The bank’s CMO took the stage at Rio2C’s Forbes Brand&Co Summit to talk about how the play “Feito de Futuro” was created and planned
The first day of Rio2C was marked by lectures that dealt with topics such as creator economy, artificial intelligence, creativity in general and, in the midst of this, the Forbes Brands&Co Summit stage welcomed Eduardo Tracanella, CMO of Itaú Unibanco, to talk about the construction and maintaining the relevance of the brand, which celebrates its 100 years this year.
In a conversation mediated by Luiz Pacete, Technology and Marketing Editor at Forbes Brasil, the executive talked about the negotiations for the “Feitos de Futuro” campaign, which not only celebrates the company’s first century, but features names such as Ronaldo Fenômeno, Marta , Ingrid Silva and Jorge Ben Jor and the international artist and “matriarch” of the piece, Madonna.
In addition to being present in several communication videos, the artist also performed a free show at Copacabana Beach on May 4th, sponsored by both the bank and Heineken.
“Things happened throughout the project, but I think it all started with a slide presentation of our 100-year project, which is still ongoing, which said that if we didn’t do it now, on the centenary, we would only do it on the 200th. Deep down, we wanted to talk about the bank’s narrative, about legacy and timeless things”, explained Tracanella.
The conversation recalled the mention that Milton Maluhy Filho, CEO of the bank, made about the campaign during an event aimed at the press and investors, when the executive went so far as to mention that the event was a “super investment” for the city hall and government of Rio de Janeiro. January and that it is “difficult to find something with a greater return than this”.
Still on the project, the CMO highlighted the moment of presentation of the pitch of the campaign for the artist and her team, highlighting that the ambition was to convince the queen of pop to star in an advertisement, something she hadn’t done in 30 years, for a bank brand in Brazil and, as the conversations went on, he revealed that he was surprised by the fact that the narrative that Madonna had to tell at that moment was the same as Itaú’s.
“We have a totally connected narrative and that’s what generated this approach that resulted in the co-creation of everything. We co-created films, editions, content and learned that a brand’s narrative should not overlap everything. The best thing is to find fits with others that make sense not only for the brand, but for people in general. There is a dose of wearing the sandals of humility”, said the executive.
With a huge campaign and extremely relevant names, the panel “How centuries-old brands maintain relevance” also highlighted the points of challenge throughout the process and, among those mentioned, the lack of control over variables was highlighted. Tracanella highlighted that when dealing with an artist of Madonna’s stature, she is the one who dictates the rules of that game most of the time.
He further revealed that it was the artist and her team who released the final product that went to TV, OOH and all other forms of media, in addition to being responsible for editing. “But, thinking on the other hand, perhaps the fact that we were unable to control all the variables was precisely what made the campaign so successful”, he reflected.
Rebranding
At the beginning of December last year, Itáu announced its rebranding. Developed by Africa Creative and Galeria, the bank’s “new face” aimed to inspire people about the importance of time, legacy and longevity, as well as strengthening its role in customers’ lives.
With a more rounded shape and orange starring the logo, Tracanella stated that he took more professional risks with the rebranding than with the Madonna show.
“In the event that everything went wrong with the show, we would quickly move on to another subject. This doesn’t happen when something goes wrong with a brand. A brand is something built with a lasting objective and I didn’t want to carry the legacy of having ruined it a brand. This is something that lasts forever and I’m not talking about ego or vanity, but rather about technique. The error of a rebranding is not corrected quickly”, he pointed out.
The executive revealed that, in total, the new brand project took two years to complete and was worked on confidentially with a small team, assisted by an international consultancy.
Throughout the conversation, Tracanella stated that the biggest dilemma he and the team faced in the process was the fact that there was nothing wrong with the brand to justify the change, but they were convinced that it was time for it to be updated.
“We believed that we needed to build new ways of connecting with new people. The brand was very good, but it wouldn’t be able to take us where we needed to go. Making this change was brave on our part because it was a difficult process and one that doesn’t please anyone at first”, explained the CMO.
With this in mind, the executive also said that he prepared his team for the hypothesis that the public would not like the new brand and that they would be “abducted by haters”. Therefore, he convened the bank’s board to share their anxieties and ask others’ opinions on the topic.
“Most of the rebranding projects in the world went wrong at the beginning. People didn’t like it and now, with social networks, this has become a lot stronger. We were very afraid at the beginning. So, in the meeting, I said that people wouldn’t like it and that we would have to take the risk, hold the wave and they would have to trust our technique”, he recalled.
After the release, the public reaction was contrary to what was imagined and the majority of comments were approving.
The current bank
Finally, Pacete invited Tracanella to reflect on what the bank is, what its layers are and what has changed over the years. According to the executive, the main change was the bank’s mobilization to make it clear that the structural organization is, in fact, customer-oriented.
The CMO also highlighted that the bank had been built, in its beginnings, based on old segregation and today it has customers with the same income, but who are extremely different from each other.
“I say that we are going through a period of transformation, but mainly building a new way of working. The bank will be as big as the customer wants”, he concluded.
