Brand Metrics: Consumer Awareness of and Attitudes towards Brands in UK Financial Services

0.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Branding influences choice of financial services provider for two out of every three consumers

Visa, Lloyds TSB, Barclaycard, the AA and Halifax are the most well-recognised brands overall…..

… although the results vary when analysed by gender, age group and annual household income ...

More recently-established brands score highly for modernity and ability to excite…

… while more traditional names score highly for consumer perceptions of trustworthiness…

… albeit the brands of on-line aggregators are associated closely with value for money

Trustworthiness and commitment to ethical or socially responsible values are closely correlated

Among brands created since 1998, MORETH>N possesses the greatest implied effectiveness

Across all brands, Direct Line achieves the highest score for reported effectiveness in practice…....

… and a number of other brands appear to be significantly more effective in practice than in theory

The effectiveness of the MINT brand is skewed sharply towards females and younger customers...

Barclays has made progress in reversing aspects of its brand that were formerly weak

The most effective brands tend to possess a well-balanced set of attributes…

… while others are undone by poor consumer perception in certain areas…

… and others still face a more general challenge to transform their image in the eyes of cons

The brands of the leading on-line aggregators of financial services are increasingly effective

Brands are created through a range of variables in addition to advertising…

… which signifies that multiple steps may be required in order to improve brand effectiveness

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Research rationale

Five key reasons underpin the production of the new Brand Metrics research

Brand is a significant factor in choice of financial provider for two in every three consumers

What are the characteristics of an effective financial services brand?

Finaccord has identified nine criteria that combine to determine brand effectiveness

Research sample

Research mechanics

Nine groups of consumers, averaging over 500 in size, have each evaluated ten brands…

… with an array of new brands having been included in the latest research program

Research structure

Strengths and weaknesses

Analytical differences

Finaccord

Other UK consumer research publications

UK affinity and partnership marketing publications

IPT / Tpoll

Errors, omissions and limit of liability

2.0 BRAND RANKINGS

Introduction

Nine criteria are used to determine the effectiveness of financial brands…

… with positive average scores recorded for each other than ability to excite

Trustworthiness and ability to offer value for money are deemed most important by consumers

Awareness

Overall sample

Visa is the brand with the highest level of consumer awareness in the UK…

… with other credit card marques and major high street banks also scoring highly

Among brands created in the last decade, MORETH>N is now the most widely recognised

Analysis of results by gender

Among female respondents, Lloyds TSB is the brand achieving the highest recognition rate…

… although comparethemarket.com is the brand with the greatest outright female bias

Analysis of results by age group

Only Barclaycard and Lloyds TSB feature in the top five among respondents in both age groups...

Comparethemarket.com, MINT and Privilege are all heavily oriented to younger consumers

Analysis of results by annual household income

Among respondents with a lower annual household income, Halifax manages the highest score...

Most brands achieve stronger recognition among those with higher annual household income

Strength

Visa and MasterCard occupy the top two positions in terms of consumer perception of strength ....

Northern Rock’s difficulties have resulted in extremely negative perception of its brand

Accessibility

In terms of consumer perception of accessibility, the AA achieves the strongest score

Relative to its awareness rating, comparethemarket.com achieves a high score for accessibility....

Modernity

Virgin Money and Sheilas’ Wheels are viewed by consumers as the most modern brands…

… with Direct Line rated as the most modern among brands with at least a decade of longevity

There is no apparent correlation between brand modernity and overall awareness

Ability to excite

Most financial services brands are perceived by consumers as being either quite or very dull…

… although Sheilas’ Wheels is the brand arousing the most excitement among consumers

Brands that are perceived to be modern are also those most likely to excite consumers

Trustworthiness

The AA and the RAC are identifiable as the most trusted financial brands in the UK…

… with MasterCard, Nationwide and the Co-operative Bank also scoring highly for this factor

Brands associated with lending products must work harder to earn the trust of consumers

Value for money

The Nationwide brand comprehensively outflanks its high street banking rivals for this factor…

… and it is significant that the brands of on-line aggregators occupy four of the top ten positions....

Brands that are closely associated with credit cards face particular difficulties in this arena

Combining trust with the perception of offering value for money is a key branding objective

Commitment to ethical or socially responsible values

The Co-operative Bank remains closely associated with ethical and socially responsible values

Several other high street banking brands score more highly than might have been anticipated

Trustworthiness and perceived commitment to ethical or socially responsible concerns are linked .

