Studio Mucho leads the strategic rebranding of Piraeus, Greece’s leading financial institution

Greece’s leading financial institution, Piraeus Bank, with more than 6 million customers and over 7,000 employees, partnered with The Newtons Laboratory and Mucho to develop a strategic redesign to address its commitment to the future. The redesign highlighted Piraeus Bank’ s transformation and its readiness for a new era, focused on its purpose: Embracing the Future.

The strategy was to introduce a bolder, more distinctive and future-proof visual identity that extends beyond traditional banking and is deeply rooted in the brand’s mission.

This involved clearly articulating the evolution of the bank through a renewed brand expression and behaviour that highlights the role of Piraeus in the modernisation of the Greek economy and its impact on society and maintaining a connection to the brand’s legacy to preserve trust while adopting a modern and forward-looking brand identity.

From bank to brand. Despite high brand recognition, Piraeus made strategic changes to enhance its brand strength: Moving from Piraeus Bank to simply Piraeus to reflect a broader vision beyond banking, adopting a forward-looking mission. Standardising the logo in English to ensure brand consistency.

Brand architecture

The rebranding included a significant simplification of the brand architecture to enhance the customer experience and reflect a modern, omni-channel approach. The result is a more consistent yet versatile brand, enabling the company to impact stakeholders and sectors beyond the traditional ones.

Symbol of change. The reinvented symbol in the Piraeus rebrand transforms the three stripes to honour heritage and embrace a bold future, symbolising progress, innovation, reliability and openness. The custom logo enhances visibility and underlines a modern approach.

Sound branding. Creation of a musical identity. The new sound logo, created with Banjo Soundscapes, reflects Piraeus’ values of closeness and humanity through the tones of acoustic instruments such as the piano and celesta. Its memorable rhythm, based on the Greek three-beat meter, aligns with the three bars of the visual symbol and the syllables of Piraeus. This ascending scale enhances the brand with a positive, open and distinctive sound identity.

A vibrant palette for a forward-thinking brand Green is the new blue in our updated palette, moving from corporate yellow and blue to a vibrant combination of Piraeus yellow, green and grey. The brighter Piraeus yellow embodies the spirit of the bank, green symbolises sustainability and growth, and grey provides balance. This new palette offers flexibility across multiple platforms, reflecting a forward-looking mindset.

Piraeus Open: a typeface for the future

Piraeus Open is a customised typeface created in collaboration with Jordi Embodas. Available in two styles, Serif and Sans, it offers four weights and has 578 characters, enhancing the clarity and versatility of the brand. Designed for digital applications, Piraeus Open supports 56 languages. The Serif style conveys confidence and serenity, while the Sans style offers legibility and Mediterranean charm, making it ideal for digital interfaces.

New approach to illustration. In collaboration with Xoana Herrera, we developed a set of illustrations using bright and simple shapes to convey a human and accessible touch. These illustrations are fundamental to making the brand more approachable and accessible, supporting Piraeus’ mission to genuinely connect with customers and the wider community.

Personalised communications

Piraeus ‘ revamped communication strategy is designed to resonate with diverse customer segments, from individual banking to personal and private banking. Each segment receives a tailored communication approach, flexible enough for digital and print touchpoints, ensuring a seamless experience across all channels. This approach reflects the specialised services and premium experiences that Piraeus offers. The aim of these communications is not just to inform, but to forge a deep connection with each customer, ensuring they feel valued and understood.

Two different levels of communication strategy

Level 1 communicates the bank’s core values with the redesigned symbol as a powerful symbol, establishing a strong connection with the customer. Level 2 introduces a modular dialogue bubble graphic, which enhances engagement by presenting products and services in a conversational way. Together, these levels ensure a dynamic, clear and consistent communication strategy that adapts to customer needs.

Unified digital experience

The removal of the Winbank brand integrates its values of agility, modernity and convenience into the core Piraeus brand, establishing Piraeus as the only digital banking solution within the group. This seamless integration enhances digital touchpoints, including the website and app, providing a unified and optimised experience. Customers can now enjoy the innovative features and user-friendly design of the Piraeus app and website, ensuring a consistent and cohesive digital banking experience.

All these elements have transformed Piraeus Bank into a unified and future-proof brand. “Our collaboration with Mucho has been stimulating in revitalising our corporate identity. Their expertise and creative approach were instrumental in reinventing the Piraeus brand. Our new corporate identity reflects our aspirations for the future, our openness to society and our commitment to shaping a future where employees, customers and shareholders thrive together” says Christos Megalou, CEO of Piraeus.

Project: Brand Identity Piraeus Bank.
Design & Strategy: Mucho.
Partner Agency: The Newtons Laboratory
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Typography design: Jordi Embodas.
Illustration: Xoana Herrera.
Sound Design: Banjo Soundscapes.
3D: Yeti Pictures.
Web design: EY.
App Design: Accenture.
BBank branches design: DINN!.

Mucho

Mucho, founded in 2002, is an award-winning design branding agency with offices in San Francisco, Melbourne and Barcelona. It landed in San Francisco under the leadership of Rob Duncan in 2013. In 2020, Dominic Hofstede joined to lead the Melbourne office, broadening Mucho’s vision and impact in Australia. Led by five partners, its global presence has enabled an extensive portfolio of international projects.

Mucho’s work combines design, strategy and creativity and integrates collective intelligence with employees and clients as one of its cornerstones. As a multicultural agency, it is able to create a unique visual language for each client.

Mucho’s philosophy is that design, in capital letters, is what connects the heart and mind, and makes a lasting impression. Clients such as Visa, Apple, Venmo, Pacha and F.C. Barcelona are some of the clients who have already placed their trust in Mucho.

Text: Mucho.

Project by Mucho