UBS shares strategic transformation

Financial services firm, UBS, has announced a new and unconventional brand relaunch.

The strategic transformation includes a new brand design, tone of voice and a sonic logo. The external launch of the brand this September follows a three-month long internal campaign.

UBS chose to create a sonic logo with Amsterdam-based Massive Music after reading research by the University of Leicester, which found that companies who match their brand to music are 96% more likely to be remembered. The tone of voice is less corporate and more transparent and, while the logo remains the same, the new brand design, by brand agency SNK, is mobile and digital friendly.

All elements of the relaunch are based on extensive research carried out by UBS over the past two years. The research focused on client personalities and motivations and the factors that differentiate UBS. The new brand elements are intended to illustrate the company’s transformation since CEO Sergio Ermotti assumed his role four years ago. The firm is refocusing on wealth management as its core business.

Sergio P. Ermotti, group CEO at UBS, says, “The brand campaign is an expression of the successful strategic transformation UBS has undergone over the past four years. Reflecting the strategic transformation through our branding gives us additional momentum."

UBS has recently launched an external-facing, largely digital-based, brand campaign, which features images from renowned American portrait photographer, Annie Leibovitz.

UBS Group employs around 60,000 people worldwide and its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.