“There was intellectuality in the name Tinkoff”: experts spoke about T-Bank’s rebranding

According creative director of the Names Bureau and presenter of the Telegram channel of the same name Vadim Dunaevthe new name loses to the previous one due to brevity.

“We live in dynamic times and there is a temptation to shorten everything, but when it comes to naming, brevity is not at all the sister of talent. “I remember a wonderful moment” is a much more interesting message than just “I remember,” says Dunaev.

Dunaev claims that, for example, Sberbank sounds solemn and respectable, but, unfortunately, Sberbank is not.

“The name Tinkoff had intelligence, novelty, friendliness and even a touch of morning coffee,” says an expert in the field of names. But when those names are abandoned, the “brand landscape” becomes poorer.

“Whatever you name it, of course I’m sorry,” said the specialist.

Dunaev published a post on his Telegram channel, in which he indicated that the name change could soon affect other banks and that the logic when choosing names will be similar.

“Tochka JSC also applies for the letter “T” for banking services. Raiffeisenbank filed applications for the R-Bank trademark. Two people compete for the letter “X”: Hayes Bank and Home Bank. But Alfa Bank no longer needs to do anything: it has long had its own letter in the “banking alphabet,” Dunaev noted.

Bet on young people

“The T-Bank rebrand was not proposed on its own, but it has been shouting and shouting about its necessity for a long time. The former owner no longer has anything in common with the bank, its users and Russia,” he believes. Georgy Lobushkin, media expert and partner at the K2 agency.

According to Lobushkin, the vector change will not affect the customer base or brand awareness. On the contrary, the surname of foreign agent Oleg Tinkov has long become a household name and was often perceived with a negative connotation by a significant public.

The expert adds that this is a step that will only benefit the organization. “B-bank, A-bank, B-bank, tense!” – added Lobushkin.

Irina Abduraimova, General Marketing Director of ETP GPB Group believes that “family brands are linked to a personality and, in this case, the surname of an impactful personality” and, in light of the Tinkoff and Rosbank merger, a rebrand is necessary.

Abduraimova is confident that there is a global trend towards name changes, when brands seek greater brevity, which is positively perceived by the younger audience, which is already fed up with a lot of information and gravitates towards minimalism. That is why Sberbank became Sber.

““T-Bank” can now be interpreted, for example, as “your bank” and allows for many more interesting interpretations. At the same time, they left continuity: the corporate style is still recognizable, the name change did not in any way limit the team in creating communication stories. On the contrary, I would say that the field of creativity has expanded. “It’s great that the tagline remains the same and overall the marketing team did a great job,” the marketer explained.

Aburaimova added that, contrary to popular belief, Russia has not now closed itself off from the world; For example, the brands “ETP GPB” and VESNA actively cooperate with the BRICS countries.

“T-Bank is preparing to enter international markets. Consequently, the rebranding and the new name will facilitate export abroad,” stated the marketer.

Word to the founder

founder of the bank Oleg Tinkov, recognized as a foreign agent, On social networks he commented on the refusal to use his last name in the name of an asset already sold.

“Guys, this is my last idea: change the name to Bank Z, and not Bank T,” Tinkov addressed the address of the credit institution (spelling and punctuation are preserved). Foreign agent Tinkov, who had already left Russia and renounced Russian citizenship, said he was glad his name was no longer associated with the bank.

• On June 5 it became known that Tinkoff had updated its brand: the credit institution is now called T-Bank. The name change is a new stage in the development of the brand, TKS Holding reported.
• All products and services began operating under new names from June 5. Until fall 2024, the company will change the design of cards, the appearance of ATMs, and the design of other elements. The company hopes to use the letter “T” for new business areas.

The former Tinkoff explained why they decided to become T-Bank

“In February 2024 we already updated the logo, now it is time to change the name: we want to move away from the familiarity that was once fashionable and replace it with something more concise and modern,” the company explained.

The bank believes that the letter “T” is becoming a recognizable visual element of the ecosystem’s products and services. Another reason to change the name: to scale into international markets.

All banking products and certificates remain valid, but the names of the banking products will change. For example, the Tinkoff Black debit card is now simply called Black. “Tinkoff City” became simply “City”, and “Tinkoff Insurance” is now “T-Insurance”.

Tinkoff Bank founder and now foreign agent Oleg Tinkov said in 2022 that the sale of a 35 percent stake in TCS Group (Tinkoff Bank, Tinkoff Insurance and other assets) to Vladimir Potanin’s Interros was a necessary move. The businessman said he was “forced” to sell his stake “for pennies” after making public statements about a special operation in Ukraine.