Building society strategy by Lloyd Northover

The Chelsea Building Society has appointed Lloyd Northover to review its brand positioning within the financial services market.

The consultancy has started working in a strategic capacity for the building society and is tasked with developing a series of revised brand guidelines. The intention is to give greater cohesiveness and a more consistent look across the brand’s print and digital collateral.

The project is in the early stages, but it could lead to an eventual redesign of the Chelsea Building Society’s visual identity. Strange and Dawson Advertising, located in Bristol, designed Chelsea’s current identity, which features a lion motif.

Lloyd Northover is holding a series of creative workshops to review the brand, and is currently auditing the building society’s literature and signage, among other things.

‘The strategy is to give more cohesiveness to the brand, developing a literature system and reviewing material in general,’ says a spokeswoman at Lloyd Northover.

‘It is early days and the project is a bit unknown for us at the moment, but we are keeping an open mind,’ says Elaine Warwicker, assistant general manager for marketing and investments at the Chelsea Building Society.

Lloyd Northover was appointed to the strategic branding project in December 2005. Chelsea Building Society is one of the UK’s top six building societies, with assets of £8.9bn. It was founded 150 years ago.

Abbey National recently rebranded in the style of its parent company Santander Central Hispano. The identity was originally created by Landor Associates.