BNL strengthens its visual identity by adopting a new logo which reveals its belonging to BNP Paribas, one of the top 15 world-wide banking groups. This new identity will be at the heart of a major event for BNL in terms of sponsorship: the Italian bank will become Title Sponsor of the Italian international tennis championships (“Internazionali di tennis d'Italia”) played in Rome.
New BNL logo
Presented in preview at a convention of 500 managers of the bank who met a few days ago, the new logo embodies the two fundamental characteristics of the BNL identity after its entry into the BNP Paribas Group:
- BNL will keep its role as an all-round bank, based on the strong relationship it has had with its customers all over Italy since 1913;
- BNL is becoming the main representative of BNP Paribas in Italy, the international banking and financial services group which is present in 85 countries. All BNL's customers will immediately become aware that it belongs to the BNP Paribas group.
The new logo consists of:
- the BNL name;
- the BNP Paribas group signature;
to which two graphic elements have been added:
- the “stars in flight”, the stars that are transformed into a swallow in flight, is the logo common to all the companies in the BNP Paribas group. This logo, developed after a study conducted with customers in Europe, America and Asia, was chosen in 1999 following the merger between BNP and Paribas. It has demonstrated its ability to convey strong values:
- the stars suggest the European origin of the group; their transmutation into a swallow demonstrates its capacity for adaptation;
- the flight movement lends itself to graphic animation and symbolizes dynamism. The BNP Paribas logo is one of the first large-scale company logos specifically conceived for the era of video and internet and embodies the graphic representation of the group, now also adopted by BNL: the “bank for a changing world”.
- the stars suggest the European origin of the group; their transmutation into a swallow demonstrates its capacity for adaptation;
- A red line between the BNL name and the words “BNP Paribas Group”. This warm colour, which is not part of BNP Paribas's usual graphic coding, has been especially chosen to embody the renewal of BNL and to symbolize its close relationship with its customers all over Italy.
The new BNL logo was tested in focus groups with Italian customers and non-customers, who recognized the values of dynamism and adaptation, as well as the reference to the European identity. In the association of BNL with the BNP Paribas group everyone saw the promise of a bank which is always ahead of the game in terms of innovation and service, while still paying close attention to customer relations and socially responsible values.
The new BNL logo will be used on the internet from the end of August and during September on all group advertising. Its installation in the agencies and in group buildings will begin in the fourth quarter of 2006 and continue into the following year.
BNL - Title Sponsor of the Italian international tennis championships
The new identity will play a central role in an important initiative, destined both to reaffirm the ambitions of the “new BNL” within the framework of the BNP Paribas Group and to reinforce the relationship of the Bank with the Italian public: beginning in 2007, BNL will become the “title sponsor” of the men's and women's Italian international tennis championships.
In becoming the title sponsor of a big international sporting event taking place in Rome, BNL is showing both its dynamism and its attachment to its own Italian roots; while aligning itself with tennis which is closely identified at international level with BNP Paribas.
BNP Paribas, since 1973 the title sponsor of the international championships in France, has become a world-level tennis partner over time. Apart from its presence at the Roland Garros event, the BNP Paribas group is the “title sponsor” of the team tennis world championships, the Davis Cup for men and the Fed Cup for women (which this year will see Italy facing Belgium in the final on 16 and 17 September). BNP Paribas is also a partner in the two big masters tournaments, the BNP Paribas Masters at Paris-Bercy and the Monte Carlo Open. The group sponsors a number of other ATP and WTA tournaments all over the world, particularly through its own subsidiary in the west of the United States, the famous women's tournament – “Bank of the West Classic”, played in California.
The next “BNL Italy Internationals” will take place from 5 to 20 May 2007. The men's competition is one of the 9 masters of the ATP Masters Series circuit, while the women's is one of the main WTA circuit competitions. During the last few years, the tournament has benefited from considerable efforts made by the Italian Tennis Federation to strengthen its prestige and visibility. The 2006 Nadal-Federer and Hingis-Safina finals beat all audience records. BNL is happy to associate its image with this tournament, which represents a “value growth” in Italian sport and world level tennis.