Abbey National appoints communications director

Abbey National has appointed Jeremy Davies as brand and communications director to complete its revamped marketing line-up.

He will report to customer propositions director Angus Porter, who joined the company from BT where he was managing director, and was given a seat on the board to spearhead a marketing-led revival of the bank (MW June 12).

Davies is has been working as a consultant to video-on-demand company Video Networks, which is still looking for a marketing director (MW July 24). He was marketing director for NTL:Home between 2001 and 2003. Davies also spent ten years working for J Walter Thompson, where he was managing director, and founded its brand consultancy subsidiary, digital@jwt.

When Davies starts the job on September 9, one of his first tasks will be to deal with the outcome of a fundamental brand review being carried out by Wolff Olins. It was ordered by Abbey National chief executive Luqman Arnold after the bank announced record losses of almost &£1bn, earlier this year. The bank is now going back to basics, returning to its core high street services and seeking to reinvent itself as a customer service proposition.

Arnold personally conducted two whirlwind reviews to appoint TBWA/London and MindShare (MW April 10, MW June 5). As part of the wholesale changes, TBWA/CGT was appointed to the direct marketing account and Band & Brown was appointed as Abbey’s PR agency.