Rebuilding Society - a look at Nationwide's Dunfermline Building Society

Nationwide then swooped to acquire Dunfermline’s head office, its retail and wholesale deposits, all of its branches and the majority of its residential mortgage book.

All staff were also transferred to Nationwide as part of the deal, although the reputation of the brand had certainly been impacted by the negative press surrounding the saga.

12 months on and Alistair Welham, head of products & marketing regional brands at Nationwide has overseen the rebuilding of the brand, alongside Nationwide stable mates, Cheshire and Derbyshire Building Societies.

“It’s not surprising now to look back and see what happened and what went wrong as a consequence and how that brought these businesses together. There’s been lots of learning in the industry and by all the people involved in terms of some of the mistakes that were made,” says Welham when asked about that period before the acquisition.

But times have changed for Dunfermline under Nationwide, as have they for its UK sister brands, he is keen to underline.

He lists the changes that loyal customers will have witnessed, mainly at local level, to improve the brand’s offering and services, such as the recent launch of its Whole Market IFA at the end of March while also offering branded products which are separately priced and managed around savings and mortgages. Those are then complemented with additional products which are possible through being owned by Nationwide.

The company, almost immediately, invested in new technology and kit for branches following the acquisition to bring its processes up to speed with those of its parent company.

“The infrastructure and the environment that has been enhanced and improved, both make the employees feel great and helps them improve the service to the customer,” Welham explains.

Following extensive research and monthly brand tracking, Welham claims that the experience and familiarity experienced by customers has not been lost in translation, but has been enhanced by the Nationwide acquisition. He also says that research around the brand has shown a recognition factor of 70 percent awareness in Scotland.

“That is outstanding in comparison, even in comparison with some of our regional brands which is about 20 percent ahead of where we would expect to find Derbyshire and Cheshire. That is evidence in itself how well the brand was established and the loyalty and commitment that people have.

“When we did our initial round of research, just after acquisition, there was a huge sense of disappointment that, what had been seen as an independent, Scottish institution had fallen over and what we’ve clearly been doing over the last year is repairing that relationship and giving customers the confidence that, actually, it’s the same Dunfermline but better.”

A crucial element of reinvigorating the image of Dunfermline Building Society and maintaining its upturn in fortunes for Welham has been about presenting it as a strong and stable brand. Dunfermline has 34 branches at the moment with approximately 350,000 members and will reflect the messages of Nationwide, which has a total membership base of 15 million members and £200 billion of assets, to convey its position of security, i.e.; “it doesn’t have to ‘go to the Government for a handout”, says Welham.

“How many other big banks, in comparison, have had to do that?” he adds.

In terms of marketing that stability, the brand hasn’t been as high profile as it was previously, over the last year in its advertising. Some press campaigns, handled by its ongoing regional advertising agency Family, which has renegotiated it's terms with the client, have appeared – one recently at the end of March to promote the previously mentioned cash ISA product, while a new Spring campaign promoting its Protected Equity Bond is also set to roll out imminently.

As to why it seems the brand has been relatively quiet in the first year under Nationwide’s control, Welham explains that the strategy is about the long-term building of a stable business and having the confidence to reinforce that.

“We haven’t done big TV campaigns, but we’ve been reasonably evident in terms of a number of press campaigns and being out there with those. They have been very successful for us and they have helped us to re-establish the confidence in Dunfermline as a brand which is here and is competing in the Scottish market place. We’ve acquired an additional 10,000 customers so we must be doing something right.”

In the second part of this interview, which will run tomorrow, Welham discusses his plans for resreshing the Dunfermline Building Society's identity and his plans for future marketing campaigns.