AbsaCopied

In 2018 Barclays Africa Group became Absa Group and launched a new visual identity as it separated from Barclays PLC, which had cut its stake to a 14.9 percent minority. CNBC Africa reported the renaming of the group, which owns banks in ten African countries. Absa said the identity would reflect its African roots and suit a forward-looking business in a digital era, under a new purpose: Bringing your possibility to life.

The new logo sets absa in lowercase, aiming for a more human, approachable and understated feel than its predecessor, and the brand colour changed to a wide spectrum of reds. Head of group marketing David Wingfield said the ownership change was a chance to relaunch Absa as a different bank, with a new identity to mark the reset, as an entrepreneurial, digitally led bank with deep knowledge of African markets. The company named three consultancies on the project: OgilvyRED, Grid Worldwide and Yellowwood. The rollout started in South Africa, with Barclays-branded banks in nine other markets to follow.

The launch ran into trouble almost immediately. The Citizen reported social media criticism that the new logo resembled that of OpenServe, Telkom's fibre subsidiary, and then revealed that both had been designed by the same agency, Grid Worldwide. Its executive said symbols as ubiquitous as a circle and a line could hardly be copied, that the client knew about the similarity, and that the work had a full year and a very clear strategy behind it. Logos, he said, are a dime a dozen.

Bizcommunity described the spectacle that launched it: 300 drones flying in synchronised formation on the night of the rebrand.

The agency's line is telling. A circle and a line is indeed generic, which is the problem. The lowercase wordmark and warm reds do make Absa feel friendlier than its predecessor. But a bank asking customers to trust a new name needed a mark that was unmistakably its own.