Santander brand turns UK high street red

Spanish global banking brand, Santander, is set to start its final phase of a six year rebranding programme of some of the UK’s best known financial high street names. Branches in London and the South East will be the first to make the concluding brand name switch.

Currently more than 1,000 former branches of Bradford & Bingley banks and Abbey feature Santander’s logo.  278 branches of Alliance and Leicester are also to be renamed to Santander. This will conspicuously mark Santander as the fifth largest bank in the UK.

In 2004, Santander acquired Abbey and the Alliance and Leicester. In 2008 it acquired the savings arm of Bradford & Bingley. Now in addition to the branch signs, advertising and literature, the bank is hoping that a wider campaign highlighting value added services will more than compensate for what some consumers may feel is a growing lack of choice in high street banking brands.

Keith Moor, UK Brand and Communications Director for Santander said:

“Santander understands that our customers have a choice of who to bank with, so our business approach is simple, the more our customers do business with us, the more we will reward them in ways that they will genuinely value and see benefit”.

A through-the-line marketing featuring tv, posters and press advertising campaign features red bricks symbolizing the strength and steadiness of the bank.

The rebranding campaign also features Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.

Santander is also offering a fee-free Zero account for customers with a Santander mortgage and current account.  This features no charges for unauthorized overdrafts.

In Spain, UK customers can use Santander cash machines free, so avoiding the usual fees for withdrawing cash

With around 25 million customers (one million added during 2009 alone) Santander’s marketing strategy sets to challenge the brand dominance of the UK’s traditional ‘big four’ high street banking names: NatWest, HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and RBS.

The shrinking UK market vs. the expanding global promise

In public relations terms, the global banking crisis shunned and reshaped many familiar UK financial institutions.  Lloyds swallowed HBOS.  The press ousted RBS as pariahs. In response the Royal Bank of Scotland Group is currently diverting consumer’s attention away from the RBS name, concentrating instead on advertising designed to show a soft, politically correct community approach to customers adopted by its NatWest brand.

Whilst Santander’s added value features attract many, those with a modest current account and no overdraft may find it increasingly difficult to distinguish between one high street bank and the next.

Familiar names hope to become one of the family

Hoping to build long-term customers as well as boost brand perceptions, other brand names including Virgin, The National Australian Bank and Tesco are reportedly seeking to either expand or establish their own financial presence on the High Street.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Richard Branson has approached U.S. private equity firm, Blackstone to find funding for a new bid for the Northern Rock.  (At the start of 2010, Branson’s Virgin Money bought a small provincial bank with the license needed to sell savings and home loan products in Britain).

By stepping in as a ‘people’s champion’, cleaning up back-room procedures and so ‘front of house’ awareness of banks, brands are investing in UK high street financial institutions or opening their own new outlets to profit from a ‘double-dip’ brand advantage.

In addition as being viewed as a ‘David’ in the battle against ‘Goliaths’, new brand contenders can gain from traditional long-term customer loyalty. (The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has estimated that only 6% of customers switch their banks in any one year).

Consumers remain loyal to their brands

Convincing complacent customers to actively switch financial brands has always been an uphill struggle. Yet the long-term rewards in succeeding are high. Once a market is captured, a bank can cross-sell a wide range of services including credit cards, savings, insurance … and so on.

With shrewd planning and decisive action for brands still with cash stacked under the bed, the banking crises offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to present a fresh approach to dispirited consumers, and in doing so, add a much needed rosy complexion to the brand’s own financial health.

Jonathan Gabay

www.brandforensics.co.uk

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