Organisation: Abbey National

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Analysis and commentary by Echo Research. This article and further information is at: www.echoResearch.com

Abbey's latest image overhaul reflecting its new Spanish ownership was greeted with weary scepticism by City commentators. Coming just 17 months after the previous rebrand - dubbed "the sort of desperate nonsense that companies are prone to when they utterly lose the plot"(Independent, 26/2) - pundits predicted that Banco Santander Central Hispano's decision to make its mark would be met with "knowing looks in a marketing world long convinced Abbey has lacked a consistent identity"(thisislondon, 27/2). Negative messages about the cost and impact of repeated image changes were uppermost in coverage which also highlighted likely job losses, Abbey's lost market share and the general downturn in mortgage lending. "Rarely is it possible to reinvent the wheel … and Abbey's efforts seem only further to have damaged the franchise"commented The Independent (26/2), noting elsewhere "it's hard to see what Abbey can do without further trouncing its margins."

Piercing the gloom was new CEO Francisco Gomez-Roldan's optimism about Abbey's potential and mantra-like repeating of the Santander strapline - 'strength, stability, leadership'. Though dismissed as "the kind of guff every other bank aspires to"(The Times, 25/2), commentators recognised that stability is what Abbey now needs most. Changing its logo every few years is one Abbey habit its new management musn't get.