Britannia aims to make the benefits of mutuality tangible and relevant to consumers. So it relaunched the brand in August 2007 with an integrated communication campaign as part of a long-term strategy. This proved timely and effective in the turbulent financial services marketplace of the last two years.
The challenge
Between 2005 and 2007 Britannia had not undertaken any brand communications, choosing to rely on price-led promotion with minimal emotional engagement. The business had specific growth ambitions in certain areas:
• member numbers
• mortgage lending
• savings flows
• improving margin
It was felt that, in order to achieve this, Britannia needed to overcome low awareness, lack of differentiation and stop using ‘best buy’ rates to acquire new customers. In a market increasingly focused on commodities, the task was to give consumers a reason to buy aside from price. The priority of business objectives has changed over the last two years but this requirement has remained.
The strategy
As a mutual, Britannia has a different business model to high street banks and, as a result, is able to operate with an inherent integrity.
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