Commonwealth Bank rolls out new brand identity

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s (CBA) current yellow and black diamond logo, designed by Ken Cato and and launched in 1991, was conceptualised on the Southern Cross constellation.

The yellow portion linked the five points between each star with the black completing the diamond shape.

It was accompanied by the wider use of the original name “Commonwealth Bank”, which was boldly spelled out while incorporating a typographical “arch” merging the two m’s in the middle of the word. 

The merged m’s and the black stripe have now been removed, the word “Commonwealth” and “Bank” have been separated and the logo is now overlaid onto a black background.

(The old Commonwealth Bank logo [left] and the new logo [right] launched this week.)

Commonwealth Bank partnered with M&C Saatchi and Re Agency for the rebrand, which also has updated the Can platform to incorporate the slogan “Can lives here”.

Commonwealth Bank’s chief marketing officer, Monique Macleod, added: “With the work we are doing to reinvent the organisation around a new strategy and values, now is the right time to refresh the iconic diamond, making it lighter, brighter and more dynamic, and inject new meaning into the Can platform.

“A symbol of optimism fit for the future and one that represents the work we’ve done to be better, the work we still have to do, and the brighter future we are committed to helping Australia achieve,” she said.

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