Breaking Insurance Clichés with a Ginger Smile

Balaker is the brand of Pavol Balák and his team. Pavol is one of the best-known insurance and mortgage specialists in Orava, a region in northern Slovakia. His business grew faster than his brand, and the visual identity no longer matched the level he works at today. On top of that, he works in a sector people rarely trust, where words like "insurance agent" or "financial adviser" tend to put them on guard. Our task was to bring the brand up to the level of the business without distancing Pavol from people.

At a strategy workshop, we went through the products, sales and the way Pavol talks to his clients. It turned out that the strongest argument is Pavol himself. He's a cheerful guy who turns up to meetings in a T-shirt, never pushes anyone into products and isn't afraid to laugh at himself. So we took Balaker out of its sector and built it as a category of its own: a partner you call when something needs sorting. The result is a brand book that defines not only the visuals but also the audience, the tone of voice, and what to film and how.

The name comes from the surname Balak, and the logo is a simple functionalist B that is easy to use and recognise. The core colour is orange, a nod to Pavol's ginger hair. In the fast-moving world of social media, a video of a ginger guy with orange sticks in your mind. Contrasting typography and simple iconography work on the website, in presentations at talks at home and abroad.