BDO

Over nearly 15 years of transformation, Sage & Saga has partnered with BDO—initially as Interbrand SE Asia and later through Yonder Consulting—serving as a trusted strategic partner in developing the bank’s brand, culture, and product delivery. From creating foundational strategies to increasing employee engagement, from refining value propositions to supporting mergers and acquisitions, we continue to advise BDO on a range of challenges in an ever-changing financial landscape.

Today, BDO maintains a dominant position in nearly every major product category, consistently leading in customer experience, loyalty, and brand awareness.

Transforming a challenger into the industry’s defining leader

BDO’s journey to industry leadership began with a high-stakes merger with Equitable PCI Bank in 2007. Working alongside its senior leadership, we helped crystallize the brand’s promise as “We Find Ways,” transforming it from a tagline into the organization’s core philosophy.

Early efforts in the 2010s focused on repositioning BDO from an emerging challenger to the most trusted and recognizable name in the Philippine banking sector. The challenge was to match rapid growth with a compelling brand story and stakeholder alignment. By creating an actionable purpose and restructuring the brand architecture, we helped establish “We Find Ways” as both an external promise and an internal rallying cry.

Enabling employee engagement as a growth lever

Recognizing that meaningful brand transformation only happens when the entire organization is aligned, we designed segmentation strategies for BDO’s workforce. This approach acknowledged the unique motivations of employees—from bank tellers in remote provinces to senior executives at headquarters—allowing initiatives to be tailored, relevant, and impactful.

Employee engagement efforts shifted from generic communications to living the brand, linking personal actions and behaviors to BDO’s desired customer experience. Leadership buy-in was crucial, with hands-on C-suite endorsement driving momentum and fostering a sense of ownership throughout the organization.

Digital channels and scalable tools were introduced, enabling stories of customer-centricity (“We Find Ways” moments) to be shared and celebrated throughout the bank, creating a feedback loop that reinforced the desired culture.

Deepening trust, building resilience

During periods of volatility—such as the global financial crisis and the pandemic—we served as trusted advisors and creative partners. Our flexible approach, from C-suite workshops to frontline enablement and ongoing internal communications, ensured every level of the BDO group understood and embodied the brand promise. As BDO’s needs changed, so did our collaboration, addressing new challenges and fostering a culture of innovation, responsibility, and resilient growth.

As BDO expanded into digital banking, private banking, SME and microbanking (BDO Network Bank), and insurance (BDO Life), we helped craft experiences that made banking more human, intuitive, and inclusive.

Our role has been to continually reexamine BDO’s potential, not only as the country’s largest bank, but also as a catalyst for economic empowerment, trusted relationships, and financial inclusion for all Filipinos.

Key partnership outcomes

1.     Unified brand story and purpose, activating the “We Find Ways” proposition

2.     Strategic brand architecture harmonized across all subsidiaries and segments

3.     Segmented employee engagement delivering real cultural alignment

4.     Sustained market leadership driven by customer and employee experience

5.     Future-fit value propositions and brand experiences supporting new customer acquisitions

Reach out to us to see how we can help you tackle your biggest growth challenges.