Wolff Olins dials up Simpay

Mobile phone payment system Simpay, billed as the 21st century alternative to credit cards, this week unveils its name and a brand identity designed by Wolff Olins.

Founded by Orange, T-Mobile, Telefónica Móviles and Vodafone, and originally called the Mobile Payments Services Association, Simpay will allow customers to pay for items using their mobile phones.

Simpay head of brand and communications Mark Gordon says the concept is scheduled to launch next year to consumers across ‘major European markets’, with a UK launch likely to follow.

Gordon says the group was briefed to create a ‘warm identity’ because consumer research showed ‘Simpay’s technological origins were clear from its name’.

Creating a brand that appealed to a broad, international target audience and effectively communicated the unexplored nature of the product made the project ‘one of the most challenging we’ve worked on’, says Wolff Olins managing director Charles Wright.

‘We had to appeal to a pan-European audience and complement the founder members’ own identities. We also had to create a marque with mass-market appeal and one that could expand globally,’ Wright says.

Wolff Olins creative director Marina Willer and senior designer Owen Hughes led the project creatively. The consultancy was appointed to the work after a credentials ‘chemistry’ pitch against unnamed rivals earlier this year, says Gordon.