Ever since we unveiled our new branding in January 2021, we kept gaining recognition for it, with another award coming our way in July. This time Centili won Gold in the Best Brand Europe & Africa category by the Best Brand Awards, an international competition honouring the concept and design of brands from all over the world.
Our new brand identity was presented beginning of this year, in celebration of our 10 years in the global mobile payments industry. It encompasses Centili values, things we achieved and the direction we chose for the future, as a dynamic tech company which removes friction from the digital journeys and creates impeccable experiences for its customers.
“As we developed our rebranding strategy, we were looking for something that thinks digital-first and has a dynamic feel. We also knew we wanted modularity and adaptability”, said Dina Janevski Farcic, SVP Marketing.
Our old identity had its origin in two interesting concepts. The first was centillion, a large number that equals 10 to the power 303 or 600, depending on the system used. The second pillar of our brand was the cent, the monetary unit in many countries, with the one-cent coin symbolic of our payments business.
“The new logo retained the number one as a bridge to the past and the core business. The change is that it is now exposed to the negative space between the letters. We found it was a subtle, clean, and smart way to present the symbol within typography, avoiding the need for stating the obvious by using the icon. It also enabled us to put forward the number one as a symbol of ambition, boldness, and progress”, Dina explained.
The Best Brand Awards jury acknowledged the value of this approach. As they wrote in their description, “the logo is created from typography with a number 1 hidden in the negative space between letters. This is to create a subtle and clever link to 1 cent, and the payments industry Centili operates in.”
Best Brand Awards saw participants from 31 countries in this year’s competition. The awards were presented in two global and three regional categories.
