A Brave New World: Branding in Financial Services.

Abstract

The financial services sector worldwide still resonates from the financial crisis of 2008 after which major brands suffered severe damage to their reputations. If the reckless lending practices of well-known brands were not enough, further revelations about money laundering, rate fixing and mis-selling continue to emerge. The news of these misdeeds has led to high levels of distrust amongst stakeholders of financial institutions (FIs). Many FIs are heavy investors in branding but, as a result of their own corporate misdeeds or those of their competitors, many brands have tarnished reputations. Although it may be tempting to blame this situation purely on malpractice, we argue that this is a good opportunity to assess branding in financial services as a whole. Were FI brands in a healthy position before the crises and on-going revelations? Did customers find the messages in the communication of brands consistent with their experience? Complaint columns, media analysis and financial blogs suggest that the customer experience was not always consistent with the brand communications. We would contend therefore that many FI branding attempts were not well conceived and even before the crises revealed gaps between brand promise and experience. As FIs formulate new strategies so that they can begin to regain the trust of their stakeholders, they also have the opportunity to revisit their brand strategies to realign them with changes in the marketplace and developments in marketing. To this end, this chapter proposes a model of financial services branding that addresses the issues faced by UK based FIs and incorporates contemporary marketing thinking