Country Base: USA
Industry/Sector/Keywords: Financial Services, Banking, Credit Cards, Retailers
Below: Before and After Images in Slide Show, Summary, Credits

Summary

Industry Setting

GE (General Electric) Capital’s Retail Finance business was an established provider of private label credit card and promotional financing programs to retailers, healthcare providers, and, by extension, their customers across North America. As part of regaining its focus on its core industrial businesses, GE decided to spin off its retail finance business under a new corporate identity.

Challenge

The new brand had to preserve the positive brand associations with GE, while allowing it to flex and evolve with a changing consumer finance landscape. Its identity needed to feel both established and emerging; to convey the value of its heritage, while giving it permission to act as a nimble partner in tomorrow’s financial world.

Strategy

To evolve from a B2B transaction business, we developed the brand to lead the emerging “Engagement Economy”—one that links partner to retailer, retailer to consumer, consumer to consumer, and fuels growth by focusing on experiences and loyalty.

The name, Synchrony, is a promise of engagement. Its logo—an abstracted bar chart, formed as an “S” monogram—is a representation of working in sync. Moving away from the expected colors of finance, we embraced a dramatic gold and graphite color palette, and designed the identity to stand out in all media and cross-channel campaigns.

Result

The new brand has been highly successful in creating a powerful, category-transforming positioning. It launched with the tagline “Engage with us,” along with a multi-channel campaign that symbolized Synchrony’s commitment to partnership through two hands working in synchrony with one another. After a successful IPO (Initial Public Offering) in 2014, the brand has proven itself capable of holding its own among established financial brands and digital competitors.

Credits

Client: Synchrony Financial – www.synchronyfinancial.com

Brand Strategists/Designers: Interbrand – www.interbrand.com

Executive Creative Director, North America: Chris Campbell
Chief Content Officer: Paola Norambuena
Senior Program Manager: Theresa Levin
Senior Consultant, Strategy: William Deng
Consultant, Strategy: Asher Fink
Senior Director, Strategy & Analytics: Aron Galonsky
Design Principal: Matt Van Leeuwen
Associate Director, Marketing Capabilities: Leah Brier