Nationwide has launched a tongue-in-cheek advert to celebrate being named Which? Banking Brand of the Year.
The advert marks the latest instalment in Nationwide’s popular campaign featuring Dominic West as fictional A.N.Y. Bank CEO, Hugo.
In the advert, West’s character is told “They’ve just announced it,” prompting him to prematurely celebrate, assuming A.N.Y. Bank has won the award.
Moments later, he’s informed that Nationwide has actually taken the title, sparking a comic spiral as Hugo scrambles to deal with the 6,000 custom-made ‘Winner 2025’ t-shirts, an extravagant party and even a blimp declaring his bank the winner.
The mix-up gives Nationwide an opportunity to list the reasons behind its win, including its commitment to keeping branches open, “superb performance across current accounts” — a line lifted directly from Which?’s announcement.
Nationwide was also commended for giving over 4 million of its members £100 each, as part of ‘The Big Nationwide Thank You’ which thanked customers for their role in making Nationwide’s acquisition of Virgin Money possible.