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Citadele
Project type
Brand strategy
Date
2008
Location
Riga, Latvia
Parex - Latvia's largest bank - went into crisis causing a run on the bank. The Government and the EBRD stepped in to shore up the bank.
The new team needed a new bank fast. A bank that retained some of the equity from Parex but crucially which was fresh and new, and above all less exclusive.
Citadele was created in 6 intense weeks in the heat of the financial crisis. The project was under immense scrutiny with complex stakeholders.
Whereas Parex had traded on being a bank for insiders, Citadele was a bank for everyone. In particular we focused on Citadele enabling entrepreneurial activity across Latvia and the Baltics.
The engine of the economy was the ingenuity and resilience of the SME sector. Most Latvians had at least one side hustle. Citadele was the enabler that fostered entrepreneurial growth.
The brand was designed to be collaborative, intentionally dispensing with the symbols of wealth and power that had characterised Parex. This was a bank for the people, for the new age.
10 years on and counting Citadele remains a leading player in the region.
