I recently discovered that UCPB is the next to follow in the rebranding battle of local banks in the Philippines.

BDO was the first to execute the full rebranding package. Clearly, through changing the brand identity, internal culture and innovation in bank operations, they turned their brand around and successfully changed the whole banking landscape. Such a significant rebrand by BDO was so successful that all the other banks were threatened. This led to BPI following in their footsteps with relative success, and now, UCPB.

UCPB_New_logo_Web_FA

The Official UCPB (lengthy and difficult to read) Logo Brief

The Old United Coconut Planters Bank Logo

The Old United Coconut Planters Bank Logo

This is by far, one of the most ineffective redesigns I’ve ever seen in a large multi-million company. For starters, their new identity looks like a Chinese restaurant mixed with baby accessories.

Logo Execution gone Bad

Unless they’re throwing away their bank’s heritage and history, they should’ve somehow made a subtle connection with their full name which included words like coconut and planters. People have long associated them with the green in their identity, and they’ve already built recall with that color that they shouldn’t have thrown away. They could argue that the green has done them more damage than good as its associations nowadays may be outdated and old, but will changing to a completely new alien color do them any good? Getting people’s attention is one thing, keeping them interested is another.

The logo elements are lost. The infinity symbol is overused. The dragon-like Pokemon fins are irrelevant. The stamp-like vector shape (the logo looks like a downloadable brush pack) is trendy and dated. The typeface, although an improvement from the previous one, is untrustworthy(for a bank) with the weight, flimsy corners and round letterforms. It may be a good logo for some other company, but clearly not a bank with a rich history.

Logo BS

This is the reason why I’m clearly ranting about the new redesign. They could have left it at a first impression; but they had to write that grueling paragraph trying to justify the new design.

“The infinity-like sign represents two hands clasping each other…which symbolizes the solid partnership…” Do you care about those two hands? Do they make you feel that you’re in a solid partnership with their bank? I’m still sticking with BDO’s symbol-less, straightforward and trustworthy identity.

The BDO logo is not necessarily the best in technical execution, but it does its job well and that's all that matters.

The BDO logo is not necessarily the best in technical execution, but it does its job well and that's all that matters.

The explanation is like a dirty car salesman who’s trying to explain the features too much because he knows their products can’t do the talking.

Logo symbolism has been used by great designers; but one thing that differentiates them with BS like this one is that they’re all subtle. They don’t explicitly sell that this logo means this and that; because eventually, the viewers are the ones who are gonna place personal meanings into those logos. Think the FedEx logo’s hidden arrow. Or the bite from Apple’s logo. Or Nike’s no-nonsense swoosh. They say something, but they let you find them out for yourselves.

Logo Redesign is not Rebranding

I’m not sure if they’re following this up with a whole rebranding process—changing the culture inside, innovating in the banking experience or simply cleaning up the place; but what’s sure is that if they leave it at just a brand identity redesign, it’s going to be useless.

Changing the logo without changing the brand itself is like changing clothes without ever taking a bath – all the dirt’s still inside and people are going to find out about it.