Manchester Building Society
Visual Identity / Brand Fundamentals / Comms
Revitalising a Building Society built for Manchester
Manchester Building Society (formed over 100 years ago) merged with Newcastle Building Society, and was poised to open its doors to a new flagship branch in the heart of Manchester City Centre (with more to follow).
The brief was to create a brand identity that was an authentic representation of Manchester, and that looked unlike other banks and building societies. Manchester Building Society aims to help both the people of Greater Manchester, and the city itself, grow and thrive – connecting communities to a better financial future.
We wanted the identity to be fuelled by themes of ‘inclusivity and representation’. Manchester Building Society is here to serve the entirety of Greater Manchester, which is a wonderfully diverse and colourful place.
Many Manchester brands, or campaigns, lean into tired and obvious clichés. From bees, to the hacienda, to Cottonopolis, to United/City references – all things that have been done to death. This wasn’t about projecting an obvious and expected version of Manchester out into the world, it was about reflecting Manchester back to itself.
The central design idea for the new ID stemmed from the map of Greater Manchester - made up of 10 distinct boroughs. We created a simplified and colourful representation of the Greater Manchester map, and overlaid that onto our bespoke ‘M’ to create our core iconic logo. Our 10 boroughs contain an eclectic mixture of people, culture and heritage. Ethnicity, age, wealth, sexuality, religion and political persuasions - a tapestry of diversity. All joined together to make something amazing - a beautiful patchwork of our great city.
The Northern Quarter, Ancoats and Spinningfields are often the first things that come to mind when you think of Manchester. And they’re all great, but those places aren’t the reality for many of the people who live here – people who live in Wigan, or Stockport, or Tameside, or Bury. These are terrific towns, with their own unique history and heritage. And we wanted all of them to feel represented and included.
The result is a colourful, vibrant and dynamic brand identity system, which sets Manchester Building Society apart from its peers.
Brave, bold and brilliant listeners, Sergeant Walnuts have been a joy to work with. They thought deeply about the brief and helped deliver our promise. From the beginning, they brought energy, optimism and colour to our category, creating a brand identity as vibrant, diverse, and full of potential as the place it represents.
Andrew Nicholson
Head of Brand, Manchester Building Society
