Jeremy HildrethA few years ago, CapitalOne — America’s largest consumer credit company — set out to conquer Spain. They chose Bankinter, a major national retail bank, as their local partner. They asked Saffron to create the brand identity for the new joint venture, and Saffron asked me to lead the project.
After conducting interviews with CapitalOne and Bankinter executives in Nottingham (UK) and Madrid, my team and I recognized the key challenge: to create a brand that was clever but very, very simple, as the credit card itself would be a basic offering in the Spanish market which was fairly unsophisticated about — and mistrustful of — credit cards. (At the time, the number of credit cards in use in Spain was fewer than one per adult.)
Using this card, we argued, should make the customer feel “competent, enlightened, resourceful and savvy.” We wanted the customer to feel all right about whatever he or she just spent money on, and we recommended brand communications which would show people spending money responsibly and guiltlessly. We put forth “If” by Rudyard Kipling as the card’s poetic inspiration, stating: “This card is a tool for the enlightened use of money.”
Based on this idea of tool, I proposed a number of names; one of them, Obsidiana, was chosen and implemented.
Obsidian is volcanic glass, often fashioned into tools by our ancient ancestors. Obsidiana is a handy credit card — the tool of choice in modern society.
And if you live in Spain, you can apply for a card right now at Obsidiana.com (site in Spanish only).
Obsidian is volcanic glass, often fashioned into tools by our ancient ancestors. Obsidiana is a handy credit card -- the tool of choice in modern society. The name and concept for the card were devised by Jeremy Hildreth and his team at Saffron Brand Consultants.
