Nationwide's Relaunch Ad Garners Remarkable Brand Uplift Score

According to effectiveness firm System1, Nationwide’s relaunch campaign, titled 'A good way to bank', is one of the highest-performing ads in terms of effectiveness. It has also been rated as one of the top 10 percent performing banking ads, despite receiving mixed reviews for its new look.

Nationwide's rebrand, which was unveiled earlier this month, marks the first time in nearly four decades that the building society has undergone such a transformation. In order to effectively communicate the message of its refresh and the commitments it has made to consumers, Nationwide has implemented a TV-centered campaign. This campaign features renowned actors Dominic West and Sunil Patel portraying a manager and assistant of a competing bank. Created in collaboration with New Commercial Arts and Hungry Man, the advertisement utilizes humor to convey Nationwide's commitment to keeping branches open amidst their counterparts' reduction of in-store services.

Jon Evans, the chief customer officer at System1, commends Nationwide's advertising success due to their emphasis on humor and relatability. He appreciates the boldness of Nationwide's approach and how their use of impactful humor evokes negative emotions such as anger and sadness towards big banks that disappoint customers by closing branches. Despite this, the advertisement still surpasses the average consumer banking standard in terms of long-term growth potential.

System1's Test Your Ad platform conducted a study with 150 consumers to determine the effectiveness of a particular ad. The results showed that the ad achieved a score of 94 for 'fluency', indicating that a significant number of consumers recognized the brand by the end of the ad. This strong score can be attributed, in part, to the new logo being prominently featured at the beginning of the ad. These findings support the claims made by Richard Warren, the director of brands, marketing, and experience at Nationwide, who stated that the company's rebranding efforts did not diminish its brand equity.

The ad's 'spike rating' is 1.44, an outstanding outcome according to System1. Evans highlights the ad's impressive performance in the short term, especially considering that it is a stealth rebrand, which typically results in a temporary decline in brand recognition.

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According to him, rebrands can be a disaster as they often lead brands to focus on themselves rather than the issues they address for their customers. He commends Nationwide for avoiding this pitfall.

Moreover, the emotional intensity of the ad is 1.34, which is higher than the average of 1.01 for consumer banking brands.

The ad has received a somewhat average star rating of 2.9, indicating its modest market share growth over time compared to its creative effectiveness and emotional response. In comparison, the overall average for consumer banking in general is 2.0.

The bank has been implementing a wider refresh since last year, which involved retiring their long-standing 'Voices' campaign after a creative review. This coincided with the departure of their CMO, Sara Bennison, who had held the role since 2016.