NAB has launched a major brand overhaul, with the top four bank scrapping the 'More Give, Less Take' positioning it has used since 2013. It's taking a more emotional route with the strapline 'More Than Money'.
The brand messaging is centred around what the bank calls big and small life moments, that cost money, but are about much more than financial considerations. It's part of a bid to communicate NAB's "customer-centric" approach to banking and NAB's newly minted CMO Andrew Knott says it champions what the bank strives to do everyday.
The creative goes live this afternoon (10 July), with one of the major television spots using home movie footage that follows a young woman’s life from birth through to adulthood. The second spot follows a NAB Business customer from its start-up days through to international launch, again using real footage of the founders rather than recreated or manufactured footage.
Knott took on the CMO role less than a year ago and he says he’s proud to be involved in such transformative work for the bank. Knott previously told AdNews that he’s a customer driven marketer and he believes this campaign highlights that, adding the positioning is a reflection of the brand's customer-centricity.
“'More Than Money' reflects the way we feel our role is to serve our customers to help them achieve their goals and it's very aligned to our overall strategic direction. People don't take a mortgage, invest in superannuation or buy an education investment - they buy a home to live in, they invest in their retirement so it's comfortable and they want to give their children the best possible start in life,” he says. “It's recognising we're at our best when we understand the customers we serve and how we can assist them with the financial aspects of achieving those goals. That's where our expertise is and we're at our strongest when we serve them.”
“The other thing that I think is worth pointing out is what's ironic is the banking industry is very prepared to talk about product in context of product and ironically almost never brings up the key component of that which is money – we're just being very honest and transparent. Money is the critical enabler that gets people to where they need to. So let's be honest and transparent about that,” he added.
The ‘More Than Money’ positioning is set to be around for the next five years at least and Knott says that this new positing won’t be a success until it’s something that customers are seeing in the services they’re getting from the bank. He says he’s also aware of the halo affect the business can get from having a strong brand, but most importantly the bank has to live the brand internally for the customers to believe it.
“I fundamentally believe we don't own our brand, our customers do. It's all of their experiences [with the bank] that will determine if we're able to really deliver on [being customer-centric]," he says.
“When you're relaunching a brand the key is to land it and we don't land it from the day we launch. We land it when our customers are playing it back to us over the coming years and it becomes something that we’re known for and clearly associated with and respected for.”
The campaign will run across TV, online, out-of-home, digital, social media and in-branch, with more than 182 executions being created to spread the new message. The creative was developed by ClemengerBBDO Melbourne.
Read a profile interview with Knott from May this year.
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