Westpac
Helping in the moments that matter
Time to evolve
Established in 1817, Westpac is the oldest bank—and second oldest company—in Australia. As one of the country’s ‘Big Four’ major banking institutions, it’s spent over 200 years helping Aussies in the world of finance and beyond.
Despite being an Australian icon, in 2021 Westpac was faced with a shifting competitive landscape that posed the challenge of connecting with a younger, digital-first audience.
Westpac’s thinking and brand needed to evolve.
Here to help
We began with a simple human insight.
Help.
We all need it. Sometimes help costs us. Sometimes it’s free. But when we need help the most, there’s nothing more valuable.
That’s why Westpac’s brand purpose was to Do the right thing for all Australians, when it matters most. Those moments can be big or small: an everyday occurrence, like paying for your morning coffee, or a once in a lifetime event, like a death in the family. We used that to step the brand closer to its new ambition: To be the bank that was helpful in the moments that matter, big or small.
Using Westpac’s ability to empower customers with simpler, smarter, smoother banking as a foundation, we set out to make this history of helpfulness real and relevant for Australians in their everyday lives.
Leveraging legacy
For the brand to fully resonate in the shifting financial landscape, it needed to go beyond the familiar world of banking. To ensure it could achieve this without undermining Westpac’s legacy, we focused on three existing brand codes: the ‘W’ logo, the Westpac Red, and the Chopper.
The ‘W’ now acts as the cornerstone of the brand’s visual identity, providing the foundation for an updated typeface, photography style and graphic background.
Westpac has always been a red brand. Rather than change that, we complemented Westpac Red with a vibrant palette of accent and tertiary colours. The new palette contributes to the brand’s flex and visual distinction, helping it to engage with a wider range of customers.
Smaller details throughout the brand are used to dial up the notion of help wherever possible, from visual and sonic representations of the Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter to micro-interactions, pictograms and illustrations that bring help to life in a warm, playful way.
Evolving the brand’s voice was critical in positively shifting perceptions of Westpac. The new tone of voice ditches the banking jargon and favours a simpler, everyday approach. One that shows people of all ages that Westpac understands what’s important to them—and is here to help in ways big and small.
