INTERVIEW: How Chase is getting ahead in the brand race

Kantar released its brand value ranking this week, with challenger bank Chase performing well as the seventh most valuable FS brand globally.

The ranking combines publicly available financial information about the value attributable to the brand with consumer research, measured through a range of metrics that determine the power of that brand in attracting demand and its impact on being able to charge a price premium.

This year saw an overall uplift in brand values across various industry indexes, with the financial services category as whole up 10%.

Within this, Chase, a subsidiary of J.P. Morgan which launched in the UK in 2022, has seen its value increase by 40% and reached 7 on the overall list.

“Chase is seen by consumers as really different,” explains Adele Jolliffe, Head of Brand Domain Consultant Team, Insights Division, at Kantar. “It has something about it that is making it stand out.”

The brand combines both a position as innovative and disruptive with the backing of the “behemoth” J.P. Morgan, which differentiates it from other neobanks.

While the data shows that Chase is strongly associated in consumers’ minds with shaking things up and creating change in the market, people are also aware of its Amrican origins.

“In some of the launch campaign activity they were really clear that they’ve got huge numbers of customers in an existing market.

“So I think there is a distinction to some of these other fintechs which still feel like start-ups.

“I think Chase has hit this really nice balance in their UK positioning of saying they’re a huge bank in a country that you know: we’re new and we’re interesting but we’re not a risk.”

Chase shows parallels with other brands outside the sector, including giffgaff in telecoms and Octopus in the energy space.

She notes that some brands with this reputation can fail to break into the mainstream, however.

“They hit a bit of a ceiling and never convert that into their full growth potential. So it’s going to be really critical that Chase understands the products, services and needs of the UK market.”

HSBC also had some good news in this year’s ranking, returning to the top 100 after a few years with its brand value increasing 17%.

“They are on the receiving end of some of this disruption from Chase, which is maybe a slightly different disruption to what they’ve had from Monzo and Revolut.”

Adele suggests that while digital experience is now something of a hygiene factor, brands like HSBC can find an advantage by looking at what they can offer that smaller brands can’t.

For example, she highlights HSBC’s work with Shelter.

“They’re reaching out, making partnerships and coming up with different ways of positioning their products.”

However, Adele notes that it’s harder for bigger high street banks to come up with innovative propositions, “so they really need to think about the experience they’re giving to their customers.”

How concerned should financial firms be about their positions on these kinds of rankings? While decisions around financial products are less based on impulse than in retail, Adele says brand is still important.

“There’s a lot more at stake here, so actually, brand plays a really big role.”

“The emotional and rational tags that you’ve built up over years and years, can be enough to just sway the decision in someone’s favour,” she says, including allowing firms to charge a price premium.

“The brand can be enough to offset even some of the financial penalty you might pay for sticking with the brand, but you trust it that bit more.

“It’s the value equation as opposed to just that rational decision.

“It’s really key that those organisations understand that every time someone has an experience with their brand or an exposure to it, it is creating a little connection in their head that at some point in the future will nudge your decision in their favour. Even in financial services you’d be amazed how much emotion and gut feel is playing a role.”

So what is the most impactful thing financial marketers can do to maximise the strength of their brand?

“You need to think about the curation of experience – it’s all about building connections in people’s heads,” she says. “There is a need for everything to connect together. That’s the brand in the way you represent yourself in your comms and how the experience feels.”

It’s crucial therefore to think about brand touchpoints. ATMs for example play a large role in how high street banks are perceived.

“There’s a kind of eighty to twenty rule where 20% of touchpoints will have 80% of impact,” she adds.

You can access the report here – the full top ten is below.

Kantar BrandZ Top 10 Most Valuable Global Financial Services Brands 2024