Likeability

Likeability appears largely to be an amalgam of the other factors considered…

… which means that brands with a well-balanced set of attributes emerge as the most liked

Implied brand effectiveness

Implied effectiveness is highest for the AA, Nationwide, RAC, Direct Line and Visa brands…

… with MORETH>N and Confused.com scoring most highly among recently established brands..

Reported brand effectiveness

Overall sample

In terms of its reported effectiveness, Direct Line beats its rivals into pole position

The moneysupermarket.com brand is far more effective in practice than in theory…

… while the Abbey brand is the least effective in practice relative to its theoretical strength

Analysis of results by gender

Four brands rank among the top five by reported effectiveness among both males and females ....

The MINT brand generates a particularly high score for reported effectiveness among females

Analysis of results by age group

The Nationwide brand achieves the highest reported effectiveness among the over-45 group

MoneyExpert and moneysupermarket.com are effective at different ends of the age spectrum

Analysis of results by annual household income

The First Direct brand is particularly effective in the eyes of those earning in excess of £25,000..

3.0 TIME SERIES COMPARISONS

Introduction

Selected comparisons can be made between the latest results and those from the 2006 survey.

A handful of brands have experienced a substantial increase in their overall recognition rate…...

… with a number of others identifiable as having improved significantly their imp. effectiveness ..

4.0 BRAND PROFILES

Introduction

4.1 AA

4.2 Abbey

4.3 Admiral

4.4 AEGON

4.5 AIG

4.6 Alliance & Leicester

4.7 Allianz

4.8 American Express

4.9 AWD Moneyextra

4.10 AXA

4.11 AXA PPP

4.12 AXA Sun Life

4.13 Bank of Scotland

4.14 Barclaycard

4.15 Barclays

4.16 Beneficial Finance

4.17 Black Horse

4.18 Bradford & Bingley

4.19 Britannia

4.20 BUPA

4.21 C&G

4.22 Cahoot

4.23 Capital One

4.24 Churchill

4.25 CIS Co-operative Insurance

4.26 Citi

4.27 CitiFinancial

4.28 Clerical Medical

4.29 Clydesdale Bank

4.30 Co-operative Bank

4.31 comparethemarket.com

4.32 Confused.com

4.33 Cornhill Direct

4.34 Diners Club

4.35 Direct Line

4.36 Egg

4.37 Endsleigh

4.38 engage Mutual Assurance

4.39 esure.com

4.40 First Alternative

4.41 First Direct

4.42 FIRSTPLUS

4.43 Fool.co.uk

4.44 Friends Provident

4.45 GE Money

4.46 Goldfish

4.47 Green Flag

4.48 Halifax

4.49 Hastings Direct

4.50 Hiscox

4.51 Homeserve

4.52 HSBC

4.53 ING Direct

4.54 Intelligent Finance

4.55 Legal & General

4.56 Lloyds TSB

4.57 LV =

4.58 MasterCard

4.59 MBNA

4.60 MINT

4.61 Moneyback Bank

4.62 MoneyExpert

4.63 moneysupermarket.com

4.64 MORETH>N

4.65 Nationwide

4.66 NatWest

4.67 NFU Mutual

4.68 Northern Rock

4.69 Norwich Union

4.70 ns&i

4.71 Privilege

4.72 Prudential

4.73 PruHealth

4.74 RAC

4.75 RBS

4.76 Royal London

4.77 Saga

4.78 Scottish Life

4.79 Scottish Widows

4.80 Sheilas’ Wheels

4.81 Skandia

4.82 smile

4.83 Standard Life

4.84 swiftcover.com

4.85 uSwitch.com

4.86 Virgin Money

4.87 Visa

4.88 Wesleyan

4.89 Yorkshire Bank

4.90 Zurich

GRAPHICS / TABLES

Importance of brand to consumers in choice of financial services provider

Key attributes for a successful brand in financial services

Sample breakdown by age group, household income band and geographical location

Composition of the nine brand groupings

Comparison of aggregate strength of financial services brands for key brand effectiveness factors

Importance to consumers of key brand effectiveness factors when choosing a financial services brand

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness (continued)

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness among male respondents

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness among male respondents (continued)

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness among female respondents

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness among female respondents (continued)

Comparison of overall consumer awareness among male and female respondents

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness among younger respondents

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness among younger respondents (continued)

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness among older respondents

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness among older respondents (continued)

Comparison of overall consumer awareness among younger and older respondents

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness among respondents with a lower household income

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness among respondents with a lower household income (cont.)

