St Luke’s, the Midland Bank’s agency of record, has created a
global press campaign to inform customers that the bank has changed its
name to HSBC.
The ad appears in the national press and in selected regional newspapers
this week from Wednesday to Friday. It will also run in the Sunday
papers for the next two weeks.
It announces that the HSBC group is coming together under one name and
features the existing Midland Bank branding alongside the new HSBC name
and hexagonal logo.
The campaign will then be adapted to run in a further eight countries
where HSBC has major subsidiaries.
HSBC has denied reports that it is reviewing the pounds 9 million
Midland advertising account out of St Luke’s.
’St Luke’s will continue to work on our retail banking operations in the
UK, but we will now have to decide which agency to use for HSBC’s
corporate branding worldwide,’ Richard Beck, the head of external
relations for HSBC, said. ’HSBC has its own agency relationships around
the world and they have never included St Luke’s.’
The rebranding, announced at the beginning of this week, is designed to
help HSBC gain recognition as one of the world’s biggest financial
services companies.
HSBC’s group chairman, John Bond, said: ’Historically, we have operated
under different names in different places. Our policy of retaining the
separate identities of the companies we acquired because they were
well-known names in their local markets served us well for many years.
However, times change and we must change with them.’
