Value for Ideas

Spanish bank Santander bought British bank Abbey in 2004, but not until now they had dared changing the name to Santander, just their flame-like logo had started featuring along with the Abbey name.

The ad in the picture is basically a corporate public notice, only that the implications of the re-branding process are so huge, they have to do a proper advertising campaign to lubricate public understanding and acceptance.

The whole branding issue is really interesting in this case when bringing into play the fact that Santander was sponsoring British F1 team McLaren (Lewis Hamilton) up until now, what fit nicely in their UK campaigns. However, from 2010, Santander will sponsor McLaren's eternal rival Ferrari (Fernando Alonso), a difficult move to capitalise in UK branding campaigns. Bad timing for Santander UK.

More info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8069648.stm

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Santander: Value for Ideas
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