Takeaways are good for you
The Takeaway Remortgage enabled Nationwide to punch above their weight by increasing their share in the remortgage market year on year for 4 years. In the first quarter of 2003 the Takeaway Remortgage increased Nationwide’s market share from 5.3% to 7%, won them Remortgager of the Year 2003 and was awarded Most Innovative Marketing Campaign at the BT/ifs finance innovation awards.

I’m a bit scared of this one actually, it’s not every day you create something that helped an organisation to make not just millions but billions. But Nationwide can be justly proud of this one, while I had the original idea I also had the pleasure of working with an organisation that pulled together and made something wonderful happen. They believed in the idea, they had excellent communication channels in place and they backed it to the hilt. From the cashiers in the branches to the Chief Executive this organisation believes that they are the people’s champions of the financial world.

They wanted to make moving your mortgage a less scary process but being a building society they could not justify the expense of a ‘we’ll-do-it-all-for-you’ service. So we had to go down the DIY route and make it as easy as possible. I did some qualitative research and unsurprisingly it seems most people hate booking the interview and dealing with the complicated procedure. I got some of the mortgage people and legal chaps to work with me in a cross-team working group and we stripped out every single bit of jargoneese we could. I then reduced the application procedure to 3 steps only and wrote it in friendly but down to earth language – the working group ensured that it was still accurate. I don’t know quite how the idea of making it a Takeaway came to me, I knew I had to find a way that would make people want to do it; it had to be something you could grab along with your sandwiches during your lunch hour. But one morning, there it was, staring me in the face. It was scary too – I knew it would work but I also knew that it was a radical departure for them. They loved it, they made it their own and made it a success. And I will never forget coming back from holiday to find 6ft giant takeaway remortgage bags in every Nationwide branch window in the UK high streets.

Designer: Alison Fisher, Copywriter/Creative Consultant: Ingrid Birchell Hughes, Agency: The Agency - Nationwide Building Society.