A clear focus?

NatWest Bank had two major problems that it needed to address in June 1997 when TBWA\ (then GGT.BDDP Advertising Co. and GGT Direct Advertising Co.) successfully pitched for the business. For the first time the bank wanted a truly integrated approach for its marketing function, from in-branch materials to direct mail to major TV brand campaigns.

1. The chevron was NatWests strongest asset. However, due to underinvestment, its full potential had not been realized and it was not linked to a strong brand image through which the bank could be identified. Consequently, the general public, stakeholders and the banks customers could not comment if asked to explain what NatWest stood for and how it differed from the other major highstreet banks.
2. NatWests principal banking operations consisted of seven business units: Retail, Corporate, Cards, Mortgages, Insurance, Life & Investments, Brand. Each unit had its own budget, marketing function and audience. They were said to be so large that they could be floated on the stock exchange individually. Naturally, the result of this was that there were seven marketing strategies. Therefore there was no coordination or consistency in the messages the bank was sending out into the community. They could not unite behind one single brand or proposition.
3. The bank needed to communicate with high-street customers, small businesses, large corporations, fund managers, stockbrokers and other major institutions in the City.

Therefore TBWA\s idea was to find a single personality/message to unite the companies under the NatWest Group umbrella. It not only had to work across the different target markets, but also had to work across the product areas as well.

Brand promise

The agency and NatWest wanted to create a brand promise that would act as a rallying cry, lying at the heart of all the banks communications. The words used in the promise convey the banks point of differentiation in the market place and would become the driving force behind the banks personality. Confirmation of the banks size and the way in which customers could benefit from the service provided by the bank was to be assessed.

The brand promise is, NatWest is passionate about bringing its scale and expertise to work for you.

Brand personality

The brand personality was designed to create values that would support the brand promise. TBWA\ came up with following associated values surprisingly energetic, surprisingly fresh, surprisingly passionate, surprisingly imaginative, surprisingly innovative and surprisingly empathetic as key descriptors of the banks personality. At least two of these values needed to be conveyed through the style of all the banks communications.

The brand personality required an identity, a unified platform and a clear direction. The list of values indicates how extensive the task was in satisfying the many parts of the business. Thus creative directors at TBWA\ had the idea of using an animation/illustrative style which would serve this purpose.

Animation/illustrative style

The animation/illustrative route was chosen for three reasons:

Firstly, for an organization with customers as diverse as NatWests there was the need to adopt a different style depending on who they were talking to. The animation/illustrative approach provided the agency with greater scope for flexibility.

Secondly, the animation/illustrative approach perfectly expresses the new brand personality of surprisingly fresh, imaginative, energetic, passionate, innovative and empathetic. This is easily achieved particularly because that approach enabled the agency to escape from reality in a way that straight photography does not allow. The imagery must never be too frivolous, with the use of colour/ interpretation conveying warmth, humour and humanity.

Thirdly, in using the illustrative style in all its communications, NatWest would be distinguished and therefore achieve a differentiated position from its competitors, and indeed from other leading brands in the market place.

Gridline system

The final element to this branding strategy was the co-ordinated use of the imagery along with a consistent logo/chevron and typeface. This was carefully worked out by adopting a gridline system to hold together the headline, call to action and copy. It was a way of disciplining the multi-channels that the bank uses across all its businesses and ensure that the brand comes across in the same way, every time, wherever it is seen.

Research

The creative development of the NatWest brand took approximately nine months and followed a number of stages of research, both quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (focus groups), sampling a wide cross-section of all the stakeholders.

Upon testing a number of straplines, however, it was decided that it was more important to concentrate on reinforcing the NatWest chevron as the banks identity and build on peoples recognition and understanding of what it stood for. The use of the chevron is a powerful image with an existing association to the bank; therefore it was a natural step to increase its utility and prominence in marketing communications. The move was towards a stand-alone identity, like the Nike swoosh, that would represent the brand personality and could easily be used on all the banks marketing activities.

In addition, the NatWest font was another tool the bank could identify as their own and the decision to keep it was based on the builtin recognition factor.

Tracking

The new brand identity was launched in June 1999. Tracking took place before and after this date. It was very clear that the new brand personality scored highly and the bank was now seen as surprisingly fresh, surprisingly imaginative, . . . etc. This was the case not only in relation to other banks but also compared with peoples perceptions pre-June 1999.

Media

The agency chose TV and press as the quickest and most effective means of communicating the banks new message in June 1999. It had not used TV for a number of years. This audience included not only customers but also its 1700 branch staff and the City. It is important to note how important it was for the bank to talk to all these groups.

In-branch

The work of revamping the brand and all of the banks marketing materials has resulted in the extension of the brand to in-branch materials and has enhanced the total brand experience for customers. There is now uniformity and consistency with the style and messages that are communicated.

Long-term view

There was enough flexibility with the new brand development to ensure the long shelf life of the agencys new ideas. The illustrative style meant that materials could be endlessly updated and refreshed. Animation routes could be changed and adapted to which of the media, channel, product area the bank needed to work with.

Reference

Mintel, Financial Services Report, Mintel Information Group Ltd, 1999

(This case was written by Paul Newman (TBWA\) and Julie Tinson (Southampton Business School) and is published with the permission of the National Westminster Bank plc and TBWA\.)

Discussion questions

1. Identify and evaluate the alternative strategic options NatWest could have adopted.
2. Identify the long-term strategic issues facing financial service providers and discuss how this will influence their strategic choices.
3. Given that some financial service providers appear to have little brand recognition but significant market share, discuss whether branding is necessarily the key to a successful strategy in this industry sector.
4. Discuss in what ways a merger and/or an acquisition affect a branding strategy.