Zrinka Jugec – Addiko Bank AG
In banking, where trust is built slowly and customers rarely make decisions impulsively, brand growth depends on patience and consistency. For Zrinka Jugec, Group Marketing Director at Addiko Bank, this means resisting the temptation to constantly reinvent the message. Instead, brands need to remain recognisable, communicate their positioning repeatedly and ensure that the same underlying values are reflected across every customer touchpoint.
Operating across Central and South-Eastern Europe, Addiko Bank focuses primarily on consumer lending, SME financing and everyday banking services. Since the bank was repositioned ten years ago, it has gradually rebuilt its brand image around speed, convenience and a less conventional approach to banking. From the introduction of its hamster brand character Oskar to the growing influence of AI and digital banking, Zrinka explains why the tools may change, but the need for a clear and consistent brand remains.
Consistency as the Foundation of Brand Growth
For Addiko Bank, brand growth is measured through a combination of brand and business indicators. The marketing team tracks awareness, brand consideration, consideration for specific products and the image attributes consumers associate with the bank. Ultimately, however, those measures also need to translate into commercial performance.
Zrinka believes that the most important driver of these results is consistency. Having worked for both century-old brands and brands with a much shorter history, she has seen that the same principle applies regardless of maturity. “Consistency in communicating your brand positioning and benefits is the most important thing. Marketers usually become tired of their own communication very quickly, but consumers do not experience it in the same way.”
Addiko Bank itself illustrates this point. The bank was rebranded and repositioned ten years ago, requiring its brand image to be rebuilt almost from scratch. Zrinka joined four years ago, around the time the positioning was refined and new communication was introduced. Since then, the bank has seen steady development across its brand measures.
Consistency does not mean refusing to change. Offers, products and individual campaigns still need to be adapted when results show that something is not working. Addiko monitors commercial performance continuously, while broader brand tracking takes place annually because perceptions in financial services tend to move relatively slowly.
Short-term communication is assessed through business results, customer enquiries and feedback from sales teams. Longer-term development is evaluated through brand tracking and selected campaign studies. This allows the bank to adjust its execution without abandoning the strategic thread running through the brand. “The thread underneath everything you do always has to remain the same.”
“Consistency in communicating your brand positioning and benefits is the most important thing. Marketers usually become tired of their own communication very quickly, but consumers do not experience it in the same way.”
Building Distinctiveness with an Unconventional Brand Character
One of Addiko Bank’s most visible strategic choices was the introduction of Oskar, a hamster who embodies the bank’s values of speed, convenience and resourcefulness.
Banking communication is often serious and traditional. By introducing a friendly and unconventional character, Addiko created an asset that could immediately distinguish the brand within the category. “He gives us the opportunity to become instantly recognisable. His recognition and the recognition of the brand go hand in hand.”
Oskar is consistently used across markets and communication channels, helping Addiko cut through an increasingly fragmented media environment. Addiko uses most major above-the-line and digital channels, with digital out-of-home playing an especially important role in markets where the infrastructure is available. “We tailor assets to different channels, but we do not adapt in a way that negates our tone of voice. The formats may be shorter or funnier, but the communication still has to be recognisably Addiko.”
This balance between flexibility and consistency is becoming increasingly important as the number of channels grows. Reach is harder to measure, overlap between platforms is difficult to estimate and social media has added even more communication to an already crowded environment. A distinctive and consistently used brand character gives Addiko a recognisable anchor within that complexity.
“We tailor assets to different channels, but we do not adapt in a way that negates our tone of voice. The formats may be shorter or funnier, but the communication still has to be recognisably Addiko.”
AI will Change Execution, not the Need for Strategy
AI is already making creative production, testing and iteration faster. For Zrinka, however, greater production speed also creates a new challenge: maintaining consistency across an expanding number of assets and touchpoints. The more communication brands can produce, the more important it becomes to ensure that every expression remains relevant to the customer and connected to the brand’s values. Technology may increase the volume and speed of execution, but it does not automatically create coherence.
Zrinka also expects AI agents to reshape the way people research and choose financial services. Selecting a bank, applying for a loan or deciding where to place savings are considered decisions. As consumers increasingly use digital agents to collect and compare information, brands may need to communicate not only with people but also with the systems supporting their decisions. “I think one of the biggest changes will be optimising communication for AI agents. At some point, we will probably see more agent-to-agent communication.”
This shift will also affect agencies. Addiko already treats its creative, media, performance and research agencies as strategic partners rather than executional suppliers. As AI takes over more routine production and planning tasks, Zrinka expects agencies to focus more heavily on consultancy and strategic thinking. “The role of agencies will move further towards strategic and consulting work, rather than mainly executing creative ideas.” At the same time, she remains cautious about synthetic research and has not yet seen enough evidence to treat it as a replacement for established methods.
“I think one of the biggest changes will be optimising communication for AI agents. At some point, we will probably see more agent-to-agent communication.”
Banking Growth still requires a Human Understanding of Customers
The role of marketing at Addiko extends beyond communication. Zrinka works closely with colleagues in product development and sales, using consumer research to help identify needs, shape propositions and generate ideas. Although marketing may not control every element of the traditional four Ps, particularly pricing and distribution in a regulated banking environment, it can still influence the product itself and the benefits presented to customers.
This becomes particularly relevant as fintech providers continue to expand. Zrinka does not see fintechs and traditional banks as direct opposites. Instead, they often serve different needs or different moments in the customer journey. “I do not think banks and fintechs are necessarily at odds with each other. They can be complementary because they respond to different needs and different segments.”
The same principle applies to physical and digital banking. Branches are becoming less important for routine transactions, but they can still play a valuable role when customers are making unfamiliar or significant financial decisions. Addiko therefore offers different levels of support depending on the market and the customer’s preferences, ranging from fully digital loan applications to processes that combine online steps with physical documentation or personal interaction.
This flexibility reflects a wider lesson in Zrinka’s approach to growth. Brands need to remain curious, explore new technologies and test new solutions, but they should not lose sight of the customer need they are trying to address. Her advice for future brand growth is therefore built on two complementary principles: consistency and curiosity. “Stay curious and informed about what the market is saying and what the new trends are. Keep testing and seeing what they bring, but always keep consistency in mind.”
“I do not think banks and fintechs are necessarily at odds with each other. They can be complementary because they respond to different needs and different segments.”