The Story Behind the Numbers

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Message The Story Behind the Numbers South Korea is a nation in transition. The market is highly competitive, frequently contradictory, and rapidly changing. This makes it neither easy nor common for a business to commit to a single brand identity. But HyundaiCard, one of the largest credit card companies in the country, saw an opportunity to innovate—to evolve from being perceived as a mere lender to being considered an integral part of the prevailing consumer lifestyle. HyundaiCard already had an extensive portfolio, but it needed a clearer message: Consumers knew the company was different, but they weren’t sure how or why. The company tapped IDEO to tell the brand’s story and then connect it with how users interact with HyundaiCard products and services. To develop a strategy, the creative team immersed itself in HyundaiCard’s internal culture and operations. They met with managers and other stakeholders to get a feel for how each might use brand guidelines to inform their work. The team also spent two weeks interviewing consumers and, with the data gathered, they outlined seven social tensions. These concepts, which ranged from work/life balance to urban environmentalism, were presented to HyundaiCard in the form of black-and-white photographs. Internal discussions of the images led to the development of seven design rules that provided clarity and constraints for HyundaiCard communications. Ultimately, the creative team was able to convey the HyundaiCard brand in a simple phrase: “Life beyond the numbers.” They created a complementary style guide with specifications for fonts, tone of voice, layout, photography, and illustration that were used to design or redesigned the company’s service-oriented informational materials. The style was applied to the Web site, members’ bulletin, application form, activation sticker, and billing statement for three key products, including the exclusive Black card. (The design rules were so well received that they were translated to Korean and shared companywide.) As part of this project, HyundaiCard and IDEO also realized that manipulating a credit card itself, using existing manufacturing technologies, would build brand equity. So they infused color into the layers of plastic and added graphics to the magnetic strip. Both elements were then connected to the brand to make it—and the associated products and services—tangible. Today the HyundaiCard brand is successfully and clearly re-established as a lifestyle brand. New products build on the company’s story and present the consumer with more options. For each new card, the design can be more easily implemented given the style guide and rules of design that we established as a starting point for communication. By December 2008, HyundaiCard’s market share had increased to 14.7 percent, up from 13.5 percent in March 2008. During the same period, customer satisfaction jumped to 81 percent (up from 19 percent). Spending per person grew 14 percent and activation rate rose 6.2 percent. http://www.ideo.com/work/the-story-behind-the-numbers/

South Korea is a nation in transition. The market is highly competitive, frequently contradictory, and rapidly changing. This makes it neither easy nor common for a business to commit to a single brand identity. But HyundaiCard, one of the largest credit card companies in the country, saw an opportunity to innovate—to evolve from being perceived as a mere lender to being considered an integral part of the prevailing consumer lifestyle.

HyundaiCard already had an extensive portfolio, but it needed a clearer message: Consumers knew the company was different, but they weren’t sure how or why. The company tapped IDEO to tell the brand’s story and then connect it with how users interact with HyundaiCard products and services.

To develop a strategy, the creative team immersed itself in HyundaiCard’s internal culture and operations. They met with managers and other stakeholders to get a feel for how each might use brand guidelines to inform their work. The team also spent two weeks interviewing consumers and, with the data gathered, they outlined seven social tensions. These concepts, which ranged from work/life balance to urban environmentalism, were presented to HyundaiCard in the form of black-and-white photographs. Internal discussions of the images led to the development of seven design rules that provided clarity and constraints for HyundaiCard communications.

Ultimately, the creative team was able to convey the HyundaiCard brand in a simple phrase: “Life beyond the numbers.” They created a complementary style guide with specifications for fonts, tone of voice, layout, photography, and illustration that were used to design or redesigned the company’s service-oriented informational materials. The style was applied to the Web site, members’ bulletin, application form, activation sticker, and billing statement for three key products, including the exclusive Black card. (The design rules were so well received that they were translated to Korean and shared companywide.) As part of this project, HyundaiCard and IDEO also realized that manipulating a credit card itself, using existing manufacturing technologies, would build brand equity. So they infused color into the layers of plastic and added graphics to the magnetic strip. Both elements were then connected to the brand to make it—and the associated products and services—tangible.

Today the HyundaiCard brand is successfully and clearly re-established as a lifestyle brand. New products build on the company’s story and present the consumer with more options. For each new card, the design can be more easily implemented given the style guide and rules of design that we established as a starting point for communication. By December 2008, HyundaiCard’s market share had increased to 14.7 percent, up from 13.5 percent in March 2008. During the same period, customer satisfaction jumped to 81 percent (up from 19 percent). Spending per person grew 14 percent and activation rate rose 6.2 percent.