Building Societies Dominate Headlines with Eye Catching Deals

LONDON, 30 November 2011 - The latest analysis of the most talked about financial brands, products and issues from media intelligence and research agency Kantar Media shows that building societies are dominating media coverage about financial products. In the first ten months of this year, Nationwide Building Society had the most positive exposure in the national press of any financial services brand. The profile of the building societies was also boosted by the strong performances of other mutuals.  Yorkshire Building Society, Chelsea Building Society, Coventry Building Society and Skipton Building Society all appeared in the ranking of the Top 20 financial brands of the year.

Nationwide achieved its lead position with 669 mentions in the UK national press and a high score - based on frequency, tonality and impact - of 2663. Nationwide gained most favourable coverage from its savings offers this year, with its easy access online account frequently identified as one of the best on the market. In the Spring 2011 ISA season it gained favourable notice for being one of the few major providers allowing transfers into its best accounts. More recently, the building society has strived to build customer loyalty with preferential loan rates for current account holders.

HSBC was the leading financial brand for the month of October as it stepped up its mortgage offer for first-time buyers with a raft of new fee-free deals. The bank was followed in the October rankings by Yorkshire Building Society, with its strong mortgage offers and inflation busting savings products, the Post Office which launched a savings lifeline with its own inflation-proof bonds and Nationwide Building Society's provision of the lowest unsecured loan rates seen for a number of years.

While building societies have enjoyed great coverage so far this year, the big banks are fighting back. Santander had the second greatest amount of positive exposure in the ten months to end October with a score of 2293. The Spanish-owned bank has been very aggressive in the current account market, offering cash incentives to new customers and providing one of the few accounts to pay a decent interest on credit balances. The bank is followed by Halifax, which is being repositioned as a challenger brand by owner Lloyds Banking Group.

Philip Lynch, Media Evaluation Director at Kantar Media Intelligence UK, commented on the results. He said: "Building societies are benefiting from being seen as a smaller, friendlier alternative to the big banks, which have been hit by a wave of negative feeling because of the financial crisis, but the banks are fighting back after two years of spectacular underperformance with innovative promotional tactics and aggressive cash incentives for new customers."

Media exposure ranking of Financial Brands from January to October 2011:

Source: Kantar Media's Presswatch Financial media intelligence report which analyses media coverage of financial products, brands and issues. Jan to October 2011

Media exposure of financial brands for October 2011

Source: Kantar Media's Presswatch Financial media intelligence report for October 2011

Other highlights from the October 2011 Kantar Media Presswatch Financial report include:

• Savouring Savings - despite the economic recession and low rate of savings, savings products dominated media coverage in the financial sector during October with a 16% share of coverage. ISAs claimed an additional 8% up from 6% last month due to the official launch of Junior ISAs. Much of the Junior ISAs coverage focused on the slowness of the big high street banks to get behind the new tax-free savings vehicle for children. Unit trusts also enjoyed increased prominence as a result of media interest in Junior ISAs as a tax-free wrapper for investment funds.
• More about Mortgages - there was an increase in coverage of mortgage products last month - up from 11 to 16 percent - as lenders such as HSBC and Woolwich launched new deals aimed at first-time buyers. Building societies continue to set the pace in media coverage of mortgages, with Chelsea Building Society coming first in October and four other societies in the top five.
• Ethical Finance increased from 2 to 4 per cent during the month boosted by National Ethical Investment Week.  It also enjoyed the most favourable coverage.
• Most Frequently Cited Pundit for October 2011 was Patrick Connolly from AWD Chase de Vere.
• Santander's UK Chief Executive Ana Botin was the most prominent spokesperson in October.

About Kantar Media's Presswatch Financial reports

Produced monthly, Kantar Media's Presswatch Financial media intelligence reports provides financial organisations and pundits with detailed analysis of UK national press coverage given to named company products. The scoring system creates a league table of companies whose individual positions reflect both the volume of coverage and whether that coverage is positive or not. It also produces subsidiary tables for each individual product type such as ISAs, Unit Trusts, Mortgages or Savings. The analysis excludes advertisements.