Nationwide, a good way to bank on Brand Love

Despite the cost-of-living crisis continuing to affect consumer behaviour, sentiments towards the financial services sector have improved in the past 12 months, bucking the trend of other sectors we track.

Among those significantly increasing are High Street Banks. Nationwide has climbed 9 places in ranking in the past 12 months, to be the 6th Most Loved Financial Services brand. Meanwhile, Lloyds has risen 3 places to 9th, and NatWest has reached 17th, rising 8 places. Barclays has moved from 11th to 7th place this year, and Barclaycard has also climbed: 27 places to the 24th overall.

What does this increase in Brand Love for High Street Banks mean for Brand Health?

All these brands have seen growth in trust, value and service perceptions – demonstrating the halo effect of Brand Love on Brand Health. Advertising is likely to have played a key role in this.

In October ‘23, Nationwide launched its first rebrand in 36 years, with the message focusing on how the building-society supports its customers by sharing profits to customers, not shareholders. Simultaneously, Nationwide has seen improvements in positive associations, though most notably a 9pp increase in ‘straightforward’ driven by 16-24s and women. Similarly, 16-24s’ love for Nationwide has increased 9pp in the past year.

Barclays, too, has promoted its ‘Make money work for you’ campaign, which highlights the importance of building a healthy relationship with money throughout life, starting from childhood. During this time, Barclays saw strong improvements among 24-34s for being ‘trustworthy’, ‘approachable’ and ‘helpful’ – the same audience with the greatest growing Brand Affinity.

Barclaycard have been supporting its rewards programme which allows customers to earn Avios points while spending. With this simple message, the brand has enjoyed a growth in associations of being ‘straight-forward’ (+17pp year on year). These brands have not only been present across a range of touchpoints with its campaign but have also focused messaging around providing support for customers through tough times.

What can other brands learn from High Street Banks?

As a result of reduced consumer spend in a tough market, many brands have also reduced their advertising spend. However, the improvements in Brand Love towards high street banks, who have continued to invest in ATL, support the argument to continue with brand investment. This not only helps to ‘weather the storm’ of an economic downturn but emerge on the other side thriving.

Click here to check out the full The UK’s Most Loved Financial Services Brands 2024 report.