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness among respondents with a higher household income

Ranking of brands by overall consumer awareness among respondents with a higher household income (cont.)

Comparison of overall consumer awareness among resps. with higher and lower annual household incomes

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of strength

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of strength (continued)

Correlation between overall consumer awareness and consumer perception of strength

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of accessibility

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of accessibility (continued)

Correlation between overall consumer awareness and consumer perception of accessibility

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of modernity

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of modernity (continued)

Correlation between overall consumer awareness and consumer perception of modernity

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of ability to excite

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of ability to excite (continued)

Correlation between consumer perception of modernity and consumer perception of ability to excite

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of trustworthiness

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of trustworthiness (continued)

Correlation between overall consumer awareness and consumer perception of trustworthiness

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of value for money

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of value for money (continued)

Correlation between consumer perception of trustworthiness and consumer perception of value for money

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of commitment to ethical or socially responsible values

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of commitment to ethical or socially responsible values (continued)

Correlation between cons. perc. of trust. and cons. perc. of commitment to ethical or socially resp. values

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of likeability

Ranking of brands by consumer perception of likeability (continued)

Ranking of brands by implied brand effectiveness

Ranking of brands by implied brand effectiveness (continued)

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among all respondents

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among all respondents (continued)

Comparison of brand rankings for implied effectiveness and reported effectiveness

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among male respondents

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among male respondents (continued)

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among female respondents

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among female respondents (continued)

Comparison of reported effectiveness among male and female respondents

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among younger respondents

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among younger respondents (continued)

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among older respondents

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among older respondents (continued)

Comparison of reported effectiveness among younger and older respondents

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among respondents with a lower household income

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among respondents with a lower household income (continued)

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among respondents with a higher household income

Ranking of brands by reported effectiveness among respondents with a higher household income (continued)

Comparison of reported effectiveness among respondents with higher and lower annual household incomes

Time series comparison of scores for overall consumer awareness

Time series comparison of scores for overall consumer awareness (continued)

Time series comparison of scores for consumer perception of strength

Time series comparison of scores for consumer perception of accessibility

Time series comparison of scores for consumer perception of modernity

Time series comparison of scores for consumer perception of ability to excite

Time series comparison of scores for consumer perception of trustworthiness

Time series comparison of scores for consumer perception of ability to offer value for money

Time series comparison of scores for cons. perception of commitment to ethical or socially responsible values

Time series comparison of scores for consumer perception of likeability

Time series comparison of scores for implied brand effectiveness

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the AA brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Abbey brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Admiral brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the AEGON brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the AIG brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Alliance & Leicester brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Allianz brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the American Express brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the AWD Moneyextra brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the AXA brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the AXA PPP brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the AXA Sun Life brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Bank of Scotland brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Barclaycard brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Barclays brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Beneficial Finance brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Black Horse brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Bradford & Bingley brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Britannia brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the BUPA brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the C&G brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Cahoot brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Capital One brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Churchill brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the CIS Co-operative Insurance brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Citi brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the CitiFinancial brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Clerical Medical brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Clydesdale Bank brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Co-operative Bank brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the comparethemarket.com brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Confused.com brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Cornhill Direct brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Diners Club brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Direct Line brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Egg brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Endsleigh brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the engage Mutual Assurance brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the esure.com brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the First Alternative brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the First Direct brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the FIRSTPLUS brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Fool.co.uk brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Friends Provident brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the GE Money brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Goldfish brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Green Flag brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Halifax brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Hastings Direct brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Hiscox brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Homeserve brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the HSBC brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the ING Direct brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Intelligent Finance brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Legal & General brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Lloyds TSB brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the LV = brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the MasterCard brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the MBNA brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the MINT brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Moneyback Bank brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the MoneyExpert brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the moneysupermarket.com brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the MORETH>N brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Nationwide brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the NatWest brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the NFU Mutual brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Northern Rock brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Norwich Union brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the ns&i brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Privilege brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Prudential brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the PruHealth brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the RAC brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the RBS brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Royal London brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Saga brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Scottish Life brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Scottish Widows brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Sheilas’ Wheels brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Skandia brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the smile brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Standard Life brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the swiftcover.com brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the uSwitch.com brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Virgin Money brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Visa brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Wesleyan brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Yorkshire Bank brand

Summary of consumer awareness of and attitudes towards the Zurich brand