Canadian Retailer - The Marketing Issue - 40

BRAND EVOLUTION
Evolving the Brand

Interac faced significant challenges in developing its brand,
even though it has been around as a debit payment company
since 1984.
As Danovitch explains, most Canadians recognize the Interac trademark. They've been looking at it for decades. But they
don't always know what Interac is, or what the company behind
the brand is about. For many, it's another omnipresent, benign,
reliable functionality-always there, always doing the job.
But the ways Interac differs from other payment networks
gave the company a way to transform its brand. Consumers, for a
variety of reasons, had a connection and familiarity to the debit
trademark and its services, which continue to grow and evolve.
And Interac had a key differentiator-it gives consumers
access to their money. It's a differentiator that the brand campaign uses to spark a conversation with consumers about the
benefits of spending their own money, not credit.
Danovitch says customers can keep their confidence in Interac. "When new form factors come along, customers will
know we're still the company to turn to in times when they
don't always feel safe with the fast changes coming at them."
Interac's bold marketing
messages resonate with
debt-stricken Canadians.

A brand for the future

For retailers, the chase is on. They have to catch those customers. Their brands, hopefully, give them forward momentum.
It's the same with Interac. The payments company serves a
wide range of stakeholders, which includes consumers, retailers, and the financial community, as well as
developers who want to innovate and build
BRAND LEGACY AND CHANGE
new software off Interac's platforms. PreThink of a brand as an organism. It has a lifespan,
senting a consistent brand to such a fraggrows over time and changes with its environment.
mented audience is only possible if the comUnless a brand is so tarred with controversy
pany stands for something that consumers
that it needs to cut ties with its past, most brand
need, want, and desire.
development builds on previous incarnations of the
brand. Retailers who want to revamp their brand
The Interac brand identity finds conneed to balance brand legacy with brand invention.
sistency in the values of trust and reliability
"It's important to understand where you came
and in the company's focus on security and
from, what you started out standing for, and what
speed in its latest product offerings. Interac
you need to evolve," says Danovitch.
Flash, its latest service, lets retailers accept
Retailers should study what consumers love about
debit payments through the tap of a debit
the brand so those elements can carry forward to
card or mobile devices. For mobile consumthe next incarnation of the brand. The brand isn't
changing, but evolving in a way that extends and
ers and the retailers who serve them, Indevelops the elements customers love, while editing
terac Flash's secure, contactless technology
out confusing and outdated brand elements.
moves money faster and speeds up checkout
New businesses should establish a brand that
lines. It's a godsend for consumers who want
stands for something, and for good reasons. A
to pay quickly, safely and easily.
brand that doesn't stand for something has rubber
For today, and for tomorrow, Interac will
legs. It will stagger into the future.
ask consumers to choose their own money,
not credit, when they make daily purchases.
And they will help their many stakeholders navigate the payments ecosystem now more than ever through the influx of
digital payment options.

40 |

CANADIAN RETAILER

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