Nationwide rebranding

WillPS

hpas251 said:

The name of Nationwide's page on Facebook has been changed from Nationwide Building Society to Nationwide UK. Does this perhaps herald conversion to a bank in the near future? If so, only people who have held an account since 1997 with no breaks will be eligible for a payout, as Nationwide have insisted that anyone who opened an account afterwards must agree to donate their payout to charity to prevent people opening an account and putting in the minimum deposit purely to secure a windfall payment in the event of conversion.

No, it doesn't. It's a branding exercise to make them look and feel more like a bank, essentially undoing the effort 10 years or so to make them feel less like one (when they added 'Building Society' to the name).

It's highly unlikely demutualisation would happen unless there was a workaround applied for charitable assignment as the vast majoriy of members would gain nowt (and if the 'Fairer Share' keeps happening, even lose out).

Ignoring charitable assignment, there's a reason why there haven't been any demutualisations since the 90s (outside of societies avoiding the indignity of all out collapse - Britannia and Kent Reliance - which clearly is not the situation Nationwide find themselves in). The example set by the ones that demutualised in time - Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock in particular - was not good.

horsewithnoname

Rob5342 said:

horsewithnoname said:

Rob5342 said:

It's probably not all that much money compared to how much businesses usually spend on advertising etc, and things do need refreshing sometimes.

I do find it odd that they are focusing on older customers, spending money on having branches rather than on improving their hopeless app. It might get customers now but it can't be sustainable as a long term strategy.

Having branches?! They’ve closed the two nearest to me fairly recently. It’s a bus ride to pay a cheque in, because they don’t do paying In cheques via the app. 

How many cheques do you get, can't you get it via bank transfer instead? If not you can pay in cheques by post:

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/help/payments/cheques/#how-to-pay-in-a-cheque

Alternatively why not switch to a bank that lets you pay in cheques with the app, or just open a spare account with one of those for the purposes of paying cheques in.

I have been dealing with an estate and many institutions insist on sending cheques, so quite a few recently. 

I have however opened an account that takes cheques via app, but I think there is a limit to the size of the cheques that they will take, and some just don’t seem to want to photograph sufficiently well. 

I accept that it might be down to user error, fiddly things that phone apps are 😬

horsewithnoname

hpas251 said:

The name of Nationwide's page on Facebook has been changed from Nationwide Building Society to Nationwide UK. Does this perhaps herald conversion to a bank in the near future? If so, only people who have held an account since 1997 with no breaks will be eligible for a payout, as Nationwide have insisted that anyone who opened an account afterwards must agree to donate their payout to charity to prevent people opening an account and putting in the minimum deposit purely to secure a windfall payment in the event of conversion.

I would qualify if they, and then I’d move to elsewhere, hopefully another building society rather than bank. 

Lions_89

The account has appeared online after three and a half weeks. No card yet. 

Section62

Rob5342 said:

I do find it odd that they are focusing on older customers, spending money on having branches rather than on improving their hopeless app. It might get customers now but it can't be sustainable as a long term strategy.

I'd suggest it is the opposite, much of their recent efforts have been focussing on younger customers.  The rewards for long-term membership have been whittled away and their propmotions have been more about get 'rich' quick rather than stability and reliability.

I don't think the branch retention is really about being attractive to older people.  The branches are steadily being converted into free coffee shops with an environment many older people may not recognise as a 'bank branch'.

I've said it before, my problem with Nationwide is the lack of clear stategy.  The feeling I get is Nationwide management are trying random things in ever incresing desperation to grow their current account market share.  Because having more current account customers is somehow seen as the only thing that really matters.  I think the rebrand, faux name changes and other similar recent things are possibly just an attempt to con people into thinking NW 'bank' is a trendy new start up, rather than a historic building society... why else would you ditch the 'Building Society' tag which you've spent so much plugging in recent years?

My main issue with Nationwide is that members don't get a real say in what the strategy and direction should be. There's a group of people nicely enriching themselves but failing to convince me they have the interests of the Society at heart.

EarthBoy

Rob5342 said:

I do find it odd that they are focusing on older customers, spending money on having branches rather than on improving their hopeless app. It might get customers now but it can't be sustainable as a long term strategy.

