From strategy to multi-year executions

Mashreq Bank brand revamp

Rise Every Day. Five years of work that made financial history in the Middle East and added 1.6 billion USD in brand value

Mashreq has been banking the UAE since 1967. Everyone knew the name. Almost nobody knew what the bank stood for. The brief was to change that. not with a logo refresh or a new tagline, but with a fundamental repositioning of what the bank believed and how it showed up in people's lives. We worked with Mashreq for over five years across brand strategy, campaign, ESG, sports sponsorship, digital banking, and private banking. The result was $1.6 billion in brand value growth, the fastest growing banking brand in the Middle East, and a top 150 global ranking.

A woman with a prosthetic leg hiking up a rocky mountain trail at sunset.
“The fastest growing banking brand in the Middle East.”
— Brand Finance

Client
Mashreq Bank

Market
MENA + Pakistan and beyond

Scope
Brand strategy, creative direction, activation, launch, sports sponsorship, collaboration and partnership strategies, execution integrated across content, events, retail touchpoints, app-integrations and much more

Modern building with illuminated facade and a sign that reads 'Mashreq' in English and Arabic, with a logo of an orange lotus flower, parked cars in front.
Woman using a transparent virtual interface with banking options on her smartphone at night near a wire fence.
A man in water holding a fishing net with a fish, near a boat at sunset, with mountains in the background. The image includes text saying 'Every day is a new challenge but it's also a new opportunity' and 'Rise every day.' The Mashreq logo is in the top right corner.
Woman mechanic inspecting and repairing the underside of a car using a flashlight in a garage or workshop.
An outdoor rooftop event at night with people socializing, modern decor, city skyline, and water view, illuminated by lights.
A person stands on a highway at sunset with a vintage sports car parked nearby, city skyline in the background, and a trail of light leading into the distance.

Make the UAE's oldest private bank stand out in a fiercely competitive market. Move beyond awareness into genuine brand love. Stop talking about products and start talking about people. Find a position that's honest about what it actually takes to succeed; not just aspirational, but real.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Fastest growing banking brand - Brand Finance
Most Sustainable Brand Activation - Forbes
Numerous awards in comms, sustainability, PR, activation, digital and more

BRIEF

Rise Every Day. With all the grit and difficulty that implies. We repositioned the bank around the human truth of what it means to pursue your own version of success in a city built on ambition. A brand campaign revamp covering everything from the tagline to the visual identity, introducing a sunrise gradient as a brand device, and a powerful series of ambassador films featuring people who overcame genuine odds. 

INSIGHTS & APPROACH

Drone show reveal. Metro takeover. OOH across UAE and Egypt. Internal launch to bring the employees into the shift before the public ever saw it. Then we built the sports sponsorship strategy from scratch — padel, football, wellness — leading to the Visa x Mo Salah partnership, the Mashreq Padel Tournament, and regional sponsorship of the Argentina national team. Then ESG — Climb2Change, cleaning 14 of the world's highest peaks including Everest base camp and K2, 50 million people reached, COP 27, 28 and 29 engagement, 100% recycled plastic cards. Five years. Every touchpoint.

RESULTS

$1.6 billion in brand value growth. Fastest growing banking brand in the Middle East. Top 150 globally. A bank that went from legacy institution to digital disruptor. Not by changing what it was, but by finally being honest about who it was for: a legacy-turned challenger bank, built for the challengers.

EXECUTION & IMPACT

What it really took to pull it off.