Abbey is demonstrating how it intends to transform the personal banking arena in an ad campaign coinciding with its relaunch, which includes a rebranding from the Abbey National name. The ad appears in this week's Adwatch table at number eight, with a recall of 54%.
In the 40-second execution, created by TBWA\London, a woman sits in a cafe while life goes on in the parade of shops outside. A large crane appears in the background, crashing through the roof of a bank, which is lifted from its foundations, and hauled out of shot. Life continues before the bank descends back into shot, but this time upside down.
A voiceover says: "Something good is happening to banking." The ad then introduces the four colours of the abbey brand identity and the campaign line 'Start a beautiful thing with money'.
The ad, which broke on September 24 and is running until November 16, is part of an estimated £30m adspend behind abbey's relaunch. It will be supported by a national press campaign using headlines including 'Banking isn't good enough. Yet' and 'Normal service will not be resumed'. Media planning and buying is by MindShare.
The advertising illustrates the concept that abbey is 'turning banking on its head'. The bank is streamlining its product portfolio to focus solely on personal financial services. It aims to differentiate itself from other banks by concentrating on building customers' relationships with their money, and simplifying its accounts and services to remove consumer confusion.
The abbey logo, designed by Wolff Olins, will be adopted in all 700 branches as part of a widespread refurbishment.
Matt Shepherd-Smith, joint managing director at TBWA\London, says: "We wanted to revolutionise banking. The first ad sets the scene, with more product-focused work coming through in due course. We want to tell Abbey customers that things will get better for them."
The campaign marks a departure from celebrity-led ads featuring Alan Davies and Martin Kemp.
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