Banco Guayaquil Audio Branding
BETTER SOUND 2022 | Category: Audio Branding
Entrant
Ocarina Branding
Abstract
In 2018, Banco Guayaquil made an important decision: to offer the best banking experience in Ecuador. We embarked on a large-scale project based on our audio branding process to convey their new purpose in an audio system versatile enough to be adapted to all its sonic touch points, always keeping its customers at the center of every development.
Description
At the end of 2018, Banco Guayaquil made an institutional decision: to align all business, conceptualization, development, and marketing strategies with the customer at the center, in order to offer the best banking experience in Ecuador. This decision sought to solve a major problem: despite being the second largest banking network in Ecuador, consumers did not feel Banco Guayaquil’s presence or identify it very well. In addition, there was a very negative perception of the banking category, where most Ecuadorians felt that banks were distant, complicated, and deceptive.
The approach to solve the problem was very simple: listening to the customer. The first big step in this process was to carry out a deep process of active listening of the customer, through the bank’s official channels, satisfaction, and recommendation surveys, and voice of the customer programs; and also through an extensive market study, interviewing customers in-depth and managing to understand how they imagined the ideal bank, the one that offers the best banking experience.
With these results, the different departments within the bank began a business transformation process, which included a diagnosis and redefinition of its purpose, vision, and brand strategy. This led to the definition of a strategy that responds to the feelings of customers and consumers, and from there was born the heart of the rebranding: banking empathy.
The bank approached us with a clear challenge: to rediscover its sound in this major transformation process. We embarked on a meticulous project based on our audio branding methodology to convey Banco Guayaquil’s new purpose in an audio system versatile enough to be applied and adapted to all its services, products, sub-brands, and brand touchpoints (internal and external), always keeping its customers at the center of every development.
From the conception of the audio DNA to its final production, we have managed to keep even the smallest details respecting the overall brand strategy: putting the customer first. The most identifiable auditory resource of Banco Guayaquil’s sound identity is a snap, which was recorded by its own customers. In this way, the brand’s sound identity is incredibly aligned with the purest essence of its being, inviting the client to build the bank he/she wants together with the entire team that makes it possible.
We created a 6 note melody versatile enough that has been able to adapt to all kinds of musical genres and touchpoints. From the adaptation to an extremely human and raw advertising campaign, to bringing the music to coexist in a world of sports sponsorships, the audio identity of Banco Guayaquil is designed to be timeless, and to be always identifiable regardless of the channel or point of contact it is supporting. Some examples of how this audio identity has been adapted range from very Ecuadorian genres, such as salsa, cumbia, and Andean music; to electronic, rock, pop, jazz, and funk, among others.