Valiant’s new employer branding campaign deliberately breaks away from what many people associate with banks: rigid role models, formal structures, and distant communication. With the «Live Purple» campaign concept, developed in collaboration with Maybaum Film, Valiant is putting its employer branding front and center—and showing what working at the purple bank is really all about.
Inner Voice Instead of Voice-Over
Instead of a traditional voice-over narration, the film uses the protagonists’ inner voices to guide the audience through the story. The focus is on three strong-willed individuals who offer a personal glimpse into their attitudes, motivations, and daily work lives. The film was shot at various Valiant locations. The message it aims to convey is: take responsibility, think proactively, act with empathy, and find solutions together.
Long-standing partnership with Maybaum Film
For Maybaum Film, «Lila leben» marks another chapter in a long-standing collaboration with Valiant. Laurent Ulrich, co-founder and head of production at Maybaum Film, describes their shared vision this way: «The collaboration is characterized by a deep sense of trust and a shared commitment to telling authentic stories. With »Lila leben,’ we were able to develop a film that doesn’t simply explain what Valiant stands for, but rather brings its corporate culture to life.”
Valiant Employer Branding with a New HR Visual Identity
The campaign is complemented by a new series of HR images by photographer Lea Moser, designed to bring the company’s culture to life visually. Maybaum Film is an owner-managed, full-service video production company based in Baden with 25 employees; it has been in business since 2006.
Responsible at Valiant: Nicole Trachsel, HR Marketing and Employer Branding Specialist. Development and Production: Maybaum Film – Production Manager: Laurent Ulrich; Director, Idea & Concept: Alena Huber; Creative Producer: Till Hüssy; Cinematography & Editing: Nikolas Reigel; Color Grading: Silvan Michel; Gaffer: Tim Sommer; Audio Mastering: Tim Zumstein.
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Taru Koch will take over as Head of Communications at Valiant Bank on May 1, 2026. She will succeed Thomas Ulrich, who will focus independently on strategic mandates in future.
The graduate business economist and Master of Arts HSG in Marketing, Service and Communication Management has many years of experience in marketing and communication. She has worked in various functions and was Head of Marketing at IBM Switzerland until 2017. Most recently, she was Head of Communication & Brand Management at PostFinance, where she was responsible for corporate communications and brand strategy.
The 43-year-old Bernese and mother of two lives with her family in Bern. In her new role, she will head the Communications division at Valiant with the Corporate Communications and Marketing Communications departments and will report directly to CEO Ewald Burgener.
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"Your leap into retirement: Are you prepared?" With this headline Valiant launched the new campaign for its pension check in autumn. The idea and implementation came from the Bern-based agency Go Slow.
Poster, print, DOOH and direct mail for Valiant
Thanks to the early pension check, Valiant clients can one day enter retirement financially secure and full of joy. This idea was implemented in the key visual (poster, advertisement, DOOH) as well as in a 3-step direct mailing with different subjects.
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Of course, the bank gives its Insta profile not just out of your hand. Valerie is a fictional character played by actress Désirée Naef. With her help, the bank not only brings Valerie to life, but also a new concept for Instagram. Instead of rather incoherent posts as before, the story is now told in continuous episodes from Valerie's everyday life.
In the course of the episodes, which are published every two weeks, she also comes into contact with financial topics, such as home financing. Each episode consists of four to five images per (carousel) post and just as many videos in the typical portrait format, which are published as accompanying stories. The second season will be launched in 2021.
The idea was conceived and implemented by Newsroom Communication in collaboration with the communication design agency Captns. This constellation already supported Valiant Bank in the past with numerous activities on Instagram.
The young actors are from the ensemble of the Oberländer Märlibühne, which is supported by Valiant as the main sponsor.
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In a special assignment, Newsroom Communication helps the bank to communicate quickly and multimedia-based in the current situation. On the microsite Valiant-lilaktuell.ch cross-media content was aggregated bilingually. For example, a message from CEO Ewald Burgener, explanations from Valiant's security officer in connection with cybercriminals and Corona, and an interview with an economist from the University of Bern were produced.
