Case Study: Brand Positioning & Visual Identity Testing in the Payment Sector

Client: Financial Services / Payments

Duration: 3 Weeks

Service: Recruitment & Fieldwork

The Business Issue

A leading global payment network came to us with a real challenge: how do you stand out in Southeast Asia’s crowded payment landscape? With competition heating up and consumer preferences shifting fast, they needed to understand what really matters to people when they choose how to pay.

They wanted to dig deep into:

How people actually think about spending and which payment methods they trust
What drives their payment choices in different situations — buying coffee versus booking a vacation
Whether their current brand and logo actually connect with people emotionally
How their marketing messages land with real consumers across different cultures

The Techniques

Deep-Dive Focus Groups:
We ran two-hour sessions in each market — long enough for people to really open up about their relationship with money and payments. Before they even walked in the door, participants completed reflective assignments about their spending habits, so we could validate what they told us against how they actually behave.

Who We Talked To (Thailand & Singapore):
- 12 people per country
- Mixed life stages
- All were comfortable with digital payments and used them regularly
What Made This Research Work:
- Participants came prepared with real examples from their own lives
- We conducted everything in local languages with cultural nuance
- Our moderators worked together to spot patterns across markets
- Materials were completely localized — no generic corporate speak

The Results

Our insights helped the client:

Map out exactly where their brand sits in people’s minds versus competitors
Make confident decisions about which logo direction would actually work in market
Rewrite their messaging to speak to what people actually care about
Launch with localized strategies that respected cultural differences between markets

The brand team told us this research fundamentally shifted how they think about talking to consumers in Southeast Asia.

Need to test your financial brand in Southeast Asia? Partner with Iconic Research to bring behavioral nuance and clarity to your positioning and brand identity decisions.