized the positioning and brought it to life within the experience. A testament on the success of the identity and retail design elements could be seen in the way the identity has been adapted to work across NCB premium offers, NCB Class, and NCL, not to forget how the new environment received recognition from the entire banking sector in the region.