The Hamburger Sparkasse, commonly known as Haspa, is the largest savings bank in Germany and one of five independent public savings banks in the country. Its visual identity combines the familiar Sparkassen organization mark with a distinctive Hamburg-specific wordmark, reflecting the bank’s dual identity as both a member of the Sparkassen group and an independent Hamburg institution.
Design and History
In 2015, Haspa launched a new marketing campaign and introduced an updated logo as part of a broader effort to sharpen its brand positioning. The campaign, developed by lead agency Jung von Matt/365, placed the bank’s employees and their personal engagement with customers at the center of the messaging. The logo was revised at the same time, with the bank stating it had “sharpened its brand positioning” and gone to market with a new logo and advertising campaign in 2015. [1]
The redesigned logo was described in a June 2015 report as featuring the Sparkassen red with a preceding “S” placed before the bank’s own name. According to the report, the design was intended to combine “the strength of the Sparkassen organization with the independence of the traditional Hamburg house.” [2] The Hamburg daily Abendblatt also reported on the logo change in June 2015, noting that the bank was investing heavily in a new marketing campaign and that the logo was being changed. [3]
The 2015 rebrand was followed in 2016 by a broader brand refresh. The Hamburg branding and design agency Syndicate was responsible for developing and implementing a new branch design concept, while Jung von Matt/Spree served as the lead agency for the new brand appearance launched in 2016. [4] The 2016 refresh also included new icons, a redesigned website, and a modernized app design. [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The Haspa logo incorporates the traditional Sparkassen symbol, which has a documented history dating back to 1938. The original Sparkassen mark was designed by Viennese graphic artist Lois Gaigg, who created a stylized “S” shaped like a savings box with a coin slot. The dot above the “S” symbolizes a coin falling into the savings box. [5] The original logo was revised and visually modernized in 1972. [5]
In the 2015 Haspa campaign, the bank’s advertising referenced this traditional Sparkassen logo, with imagery of a coin on its way into a savings box. [6] The 2015 logo update placed the Sparkassen “S” before the Haspa name, explicitly linking the bank to the broader Sparkassen organization while maintaining its independent Hamburg identity. [2]
Typography and Design
The 2015 logo revision placed the Sparkassen “S” symbol before the Haspa wordmark in Sparkassen red. [2] The red color is a documented characteristic of the Sparkassen organization’s visual identity across Germany. [7] The 2016 brand refresh, led by Jung von Matt/Spree with Syndicate handling branch design, introduced new pictograms that continued to reference the traditional Sparkassen coin-and-savings-box motif. [6] [4]
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