A trip down memory lane
As I followed her in the echoing corridors at the iconic “19, avenue de la Liberté”, I couldn’t help but feel some nostalgia. As a third country Gen Y kid who grew up in Luxembourg and got naturalized, my first piggy bank was given to me by Spuerkeess! I was a primary school student at the Ecole Francophone de Walferdange in the late 90s.
As Lisa was offering me a drink, the conversation started naturally and instead of talking about marketing or brand strategy, we found ourselves discussing Ayurveda, mindset, the power of manifestation and the benefits of meditation.
We are who we are, holistically and authentically and it was refreshing to be aligned on this, with one of Luxembourg’s top women leaders.
“Every year, my management team and I take time to review the past year and more importantly to be aligned on our vision for the coming year and how to achieve it” she told me.
L.W. : “Everything I have learnt over the years is something I naturally and individually try to pass on to the team. (…) I’m not necessarily a believer in all training programs although they are increasingly getting better by focusing on understanding the brain and the human holistically. Personal development can only come from within and because you really want to change. Not everybody is ready for such a step and often you need to wait until the time is right.”
What better place to start working on a brand’s identity, than by encouraging the individuals and teams behind it to be exactly who they are?
A brand alignment, a bridge to life
So, what is Spuerkeess’ DNA?
Let’s watch a short film (that locals have probably seen many times, at the movies at least) to get in the mood. 😉
One of the most iconic pictures anyone can visualize of Luxembourg is the “Pont Adolphe” bridge that leads to the Spuerkeess clock tower. This is literally the brand’s logo. As Lisa puts it: “We can’t be more Luxembourg”.
The brand personality comes with a fun and easy to remember acronym: POP!
L.W. : “Our brand personality is what we call our POP effect. Pleasant, Open and Proud. (…) It is according to these personality traits and our brand attributes that we define our priorities and give them the right leverage. For example, if we sponsor events, we will always make sure that they are POP. If they don’t meet the POP requirements, well, they are not meant to be for us.”
As seen in the previous image campaigns, the current brand signature is “Your bridge to life”. It means the bank is not only there for your transactions. Lisa tells me, their aim is to become your financial coach and hold your hand as you move on from one life cycle to the other, as you realize one dream project after another.
A lot has changed during her 23 years at Spuerkeess.
L.W. : “20 years ago, we didn’t have as many products and communication channels. We were at the beginning of S-Net, had our website and sent out paper mailings, no digital marketing and less regulation. Today everything has become much more complicated. Individualization and digitalization came with the multiplication of communication channels, content and a new marketing skill sets to complement our traditional ones.”
Spuerkeess has been able to turn tradition into an ally for innovation, to make sure their customers are satisfied with their services as much as they are with the online experience.
The challenge, Lisa believes, is in offering clients as much autonomy as they want, while maintaining a warm, human relationship.
“We want to remain the most loved brand in banking, which we are, which is the fruit of having a very good and loyal customer base over generations. We have well trained employees that have been with us for a long time and a satisfied owner. So, this helps towards full filling our brand attributes to provide banking solutions for everyone since 1856, remain a leader in housing loans, the state-owned bank, provide best-in-class digital solutions and the best training program for our people.
We will remain confronted with the changing consumer habits. Becoming increasingly digital also implies finding a clever way to keep the human touch. People visiting a branch are in contact with their advisor and share an emotional link. Whereas, when they use their mobile app or their payment cards they don’t always realize how often they interact with their bank on a daily basis. While most of the daily banking can be done online, people still need a financial coach. We really want to be this emotional interface and be there for them in their important life moments.
Sometimes we must admit trial and error, just like every other company, just like we have to do in our own lives. Learning is a good thing, especially if you decide to adapt and change according to the lessons learned. Change management is just a buzzword everyone uses now, but it’s what we’ve been doing for decades.”
The multiculturality challenge
Another challenge for Spuerkeess is one most local brands must face: trying to reach your target audiences in such a multicultural country. On the official portal of Luxembourg, one can read: “French is the main communication language, followed by Luxembourgish, German, English and Portuguese.”
This progressing multiculturality was even another core reason why Spuerkeess decided to do some work on their brand DNA in 2020.
L.W. : “For 30 years, we did no brand repositioning and limited changes in our corporate identity unlike some of the other banks that even changed names over the years. So 2018, we started with questioning who we are, what we do including considering that the world has changed. In the 90s, we probably had about, I don’t know, 28 or 29% of foreigners, whereas now we’re heading towards the 50%.
It was time to revisit our DNA, our brand attributes, personality and values.”
But when we speak of locals vs foreigners, there are subtleties to be considered and Lisa Wells highlighted it beautifully.
L.W. : “I think that when we talk about Luxembourgers, they’re not always the original Luxembourgers anymore. Many are naturalized Luxembourgers, like me. I have the Luxembourgish nationality now, and I’m proud of it as well.
Throughout generations, the immigrants like the Italian and the Portuguese who came in the 70s, 80s, 90s and stayed, their children grew up here and they consider themselves as Luxembourgers because they are part of the culture. So, the Luxembourgers are more multicultural than we think.”
Now having up to 50% of non-Luxembourgers represents a challenge, when it comes to creating content to engage with such diverse populations.
L.W. : “Communication channels and content are just multiplying. Content is personalized for different types of customers with so many product variations and is translated into many languages. It’s a real challenge.”
But what’s more POP than to embrace the beautiful challenges of diversity?
And Spuerkeess has been doing a pretty good job at it and is still willing to learn with its customers and community.
Worlds. 