CONQUERING MOUNTAINS

Faced with low brand awareness and consideration, TSB Bank underwent a makeover – refreshing its name and looking to drive new customer growth.

The Challenge

After 28 years in market, TSB Bank’s brand was in need of a makeover. It was considered outdated and no longer representative of the TSB Bank identity, values and strategic direction of the future. The bank was increasingly seen as peripheral, with low awareness and consideration. At best, it was seen as a provincial ‘Agri-bank’, at worst, it was not thought of at all. Beyond its own walls there was also an imperative for banks to transform themselves for the future due to changing customer expectations, technology, regulation, as well as demographic and economic change. Evidence could be seen in the big banks winning new customers through innovation and aggressive marketing tactics. They were seen as big, nationwide, secure, safe and for everyone, while Nielsen Qual research showed TSB Bank was positioned as a ‘people bank’ – small, rural, specialised, less convenient and potentially risky. However, among the negatives, there were positives for TSB Bank with people saying things like: “It feels like you’re at home at TSB” and “It’s slower, more intimate and will actually get me what I need”. Knowing it had to challenge its perceptions in order to reach its future goals, TSB Bank turned its perceived weaknesses of being small, into a strength. It underwent a brand transformation initiative to redefine the bank from the inside out, building a more relevant, purpose-led brand. It set out to be a bank that understands its customers’ value drivers and puts them at the heart of all it does.

The Response

In August 2016, TSB Bank's Board of Directors gave final approval for the bank to undergo a rebrand. At the heart of it was a clear purpose of “helping New Zealanders get ahead by making banking really easy, every time, everywhere”. That purpose drove the decision to change the name, from TSB Bank to TSB. The customer-centric reputation built by the TSB name was kept, while a sense of scale and modernity was injected by dropping the ‘Bank’. Alongside the new name, the logo and typeface was given a modern overhaul to appeal to younger customers while still providing stability and security. The design draws heavily on the brand idea of “This is my Maunga/ Mountain”, which references how TSB has been helping New Zealanders conquer their mountains for 168 years. It also shows TSB as a proud New Zealand bank, that understands its customers’ goals, dreams and ambitions. With that, the idea of “This is my Maunga/ Mountain” filtered to touch every part of the business from the brand to the stakeholder alignment, shop floor, people (internal) engagement, and brand recognition and emotional engagement communications.

The Result

Along the journey, there were three mountains TSB had to conquer in order to achieve the business objectives:

1. Delivering a holistic customer experience means scale.

2. Shifting consumer perception.

3. Attracting new customers.

Feedback on its customer experience was positive from the start, with feedback from customers, staff and stakeholders showing it has created a strong advocacy for the brand. And the numbers show it, as engagement metrics showed TSB’S people scored an average of 4.1 out of 5 on feeling informed and inspired. Further brand awareness came from the brand campaign, which was developed with the objective to build nation-wide awareness and relevancy. Not only did it create an immersive narrative in film, drive brand recognition through a variety of media, and dispel misconceptions about TSB with a native strategy, it achieved staggering cut through. Unprompted awareness increased from 32 percent to 38.6 percent, beyond the target of 33 percent. TSB also had a goal to maintain NPS (Net Promoter Score) above 60 percent and customer satisfaction above 90 percent. At the end of November, NPS stood at 61 percent and satisfaction at 95.4 percent. Most significantly, in the first three weeks there was a 17.26 percent increase in new customers and a 13.4 percent increase in new accounts per week compared to the six months prior. TSB is well on track to its target of a 20 percent increase in new customers by 2020.