Identity puzzle in race for black horse

By HOWARD RUSSELL*

A survey of marketing professionals has thrown up mixed views on what the National Bank's new owner should do with the brand.

But most of those polled in the Strategic Insight survey favoured retaining the strong National Bank brand, and some even suggested the new owners ditch their existing identity in favour of it.

Since Britain-based Lloyds TSB put National up for sale last month, the bank has attracted the interest of all the major Australian banks and HSBC. ANZ, Westpac and HSBC are now believed to be the serious contenders.

Assuming the purchase includes long-term use of the powerfully memorable Lloyds black horse symbol (it is hard to see a black sheep cutting it), the main options for the eventual acquirer are:

* Maintain its existing brand and the National Bank brand.

* Retain its existing brand and drop the National brand.

* Retain the National brand and drop its own brand.

* Create a hybrid brand like WestpacTrust or TelstraClear.

* Drop its own and the National brands and create a new brand.



A Strategic Insight survey this week of 75 professionals in marketing, advertising, direct marketing, public relations and design found that two-thirds favoured either two brands or dropping the National brand.

The acquirer will need to have clear, accurate answers to the following questions to make the best brand choice:

* What is a brand?

* What is brand value? And how is brand value improved or eroded?

* What is the value of our brand and the value of the National brand?

* Where and how does New Zealand fit into our transtasman (or for HSBC, international) brand strategy?

If you look at the six bank logos, each means something different to you. Each brand's meaning is the sum of the experiences - bounced cheque, helpful branch manager, clunky website - you have had with each bank.

The value of each bank's brand is the sum of the meanings held by all New Zealand householders and business people.

The National Bank and ASB Bank brands mean more to New Zealanders than the other bank brands.

Along with the ASB, National has high objective meaning with consumers (customer satisfaction and preference), and high subjective meaning (advertising, the black horse logo, the "thoroughbred" tag line, and the association with Vivaldi's Four Seasons).

It also scores well in the rural and business sectors.

National's powerful meaning is the result of constancy, leading to consistency, leading to accumulation.

The bank has demonstrated constancy of leadership, culture, strategy and internal communications. That constancy has translated into the provision of consistent premises, people, processes, products and promotion.

National's customers' consistently good experiences with the bank have accumulated into a powerfully positive meaning.

So, what, as an acquirer, will you do with National?

If you retain the brand how will you ensure its distinctive constancy and consistency levels while securing the synergies and savings your masters require?

If you drop the National brand how are you going to retain the most valuable customers who are invariably the ones most willing and able to switch banks if you can't match the people, product, process and performance levels they have been accustomed to?

If you create a hybrid how will you decide what brand experiences to deliver?

What percentage of National and what percentage of your brand will go into the brand development? How will you avoid changing the brand experiences for your and National's customers?

Given that this will, almost certainly, be the last consolidation of the major NZ banks the stakes for winning and losing the race for National are high. And it may end up that the winner is horseless at the end of the race.