A private banking client magazine with a different definition of wealth – Bethmann Bank Character Magazin
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SERVICE

PRINT


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CLIENT INFO

Bethmann Bank AG, founded in Frankfurt am Main in 1712, is widely regarded as one of the most prolific German private banking institution with a long-standing tradition in private wealth management. Thanks to its impressive growth over the past years, it is now ranked as the 3rd biggest private bank in Germany. In order for them to be ready for the next decade and beyond, we happily work with Bethmann Bank AG on stringent marketing and strategic positioning, brand strategy, visual identity, advertising, digital and interactive solutions, and much more.

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INITIAL SITUATION

While looking back at Bethmann Bank AG's extended history, one should not lose sight of the present and future challenges of the banking marketplace. A key theme for the Bethmann Bank was how to get in touch with a new and younger generation of clients based on the traditions of their history and their values, but communicated through an emotive modern aesthetic. Therefore, Bethmann Bank approached us to develop and conceptualize a completely new, fresh-faced client magazine evolving around their business ideals of clarity, performance and – Character.

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PROJECT BACKGROUND

From the very beginning, it was clear that the Character Magazin had to communicate not only the core values of Bethmann Bank, but also to transcend the dimensions of past, present and future in order to deliver relevant, undogmatic and engaging content to their younger as well as older readers. To that end, the Character Magazin embodies a deliberate effort to move away from the rather old-fashioned banking magazines that predominantly focus on topics related to finance.

For the new Character Magazin, authenticity of the portrayed characters, high quality content and stimulation of deeper societal dialogue are vital aspects. Additionally, the Character Magazin includes video production for future digital deployment of content.

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OUTCOMES

Conceptualizing the Character Magazin necessitated the complex balancing of core values, dimensions of time and content in order to keep the magazine simultaneously simple and flexible in its structure. We ultimately decided to employ a matrix grid, which we based around the categories of tradition, present and future in order to deliver a finely varied magazine: based on tradition, building the present and shaping the future.

Each magazine evolves around a personal in-depth portrayal of a unique character, recurring throughout the magazine in different categories. This way, we are able to communicate the core values inherently linked to Bethmann Bank in an emotionally enriched and professional way, thus giving them an actual face of the present. Furthermore, we put extensive time and effort into giving the Character Magazin a timeless yet modern and contemporary feel in terms of design, readability and sustainability: for the very first edition, we used Bagasse for the cover, a high-quality sustainable paper made of sugar cane with an open surface structure, giving it a warm and natural feel.

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AWARDS

The Character Magazine was honoured Gold for best B2C magazine and Gold for print finishing by the International Corporate Media Award (November 2014)



Winner of German Design Award 2019 in Editorial categoryCharacter Magazine GDA 19 Winner

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FEATURES

  • Special relief imprinting on the cover of each magazine symbolically representing the portrayed character. For Mr. Niewodniczanski, we used the altitude mapping of his winegrowing territory.
  • FSC-certificated, sustainable eco-paper
  • Oversize format A4

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HALL OF FAME

  • NO. 1 Antje von Dewitz
  • NO. 2 Dieter Burmester
  • NO. 3 Roman Niewodniczanski
  • NO. 4 Eberhard Havekost
  • NO. 5 Ali Güngörmüs
  • NO. 6 Stephanie Czerny
  • NO. 7 Sol Gabetta
  • NO. 8 Nico Hofmann
  • NO. 9 Kurt Schrimm
  • NO. 10 Christine Thürmer
  • NO. 11 Claudia Kessler
  • NO. 12 Alisée de Tonnac
  • NO. 13 Christoph Keller
  • NO. 14 Oliver Holy
  • NO. 15 Dr. Monika Hauser
  • NO. 16 Sebastian Copeland
  • NO. 17 Armin Steuernagel
  • NO. 18 Dr. Friederike Otto
Christian Fischer - Biedermann und Brandstift