PAPSS: Brand Design

Objective

Afreximbank approached BrandComms to deliver brand design and communications for the launch of its Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS). The initiative was designed to be the first continent-wide digital payment infrastructure to facilitate payments in African currencies for goods and services.

We created

To capture the unique ability of this system to domesticate intra-African payments, we focused the brand positioning on its first-mover advantage as the landmark/catalytic Pan-African payment and settlement platform. We coined the strapline “Connecting Payments. Accelerating Africa’s trade” to capture how PAPSS is transforming payments across the continent and, in doing so, supporting and optimising intra-African trade.

The brand design also introduced a contemporary identity mark denoting the cowry shell – one of the first forms of payment on the continent, now digitised for the modern age. BrandComms also developed the PAPSS website, expanding on the use of this graphic device to emphasise the brand’s proud African identity.

Results

PAPSS was successfully launched in 2019, for which we developed the Public Relations programme and associated design and marketing collateral. Today, African central and commercial banks continue to sign up to the system with Afreximbank backing its clearing and settlements promise with US$ 3bn.