Commonwealth Bank promises to hang on to the ASB Bank brand

By Deborah Hill Cone

Friday 7th December 2001

ASB Bank yesterday rubbished a suggestion its parent company, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), was considering dumping the ASB Bank brand.

Advertising sources told NBR there was a proposal originating from Australia to replace ASB with the main CBA brand.

"No, that's not true," ASB marketing manager Barbara Chapman said of the speculation which she described as outrageous. We have invested incredibly in our brand and are going to continue to do so," Ms Chapman said.

The move does sound radical but CBA's controversial director of marketing Graham Ford is famous for his paradigm-shifting approach such as his decision last year to fire all three advertising agencies on the $A40 million CBA roster and set up his own instead.

The CBA-owned agency 360 Degrees now handles the bank's advertising spend, with a saving of about 30% in costs, according to Mr Ford.

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