Last week, on his 46th birthday, Porter hit a lot of people for six by announcing he was quitting his job as managing director of BT Retail's consumer division to join Abbey National, in the curious-sounding role of customer propositions director.
The board-level job reports directly to chief executive Luqman Arnold.
Porter is characteristically clear and thorough on his reasons for the move. "There aren't many FTSE 100 companies with board-level marketing people charged with the strategic direction for the business," he says.
"I believe I would have been on the BT board in a couple of years' time. What I have done is to replace the idea of future promise with the reality today."
Unbeknown to many close colleagues and business partners, this smooth operator had signed on the dotted line way back at the end of March. He was reluctant when initially approached, but became "seduced by the challenge" after his first meeting with Arnold, he recalls.
It's a pivotal time for marketing at Abbey National, which recently moved its creative account into TBWA/ London and media into MindShare after whirlwind pitch processes, on the back of hiring Wolff Olins to review its brand strategy.
"Abbey is a challenger in its market, it's the UK's sixth biggest bank. But consumers regard it as a bit worn at the edges," says Porter. "They still talk about the Abbey habit. You know a brand is strong but in need of reinvigoration when people talk about how it has been presented in the past - in its case, as the building society it once was, rather than the bank it aspires to be.
"Abbey doesn't stand for anything different at the moment so we will need to find a meaningful position that gives customers reasons for choosing us. We don't necessarily want to replace one of the big four. There are ways in which we can be people's second bank."
As well as sitting on the main board, Porter will chair a new 'customer board' that will pull together the propositions, sales and operations functions of the business. The job encompasses responsibility for brand development, advertising, customer strategy and product development.
Porter finds both the financial services and telecoms industries guilty of over-complicating their products and delivering poor customer service.
"Everywhere I look I see parallels between Abbey and BT. Banks historically have relied on the fact that it is such a pain to switch that you will stay. When I joined BT the received wisdom was that the best way to hang on to customers was to make everything very complicated so people couldn't work out whether they were getting a better deal somewhere else. But we have been trying to make BT a more active choice, rather than a default choice."
Porter is adept at outlining his achievements at BT, of which he is understandably proud. He has, for example, halted its decline in the residential telephony market, simplifying the pricing structure in the process - the year before he arrived, BT lost 5% market share.
"My biggest career achievement is BT Broadband, because it goes beyond the interests of a single company and is good for the UK economy," he says. The product, which broke apart the ISP model when it launched last autumn by separating access and content, passed its landmark target of one million subscribers last week.
Porter's marketing pedigree was garnered at Mars. He eschewed a budding academic career, having gained a PhD in Metallurgy, joining the confectioner as a research director. He took on various sales roles before becoming UK marketing director. In that role, he launched its ice-cream range and the Celebrations gift box, which toppled established rivals Roses and Quality Street.
"I'm very motivated by the bottom line. I have no time for marketers who talk in airy-fairy ways about insights without the rigour of linking them through to tangible business goals," he says.
Sara Weller, Sainsbury's joint managing director and a former colleague at Mars, says: "Angus is very laid-back and hands-off. He's not a marketer by classical training, but a customer-focused, market-oriented businessman. I'm sure he wants to run a big business as managing director or chief executive."
Ric Simcock, another former colleague at Mars and now joint managing director at Elephants Can't Jump, adds: "Nothing fazes Angus. He is Mr Super Cool. He's exceptionally bright and gets things through in difficult situations."
Married with three kids, Porter is opening batsman for his Saturday league cricket team Wooburn Narkovians. He says he intends to bat out the Abbey job for at least two to three years before contemplating his next move, "possibly a CEO role".
Solid and utterly composed throughout our interview, he displays not the tiniest chink of vulnerability. So it comes as something of a relief when he admits: "There are not many people that know me particularly well. I keep what I am feeling to myself a lot of the time. I try not to lose control."
BIOGRAPHY
1985-1999: Product group manager to UK marketing director, Mars
Confectionery
1999-2000: Marketing director, BT UK
2000-2003: Managing director, consumer, BT Retail
July 2003: Customer propositions director, Abbey National
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