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Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton joined executive chairman Emilio Botin to unveil the new Santander branding in Tottenham Court Road, London as 722 Abbey branches are renamed as Santander over the next fortnight.

Endpoint was appointed to manage the rebrand of 722 branches within a challenging timeframe of 6 months. This involved the management of site surveys, brand schemes, procurement, statutory applications, supply chain management and installation supervision. Endpoint has now secured a further project with Santander to survey a number of branches for promotional opportunities.

In a statement Botin said: “This is a historic day for Santander as its name is firmly established on the UK high street”.

António Horta-Osório, Chief Executive of Santander UK, added: “The success of our UK business has given us the confidence to move to the Santander name now and with it deliver the next phase of our transformation program and make 1,300 branches available to our 25 million customers in the UK.”

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Wise words from The Times - Mark Hunter

Article extract…

Budget wisely – Paul Veness is director of Endpoint, a brand implementation company that is managing the Abbey building society’s rebrand to Santander. It is his job to put the ideas dreamt up by the design agency into practice. “We have to make sure that all the new signage and branding goes up in every building, on every site and in every branch,” he said. “What people don’t always realise is that the implementation costs can be 20 to 30 times the design budget.”

Get local buy-in – A company’s rebrand is doomed to failure if it cannot convince its own staff. It is vital, therefore, that staff on the front line are kept informed at every stage of the rebranding process. “Communication is key,” Mr Veness said. “You need to be constantly in touch with the site managers.”

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