Cahoot to bank on Underground view

As part of a six-month strategy project, Underground The Brand Laundry has begun research into Internet bank Cahoot’s brand equity.

Underground founding partner and director Greg Watson confirms that there will be a creative element to the project.

‘We want to build on the success of Cahoot in terms of developing the brand and helping to identify a lot of the deliverables around the brand.

‘After the strategic evaluation we will move into some sort of creative articulation to help move the brand forward,’ says Watson.

However, Cahoot brand and acquisition manager Miranda Woodley says the project will not include a name change, or a change to the identity.

‘This is a strategic project and is about how we develop the brand. In order to secure our market share we need to know how to grow. However, we would not touch the name and we don’t need to change our identity,’ she says.

Watson confirms there will be a visual communications audit. ‘We will look at the visual communications – for example, how the website is delivering. We are not here to change the logo, we are here to ensure the brand values are being communicated,’ he says.

The consultancy, which was appointed two weeks ago, will shortly begin talks with Cahoot employees in the marketing department, in the call centre and on the board, and with existing and potential customers.

Once research has been completed, the consultancy will conduct a strategic evaluation of the brand, which will be followed by creative work.

The consultancy won the work via a strategic and creative pitch.

Cahoot is owned by Abbey National and was set up in 2000. It has 350 000 account holders.