Have you seen their new branch layout?  They look more like internet cafes, with lots of laptops/tablets, and a couple of cash/paying in machines at the side.   The counters are hidden away in a corner, and not immediately visible.  Some of the branches don't even have counters; they're billed as "limited service branches".  "Older customers" certainly wouldn't recognise a Nationwide branch as a bank or building society.

It's as if Nationwide are making the branches as unwelcoming as possible, to put people off going in.  What's the betting that as soon as their "branch promise" expires in 2026 they'll close a load of branches because people have stopped using them?

WillPS

Section62 said:

Rob5342 said:

I do find it odd that they are focusing on older customers, spending money on having branches rather than on improving their hopeless app. It might get customers now but it can't be sustainable as a long term strategy.

I'd suggest it is the opposite, much of their recent efforts have been focussing on younger customers.  The rewards for long-term membership have been whittled away and their propmotions have been more about get 'rich' quick rather than stability and reliability.

I don't think the branch retention is really about being attractive to older people.  The branches are steadily being converted into free coffee shops with an environment many older people may not recognise as a 'bank branch'.

I've said it before, my problem with Nationwide is the lack of clear stategy.  The feeling I get is Nationwide management are trying random things in ever incresing desperation to grow their current account market share.  Because having more current account customers is somehow seen as the only thing that really matters.  I think the rebrand, faux name changes and other similar recent things are possibly just an attempt to con people into thinking NW 'bank' is a trendy new start up, rather than a historic building society... why else would you ditch the 'Building Society' tag which you've spent so much plugging in recent years?

My main issue with Nationwide is that members don't get a real say in what the strategy and direction should be. There's a group of people nicely enriching themselves but failing to convince me they have the interests of the Society at heart.

It should be noted that Nationwide did not have 'Building Society' as part of its core brand until 2016.

The only other time they had it was in the crossover period after merging with the Anglia Building Society in 1987, when they became Nationwide Anglia Building Society. By 1992 they were back to being just Nationwide.

Why did Sainsburys change their tagline this year after 'plugging the last one so much'? Why did they do the same thing only 2 years ago? Sainsburys by all accounts are doing pretty well so why the change? The answer is they spend millions researching what resonates best and ultimately what converts best for them to pounds and pence, and that expensive research indicates this is the best path to that. It's not an admission of failure, just an acknowledgement that there is felt to be more juice to squeeze from another fruit at this particular moment in time.

Nationwide are not alone in the wider financial services market in putting a lot of stock behind their Current Account offer either. I can't tell you why this is the case but I'd imagine it's because people tend to do their banking in one place, and so being a current account holder makes you statistically more likely to be a profitable customer.

[Deleted User]

EarthBoy said:

Rob5342 said:

I do find it odd that they are focusing on older customers, spending money on having branches rather than on improving their hopeless app. It might get customers now but it can't be sustainable as a long term strategy.

Have you seen their new branch layout?  They look more like internet cafes, with lots of laptops/tablets, and a couple of cash/paying in machines at the side.   The counters are hidden away in a corner, and not immediately visible.  Some of the branches don't even have counters; they're billed as "limited service branches".  "Older customers" certainly wouldn't recognise a Nationwide branch as a bank or building society.

It's as if Nationwide are making the branches as unwelcoming as possible, to put people off going in.  What's the betting that as soon as their "branch promise" expires in 2026 they'll close a load of branches because people have stopped using them?

The staff aren't particularly friendly in branch either. 

Last visit -  I got interrogated by greeter as to why I didn't want to use an ATM and then told by the greeter's manager (whilst in the queue for counter) that my account was a self service one (i.e. FlexDirect) with the implication that it was illegitimate branch access (which it wasn't with a FlexAccount) - the counter staff were fine if a bit slow.

All in all - 3/10 rating in branch & I no longer use the account bar keeping as a spare.

Section62

WillPS said:

Section62 said:

Rob5342 said:

It should be noted that Nationwide did not have 'Building Society' as part of its core brand until 2016.

The only other time they had it was in the crossover period after merging with the Anglia Building Society in 1987, when they became Nationwide Anglia Building Society. By 1992 they were back to being just Nationwide.

