Medium & message
December 6, 2023 7:19 p.m
On the occasion of its 100th anniversary, the… Itau Unibanco Embrace a new brand expression and a new institutional concept. Developed in collaboration with agencies Africa Creative and Galeria, the new positioning “Made of the Future” invites people to reflect on time, legacy and longevity.
The new identity is intended to strengthen not only the institutional brand, but all segments and profiles of the bank (Source: Reproduction)
“We have been driving an intensive agenda to transform our business and create more value. It is time for our brand to reflect all this,” emphasizes Eduardo Tracanella, marketing director of the bank.
Centuriesold history and new brand
The history of the bank begins in 1924, when João Moreira Salles obtained the banking patent for Casa Moreira Salles in the state of Minas Gerais. In 1943, Alfredo Egydio de Souza Aranha founded the Banco Central de Crédito in São Paulo, which later became Itaú. In 2008, these two institutions merged and created what is now Itaú Unibanco, the largest bank and most valuable brand in Brazil and Latin America.
The new design project was based on history: From TupiGuarani, Itaú means black stone. The new brand identity not only renews the institutional brand, but also the expression of all segments and profiles of the bank.
In the new look, orange becomes more prominent, while shades of blue come to life to characterize the Uniclass and Personnalité segments, while Itaú BBA and Private rely even more on dark tones. The symbol representing the stone has been polished and presents itself in a more organic and flowing form. See:
In total, developing the new identity required 22 months of work, around 100 typographic studies, more than 70 color studies and further logo studies in which shape, color, fonts, graphics and expressions were reevaluated.
The institution’s internal branding team was responsible for the work, in collaboration with specialists such as American Pentagram, selected for strategic advice, led by design Michael Bierut and Fabio Haag with his strong sense of typography.
Clayton Caetano, the company’s design superintendent, reveals that the challenge in creating the new identity was to respect such a solid heritage, but without losing the ability to be bold. “Our essence was built over decades and with the brilliance of big names like Aloízio Magalhães in the 60s; Francesc Petit, who introduced stone into the Itaú logo and orange into the identity in the 70s; and Alexandre Wollner, who put the focus on orange in our agencies in the 80s and systematized the brand with consistency and scope. They served as inspiration for the new project to make the brand more human, organic and contemporary,” says Caetano.