9th March 2020

Mammoth task: how to update documents of a bank

Carole Schwartz and Pierre Reuter from the Spuerkeess Marketing give us a short insight into the internal changes related to the new Corporate Identity (CI).

What was your approach for adapting corporate and commercial documents to the new graphic charter?

Carole: When we started working on the CI, we tried to get an overview of what had to be done and started the whole process with a kick-off meeting in October 2019. Each unit was given 10 days to nominate an “ambassador”, who was to act as a correspondent between us and his respective unit inside the Bank.

Within a month, about 30 meetings were held with nearly 40 ambassadors. We used the opportunity to actively inform them about recent modifications in our communication, such as new spelling rules. At the same time, we tried to make our colleagues participate in a wind of change.

Pierre: One major challenge was to find a starting point. Since we currently have about 1.800 employees working in numerous fields of expertise, it was clear that we had to conduct a census and set up an inventory of the existing files and hardware. We quickly found out that there were far more documents than we initially imagined.

Together with the ambassadors we managed to get an overview of the number of documents and other supports, such as apps, software, etc. that are used in the Bank. Basically anything carrying our name, logo or our baseline. Starting from this, we put together a listing of all the print and digital formats that had to be reviewed.

Carole: The biggest challenge was to structure a roadmap and prioritise, since, as Pierre just mentioned, everything needed to be revised: single terminologies, products, contracts, even emergency exit signs. Every single place where our logo is displayed had to be kept in mind. Thanks to this census, we pretty quickly got an overview over the concerned documents and materials.

Pierre: Documents for internal use were also concerned, but had less priority. Priority was given to client-related documents that had to be changed as soon as possible.

Before all of this, we were missing a concise graphical charter. You can probably imagine how many versions with different fonts, logos and sizes existed.

Carole: That was one of the main problems. When people started working on a document, they would improvise on so many things: header, font, italics, footnotes, graphs, etc. Add to this that they were using different programmes. Over the last 20 years, many documents were created according to individual preferences. And as you can imagine, it is a bit tricky to get people to abandon well established routines and can rip people out of their comfort zone. A smooth transition therefore requires motivating employees to use and implement novelties and workflows.

We are aiming for a long-term change, that is introduced step-by-step, demanding a regular follow-up over the subsequent months. Regarding our print material, it was important to use up the existing stock before switching.

We are aiming for a long-term change, that is introduced step-by-step, demanding a regular follow-up over the subsequent months.
Carole Schwartz

Can you tell us more about the work load?

Carole: Approximatively 80% of all documents have been digitised and automated, whereas 20% still need to be handled manually. Our goal is to simplify these steps through automation and streamlining.

I was surprised to see how many different documents circulate in our bank, some of them only being used by a handful of people! We therefore took the opportunity to put into question the purpose of some of them together with the ambassadors.

Of all the documents reviewed nearly 800 were directly customer related: contracts, general terms and conditions, powers of attorney, etc. not even considering our promotional material, such as leaflets or newsletters.
Carole Schwartz

What is your current situation and do you have any deadline?

Carole: We are still in constant exchange with our ambassadors and new documents are added to our list every day. We have set individual priorities, which are different for each unit and each type of document, and execute these according to plan. Slowly but surely everything is taking shape. It is sure that this process will take time.

Pierre: Through the implementation of the new graphical charter, we adapted our digital and print formats, such as our website. At the same time we revised all our templates in order to communicate in a clearer and standardised way with our customers.

Carole: On the downside, respecting a charter also involves that there will be less autonomy, since we will be working in a more structured way. Nevertheless, a certain amount of flexibility for the users will remain in case of individual requests.

I would like to emphasise that the collaboration with all our ambassadors is exemplary and they are all very understanding of the ongoing processes. To thank them for all their efforts, they were recently invited to a sneak preview, where the results of our work were presented and our new advertising spot was shown. Involving our colleagues on all levels is a way for us to show them that they are much appreciated for their daily input and work.

Pierre: We have already achieved a lot, but naturally the daily business continues within the Bank and has to be taken care of. That’s why we are confident that we will finalise this important project by the end of 2020.

Curious? Watch the video for our new image campaign at www.spuerkeess.lu/yourbridgetolife. Maybe you’ll recognise one of our advisers. The production is 100% Made in Luxembourg.


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