Commerce Bank, the retail banking arm of Kansas City-based Commerce Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq: CBSH), has used a globe icon and logotype as its core brand mark for decades. The bank’s official 2024 brand book describes the logo as being made up of three integrated elements: the globe icon, the logotype (including the registered trademark symbol) and “Member FDIC.” Individual logo elements are never to be used without including all other elements. The brand logo has three color variations: green, white or black. [1]
Design and History
Commerce Bank changed its logo in August 2011 for the first time in more than 40 years. The Kansas City Business Journal reported that the update was intended to modernize the mark and reflect strength and stability. [2] The previous symbol, which had been in use since the early 1970s, was replaced by the current globe design featuring longitudinal and latitudinal lines.
The globe icon is documented in Commerce Bancshares trademark filings. A 2021 trademark registration for the word mark “COMMERCE BANK” includes a description of a sphere with longitudinal and latitudinal lines appearing to the left of the words. [3] A separate 2022 trademark application for the “COMMERCE TRUST COMPANY” sub-brand similarly describes “a sphere with longitudinal and latitudinal lines to the left of the words.” [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
Commerce’s official brand book does not assign a specific symbolic meaning to the globe icon. The mark is described structurally as a globe with longitudinal and latitudinal lines, consistent with the trademark registrations. The bank’s media page states that its logos are “a visual representation of our history, our values and the summation of who we are.” [5]
Typography and Design
The Commerce Bank brand book specifies a primary green color with the hex value #006747, corresponding to Pantone 342 C, with CMYK values of 93, 10, 75, 43. The palette also includes a secondary light green (#78BE20), a blue (#00B5E2, Pantone 306 C) and a yellow (#FFD006). [1] The brand book notes that the logo’s globe icon and logotype are always used together with the “Member FDIC” element, and that the logo appears in green, white or black variations. [1]
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