Nationwide – the UK’s largest building society – has invested in a corporate rebrand, backed by a television campaign featuring actor Dominic West.
West, who is better known for his roles in The Wire, The Crown and The Affair, plays a senior bank executive working for a financial institution other than Nationwide.
In the “bad banker” role, West is seen mocking customers, expensing extravagant lunches, ordering branch closures and ordering a colleague around in a large management office.
The mutual said the campaign is designed to showcase the difference that the society offers, when compared to shareholder-owned banks.
“Nationwide offers a large-scale alternative to the shareholder-owned banks,” said Debbie Crosbie, the society’s chief executive.
“As a major challenger, we are committed to offering a good way to bank for our customers through better service, value and fairness. Our rebrand is the most significant in 36 years and ensures we continue to be relevant for the needs of customers today and tomorrow.”
The campaign and rebrand have been built to underscore the mutual’s value proposition of offering good service, great value and fairness, the mutual said in a statement.
In rebranding the organisation with a modern, red, navy and white visual identity, the building society will be investing in all 605 branches across the UK as it commits to face-to-face banking.
It is the first significant change to the organisation’s corporate identity since 1987 when the building society switched from its co-operative pyramid logo to the well-known village icon.
As the largest UK mutual lender, Nationwide has 18,000 employees and has its head office in Swindon.