SMBC Group Open Enrollment and Benefits Brand

Blue created an HR brand for SMBC with the tagline “It Starts With You” to empower employees to connect with the benefits and programs available to them. This new visual identity and theme was put to the test during SMBC's 2023 Open Enrollment, which required active elections through a new enrollment process.

Client: SMBC Group
Industry: Retail, Corporate, and Investment Banking
Number of Employees: 100,000 globally, 5,000 benefits-eligible U.S. employees

Overview

Blue worked with SMBC to create a new HR brand — It Starts with You — to:

    • Create more consistency around how HR tells their story to employees
    • Empower and inspire all employees to take a more active role in their career journey
    • Align with SMBC’s core values and commitment to a culture that supports entrepreneurship

Then, Blue creatively integrated the new brand into SMBC’s U.S. Open Enrollment communications strategy, which included communicating a new enrollment process and mandatory enrollment.

Results

The SMBC team was thrilled with the results — essentially 100% of their 5,000 benefits-eligible U.S. employees actively completed the election process during the enrollment season.

And they have a strong visual identity and brand theme to serve as the foundation for introducing future HR initiatives and announcements.