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Cyriax Partners

KfW – A Bank Newly reinvents Itself

Consulting themes & projects

Brand development
Positioning
Guiding light process
Reorganization marketing
Change management
Team development
Employer branding

KfW is the world’s largest national promotional bank. Cyriax monitored the strategic positioning and cultural transformation of the bank. With our input a new brand profile was developed to upgrade the bank’s reputation.To change the culture of the bank a new participative process was created as guiding light. As organisation consultant we successfully reorganized the structures of the divisions Communication and Marketing and monitored the subsequent changes.

The impulse for the project of change was triggered by the insolvency of the investment bank Lehmann Brothers. On the day of the insolvency KfW transferred 300 million Euros to the Americans and was then dubbed in the media as “Germany’s dumbest bank”. The first step of the project “Profile KfW” was to define what KfW stands for and what benefits it offers clients and partners. Goal: profiling the brand KfW as one of the world’s leading and most experienced promotional banks.
Markenprofil KfW
What does the brand KfW stand for – which promise does it give its clients? The workforce was involved in the development process right from the beginning: more than 1000 employees participated in the project in plenum meetings and workshops.
Far-reaching integration of brand ambassadors in the process organization
Feedback as integral component of the modus operandi
Findings from research, analyses, discussions, interviews and workshops in the course of the project were unambiguous: the joint core of the brand message of KfW across all sectors – from domestic promotional business, development bank through to IPEX and DEG – is the theme “Responsibility”. This term describes the identity of KfW and simultaneously elucidates the difference from other companies, whose brands are oriented more strongly to performance.
KfW Logotype
New profile – new logo: as part of the project a new corporate design was launched.
KfW Umsetzungsfelder
The focus is on the fulfilment of the brand promise with all of the bank’s stakeholders: clients and bank partners, employees and talents, government bodies, the public and investors. However, in the course of the process of change it became apparent that the new positioning to the outside was in itself inadequate to regain lost trust. Therefore based on the positioning project “Profile KfW”, the corporate culture was examined in a subsequent step. The revised guiding light should answer the question: what does “Bank of Responsibleness” actually mean for our daily work?
CX_Chart_Leitbildentwicklung_1200_600
The Guiding Light was established meticulously with the participation of virtually all KfW employees – by interviews, workshops, online surveys and editorial meetings. Throughout the departments Culture Ambassadors were nominated and related projects like Gender Balance and Code of Conduct were incorporated. The Guiding Light was then discussed and implemented in further functions. The new Guiding Light bundles the fundamental consensus on canon of values, good management and cooperation in KfW in five guiding and three further-reaching principles.
Consultant and coach: Hans-Ulrich Cyriax chaired the guiding light workshops
Wir halten unsere Werte hoch: Das Leitbild als Richtschur für das tägliche Handeln. 
We uphold our values: guiding light as golden rule for action

“We were convinced by Cyriax’s high professional and substantial competence. Furthermore it was pivotal for our project that the consultants dealt sovereignly and candidly with our specific processes and structures and thereby similarly involved the board, executives, employees and committees.”

Dr. Michael Helbig, Direktor Communication, KfW Bankengruppe