Behind the voice: GoTyme.

Creating an empathetic brand to help bring financial freedom to the unbanked in the Philippines.

TymeBank have been championing financial inclusion in South Africa for years. By 2021, they had over 3 million users and were ready to do the same in the Philippines. TymeBank partnered with Go, a global contactless provider, to launch GoTyme, a digital and in-person bank built to bring financial empowerment to everyone who uses it. Our job was to create a brand that could bring authenticity and empathy to the world of banking in order to help GoTyme stand out in a crowded market and connect with people who were traditionally sceptical of banks. And that meant developing a brand voice that would resonate with people across the Philippines in a real way.

Understanding banking in the Philippines. 

We worked closely with the GoTyme team to understand the financial power imbalance in the Filipino market. Together, we used cultural insight to build a strategy framework for the project: one that would ensure every aspect of the design helped GoTyme in their mission to unlock people’s potential and provide an empathy-fuelled alternative to existing banking services.

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Learning how to connect with a Filipino audience. 

It was clear from the start that, if the brand was going to assist GoTyme breaking down barriers to entry and help people truly feel that financial freedom is attainable, it would need to behave in a way that felt familiar, local and genuine. To do that, the brand had to speak in Filipino English. 

By partnering with GoTyme’s copywriting team, we were able to make sure the voice principles we developed and the copy that came from them would land the way they were intended to. We started by drafting principles and example copy, then poured over the language with GoTyme’s writers and refined each one until the brand accurately and authentically reflected the people who would be using it. 

A familiar voice in a world of ones and zeros.

GoTyme’s personality is encouraging, clear and good-humoured. It celebrates even the smallest successes, but never gets in the way of people doing exactly what they want. While it was important to stand apart from impersonal traditional banks, we needed to make sure it didn’t end up sounding like the forced friendliness of digital banks and e-wallets. To get the balance right, GoTyme’s voice needed to do four things:

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1. In a world of impersonal traditional banks and disingenuous digital services, GoTyme needed to be surprisingly empathetic, real and current.

GoTyme does this by speaking casually and plainly. They call out the inhuman tendencies in the banking sector and never follow insincere industry trends. They use current language, but don’t try too hard to sound cool.

2. Every interaction with GoTyme needed to feel empowering. To do that, the voice needed to balance clarity and specificity with an encouraging, 'coach-like' attitude.

GoTyme breaks complex things down in simple ways, focusing on achievable steps and celebrating success at every opportunity. They never use jargon or the vague, aspirational copy most banks rely on.

3. To facilitate transparency, GoTyme needed to speak with real-world honesty. The brand needed to be informed and down to earth without being negative.

GoTyme tell the truth. They’re self aware and to the point. They also steer clear of sweeping generalisations, opting for specificity instead.

4. As a future-focused brand, GoTyme’s voice needed the creative licence to be bold in order to stay fresh and innovative.

GoTyme are innovative by nature, so they never compare themselves to outdated forms of banking. They don’t say provocative or politically-charged things, but take calculated risks to shape the future of banking.

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Human first, bank second.   

The GoTyme voice facilitates a refreshingly honest and transparent financial perspective that makes the product accessible to everyone, no matter their banking experience level. It’s genuinely optimistic and supportive, encouraging people to set their own financial goals and giving them the information they need to achieve them. GoTyme might be a bank, but it leads with a human personality. Paired with an intuitive digital and physical experience, their voice allows GoTyme to meet people where they are in order to help them do what they want with their money.

A tagline for the future of banking.

We worked with the GoTyme team to distil their brand into a tagline that would help provide clarity at launch and build powerful brand equity over time: ‘It all adds up’ does both. The tagline communicates the fact that GoTyme turns small steps into big results with higher interest, more rewards and tools to help people save (or spend). It’s a benefit and a declaration, celebrating the fact that banking with GoTyme doesn’t just make sense - it pays off.

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Take a deeper look at the design here.