Novo Banco embarks on “butterfly” publicity campaign

As Novo Banco’s beleaguered employees turned their computers on for the day on Friday, they were greeted with the institution’s latest attempt at image-change: the new logo that is designed to literally fly the trouble-torn bank back to the land of plenty. A butterfly, no less, symbolising transformation, change and renovation.
Advertising agency BBDO – the same company that handled BES’ former publicity – has also come up with a brave new slogan, loosely translating into: “Being born into a team like ours is a good start.”
The fact that butterflies are often associated with people who cannot settle – or even worse, the butterfly effect: “sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory”, not to forget the fact that they do not live very long – has not affected the campaign which, according to Jornal de Negócios, is designed to cheer workers who “have had to face client distrust for several weeks”, while at the same time thanking customers who have chosen not to move their accounts.
Currently being aired on radio, and taking full page adverts in a number of newspapers, the campaign has adopted very much softer greens than the colour used in BES’ historic motif.
JN adds that there is also a Novo Banco online address for clients, but that this “is still in a preliminary state”.
Meantime, Negócios online reports that two of the former BES administrators suspended by the Bank of Portugal have now joined Novo Banco’s new management team.
Joaquim Goes and António Souto were welcomed back to the fold after writing to Carlos Costa, governor of the Bank of Portugal, “to explain that they had taken up their jobs (at BES) recently and therefore could not be held accountable for any fraudulent management by the team led by Ricardo Salgado”.
The duo are now working to help bank boss Vítor Bento come up with a winning strategy to save the day.
Novo Banco is running on a total of €8.4 billion worth of rescue funding, and the plan is to be able to sell it on within two years to try at least to recoup the €4.9 billion bailout made up of troika funding.