Why did Sainsburys change their tagline this year after 'plugging the last one so much'? Why did they do the same thing only 2 years ago? Sainsburys by all accounts are doing pretty well so why the change? The answer is they spend millions researching what resonates best and ultimately what converts best for them to pounds and pence, and that expensive research indicates this is the best path to that. It's not an admission of failure, just an acknowledgement that there is felt to be more juice to squeeze from another fruit at this particular moment in time.

Nationwide are not alone in the wider financial services market in putting a lot of stock behind their Current Account offer either. I can't tell you why this is the case but I'd imagine it's because people tend to do their banking in one place, and so being a current account holder makes you statistically more likely to be a profitable customer.

Nationwide are a building society though, and have taken great care to curate a brand image which focusses on them being different because of that.  Nationwide have promoted this difference all the time I've been a member, not just since 2016.  It is an essential part of who they are, 'building society' and 'members' were engrained in the corporate mindset.

I'm not sure your comparison with Sainsbury's is valid - or rather the links you posted are about specific marketing campaigns relating to just one part of what they do (at a time), not the entire brand.  Grocery retailing is a very different business to banking, and the supermarkets try very hard to be lots of different things at the same time (e.g. running both 'value' and premium own-brands).  It wouldn't surprise me much if a supermarket backed off promoting their more upmarket lines in an economic downturn, and instead promoted their 'value' range.

It does surprise me that Nationwide - when trying to be different - decide to ditch "Building Society" and focus on "Bank" instead.  Especially when the TV advert running alongside this change goes out of its way to highlight the difference between NW as a building society and the banks.

WillPS

Section62 said:

WillPS said:

Section62 said:

Rob5342 said:

It should be noted that Nationwide did not have 'Building Society' as part of its core brand until 2016.

The only other time they had it was in the crossover period after merging with the Anglia Building Society in 1987, when they became Nationwide Anglia Building Society. By 1992 they were back to being just Nationwide.

Why did Sainsburys change their tagline this year after 'plugging the last one so much'? Why did they do the same thing only 2 years ago? Sainsburys by all accounts are doing pretty well so why the change? The answer is they spend millions researching what resonates best and ultimately what converts best for them to pounds and pence, and that expensive research indicates this is the best path to that. It's not an admission of failure, just an acknowledgement that there is felt to be more juice to squeeze from another fruit at this particular moment in time.

Nationwide are not alone in the wider financial services market in putting a lot of stock behind their Current Account offer either. I can't tell you why this is the case but I'd imagine it's because people tend to do their banking in one place, and so being a current account holder makes you statistically more likely to be a profitable customer.

Nationwide are a building society though, and have taken great care to curate a brand image which focusses on them being different because of that.  Nationwide have promoted this difference all the time I've been a member, not just since 2016.  It is an essential part of who they are, 'building society' and 'members' were engrained in the corporate mindset.

Yes, it was also a Building Society before 2016 and it remains so today. They're not eliminating any mention of being a building society, as a simple Google search will prove:
https://www.google.com/search?q="building+society"+site:nationwide.co.uk

It's on pretty much every bit of literature you'd expect from them, just not the core brand itself; as has been the case for most of the Nationwide's recorded existence.

Section62 said:

I'm not sure your comparison with Sainsbury's is valid - or rather the links you posted are about specific marketing campaigns relating to just one part of what they do (at a time), not the entire brand.  Grocery retailing is a very different business to banking, and the supermarkets try very hard to be lots of different things at the same time (e.g. running both 'value' and premium own-brands).  It wouldn't surprise me much if a supermarket backed off promoting their more upmarket lines in an economic downturn, and instead promoted their 'value' range.

I disagree. We're talking about the words that go beneath the brandname itself. Some companies never change them - Tesco have had 'Every Little Helps' since the early 90s, whereas Sainsburys tinker with them more often. These words, together with name itself make up 'the brand'. Sainsbury's haven't changed what they are in any real sense at all, they've been a publically traded grocery/supermarket giant for anyone alive's entire lifetime, just as Nationwide also haven't.

Section62 said:

It does surprise me that Nationwide - when trying to be different - decide to ditch "Building Society" and focus on "Bank" instead.  Especially when the TV advert running alongside this change goes out of its way to highlight the difference between NW as a building society and the banks.

Yes, it's almost like the actual words 'building society' are a problem for them somehow (perhaps perceived as old fashione), yet what being a building society actually means isn't. That's branding for you.