Further, Newsroom Communication visited a business directly affected by the Corona situation for Valiant, in compliance with FOPH guidelines. The owner of the clothing store Olmo in Bern tells in an article how his business received an SME loan from Valiant to survive the lockdown period.
In parallel, a special edition of the customer magazine "ValOr" was also implemented in a very short time by the partner agency Klarkom, in close coordination with the digital formats.
The communication measures already have well over 20,000 views on the various channels together. The figures show the great response of a transparent, fast and versatile information communication.
To this end, the digital agency has developed a comprehensive social media advertising concept. It covers the entire user funnel from branding to conversion and accompanies potential customers on their entire customer journey. The target group is addressed via Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Bettina Ammann, Head of Digital Communication at Valiant, explains: "Especially for financial service providers, communication via social media is not that easy, as many messages with content related to financial topics are subject to strict regulations. With Ads&figures, we have found a partner that brings corresponding expertise in the digital field and has optimally advised and supported us in this challenge."
"Green is the hope. Purple is the bank": With messages like these, Go Slow effectively introduced Valiant to the people of eastern Switzerland. The color doctrine àla Valiantwas spread via posters, advertisements, train station screens, online banners and measures in the FC St. Gallen stadium. Purple is the bratwurst paperFor the invitation to the open day in St. Gallen, go slow created an insert in the St. Galler Tagblatt - equipped with a bratwurst paper as a voucher for a free sausage. The people of Wiler were invited to visit the open day with a mailbox flap mailing.From November 4 in St. Gallen, from 18 in WilThe Valiant branch in St. Gallen opened its doors on November 4, 2019, in Wil the opening followed on November 18. There, customers will receive personal advice on financing, investments and pension solutions combined with innovative banking services.
For several years, Valiant has been advertising with the claim "We are simply bank". On November 5, the new campaign will be launched with TV commercials and online advertising on Instagram and YouTube, among others.
The new appearance puts Valiant's customer-focused orientation even more at the center. Complementing the brand message, the second phase provides proof of the brand promise of simplicity - with services such as online account opening, the Hypo-Check or the Business Sets for SMEs and self-employed persons.
Valiant is the bank for people who want to deal with banking issues as little as possible because their days are already full enough. The TV spot therefore shows the normal madness of everyday life of people who are in the middle of life and for whom simple tools and the uncomplicated dealings of a financial partner are crucial. The whole thing is accompanied by a poetry slam about stressful everyday life. The rhythm of the film is determined solely by the word art of the slam poet and minimal sound design. In the end, everything culminates in the campaign sentence "You can't fit a complicated bank into a full day. - Valiant. We are simply bank."
Two versions were specially produced for German and French-speaking Switzerland. The poetry slammer Jo ël Perrin could be won for the German version. The French version is spoken by Pablo Michellod.
Responsible at Valiant: Thomas Ulrich (Head of Communications), Benjamin Krebs (Head of Marketing Communications), Bettina Ammann (Senior Project Manager Marketing Communications). Responsible at Thjnk Zurich: Alexander Jaggy (GF Creation), Pablo Schencke (Creative Direction), Lukas Frischknecht, Coco Hess (Art Direction), Andrea Bison (GF Consulting), Marie Vuilleumier (Project Management), Gordon Nemitz (GF Strategy), Cat Ruythinx (Texte français). Responsible at Stories: Christian Aeby (Director), Peter Meyer (DOP), Yves Bollag (Executive Producer), Stefanie Bereiter (Line Producer), Sam Sneade (Editor), Billy Bains (Postproduction Producer), Jingle Jungle (Sound).
After a pitch, the communications agency prevailed and will be the new creative lead agency. Thjnk Zurich now faces the task of bringing the brand's positioning to life communicatively and thus making Valiant even better known.
Valiant Bank is an independent retail and SME bank operating exclusively in Switzerland with 91 branches in eleven cantons. Valiant employs around 1,000 people.
Thjnk Zurich was founded two years ago and today serves nine customers.