St Luke’s highlights Midland Bank’s new name in global task

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.’

This article was first published on Campaign