Eesti Ühispanga identiteedi muutmise protsess 2005. aastal
Date
2006
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Abstract
Description
This bachelor thesis (“The rebranding process of Eesti Ühispank on 2005”) focuses on the
branding in banking in general and gives a detailed overview of the rebranding process of
Eesti Ühispank, when the latter took over the visual and verbal identity of its owner, SEB
Group. Thesis is based on the theoretical literature and on the empirical research:
interviews conducted with the people behind the rebranding process as well as with
impartial experts.
For analysing, three main questions were set out:
1. Why and how the rebranding process of Eesti Ühispank took place?
2. In which way was Estonian cultural context considered in the rebranding process?
3. In which way the identity of Eesti Ühispank resembles or differs with the identity of
SEB Eesti Ühispank?
To find answers to the questions, this thesis first takes a look at the theoretical literature
written on the topic of rebranding process, brand and branding. The latter is extremely
important in banking – all banks mainly focus on selling trust and intangible assets which is
why it is important to differ from the others with a unique feature that can be achieved
through successful branding strategy.
In order to demonstrate the importance of Eesti Ühispank, the context of Estonian bank
brands is represented in the thesis as well. The bank was founded after the unification of
ten small banks in 1992 and became one of the biggest banks in Estonia after Hansapank.
Eesti Ühispank was a very well known brand and people in Estonia associated it mostly
with positive connotations. The horseshoe, which was the main element of the logo of Eesti
Ühispank, was valued as well.
Despite the successful branding strategy of Eesti Ühispank it was decided to change its
identity significantly. The decision in favour of the rebranding process born in a dialogue
between SEB Group and Eesti Ühispank: SEB Group was ambitious to have more influence on the international level and Eesti Ühispank wanted to be a part of its owner
visually and verbally.
In this thesis, a detailed description of the rebranding process is presented with the
quotations from the interviews. It occurred that the process took place mostly according to
the theoretical grounds – at first the new identity was constructed and then started the
practical work. There were some shortcomings in the internal communication but all in all
the rebranding process seemed as a success for SEB Eesti Ühispank.
This thesis also focuses on the comparison of the identities of Eesti Ühispank and SEB
Eesti Ühispank. With the help of the practical communication analysis method it appeared,
that in the identity of SEB EÜP the Estonian cultural context is represented in a very small
amount and that the new brand is more international, wider and conservative. The content
of the visual identity of the new brand has decreased – people could associate certain
positive connotations with the former logo (horseshoe as a symbol of luck in Estonia)
which they can not do with the new logo.
In conclusion, this thesis helps to see and understand the rebranding process of Eesti
Ühispank through various aspects and could come to use for the companies facing a
rebranding process themselves. It would be interesting to analyse further the habituation of
the brand of SEB Eesti Ühispank in Estonian cultural context and speculate, how the
rebranding process influenced the brand’s success and sustainability. Corporate brands
influence our everyday life significantly and that is why it is important to continue the
study of these kinds of cases.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), bakalaureusetööd