J n New 'Stijl' campaign aims at international markets eabo band In banking, as in art, a clear concept can make all the difference. M Rabobank fS For more than ten years, adver tisements featuring Rembrandt van Rijn, the famous 17th century Dutch artist, helped to expand our Group's profile abroad. Piet Mondriaan took over that task at the end of January, although the objectives are now somewhat different. In other words: Rabo bank's international campaign has changed its complexion. Piet Mondriaan, the new Rembrandt Mondriaan Issue 1/April 7, 1988 U. n.1» C+*r. Loméo m The Dutch artist Mondriaan spent more than 20 years refining a style of painting he called neo-plasticism. Similarly, Rabobank carefully defined and refined its industry grew, so did Rabobank, becoming the largest domestic bank. Today, with total assets of US$ 75 bil- ÜfjljllA lion, Rabobank is one of the top 50 banks in the world, with offices in major finanaal centres and ports around the globe, active in financmg, agribusiness, The Art of Dutch Banking commodities and every aspect of international bank ing. And we still have our own clear, longterm view of cliënt relationship, based on commitment, Ho*, Xo-t Jaluu. Cn« AOCA «ANK (FiankliM 1 "iÜS'iiSJÏi. xh. Siwngjn) dedication and trust. One of the advertisements hightighting the works of Mondriaan. Although it is a great stride from Rembrandt to Mondriaan, this step is fully justified. Ton van Iperen of the International Publicity Department has been busily engaged in the preparations of the campaign. 'Despite the positive results of the Rembrandt campaign, you still have to ask a number of questions', he thinks, 'what image do you want to establish on the international market? How do you wish to communicate? What are the long-term effects?' The answers to these questions and the results of the inquiry into the image of our Group, triggered the prepara tions for the new campaign. Thanks to the advertisements featuring Rembrandt's works, Rabobank has come to be viewed as a genuine Dutch bank. This was underscored by the slogan 'Rembrandt country is Rabobank country'. Rabobank's stature as an international bank is growing. The number of our member banks' Dutch customers who do business with other countries is on the increase. Says Van Ipe ren: 'This is testified by the growth in the number of offices beyond our national fron tiers. The new campaign can make that clear. Rembrandt appeared to evoke a some- what conservative image. Mondriaan is more contemporary and links up with our 'way of banking', our co-operative structure. The symbolism in his paintings typifies our solid mode of operation.' Whilst the campaign is referred to as 'Mondriaan campaign', this is actually not quite right, we are here concerned with a trend in Dutch art known as 'De Stijl', of which Mondriaan was an exponent. Says Van Iperen: 'The main point is the brightness, strength and vision emanating from 'De Stijl'. The work of other 'Stijl' group members may serve our purpose as well in the future. For that reason the name of Mondriaan is given somewhat less prominence than Rembrandt's in the previous campaign. This is in conformity with the criteria we have formulated. Along with the requirement for international pro- fessionalism we have opted for continuity in the campaign. We stick to the 'art' theme, which proved to be a positive element in the Rembrandt advertisements. The campaign has been tested in New York and Singapore, with positive results. It was further elaborated in close conjunc- tion with the foreign-based offices. For the present there are three versions of the ad- vertisement, one destined for the sector aimed at the Netherlands, one aimed at agribusiness and one presenting a general image of the Rabobank Group. The media have been chosen with care. Says Van Ipe ren: 'That is necessary in view of our rela- tively limited budget and the widespread target group we have to cover.' The adver tisements are put in a number of major financial and economie newspapers such as the Financial Times, the Economist and the Wall Street Journal. For better coverage they are furthermore placed in publications that directly support the various locations. Exam- ples of these are Le Nouvel Economist in France and the Far Eastern Economie Re- view in Asia. An exception is West Germany, where ADCA-BANK conducts its own cam paign. Promotional activities following nat- urally from the Mondriaan campaign have also been developed. A case in point is the sponsoring of the Mondriaan exhibition staged at the Gemeentemuseum at The Flague from February 20 to May 30. With some 300 paintings and drawings this museum boasts the world's biggest collec- tion of Mondriaan's works. The exhibition styled 'Mondriaan, From figuration to abstraction' comprises 170 works owned by the museum itself. In addition, 70 works from the private collection of 92 year old Sidney Janis of New York are displayed. The latter collection has never been exhibited in its entirety. Usually only a few works lent out for an exhibition. Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, usually called 'Mondriaan' for short, is best known for the 'lines and planes' technique used in his works. Black lines and white planes, combined with the colours yellow, blue and red. Mondriaan was bom in Amersfoort, a small town in the centre of the Nether lands, on March 7 1872. In 1892 he went to the art academy in Amsterdam. He started by painting landscapes. His tech nique evolved slowly. Not only the form of objects painted by him changed, his col- ouring also became different, i.e. brighter. While at first a tree was represented by him as a tree and a steeple as a steeple, they were reduced to simple line patterns later on. Mondriaan left for Paris in 1911 where he met people like Picasso and Bra- que. This influenced his development to- wards abstract art. During Word War I he stayed in the Netherlands where he beca me a contributor to the art magazine 'De Stijl' among other publications. The threat of World War II induced him to go to Lon- don in 1938 and subsequently to New York in 1940, where he died in 1944.

Rabobank Bronnenarchief

blad 'Raboband International' (EN) | 1988 | | pagina 7