Westpac abandons Rothschild brand for Sagitta Sarah Plaskitt
TWO hundred years of branding and reputation have been lost to Westpac, which has been forced to abandon the Rothschild financial brand in favour of Sagitta Wealth Management.
Westpac Banking Corporation acquired Rothschild Australia Asset Management (RAAM) on June 1 and merged it with Westpac’s wealth management division, making it the fifth largest retail fund manager in Australia.
However, the purchase did not include the Rothschild name, a well-known, highly-respected global brand, so its use will be phased out.
As part of the transitional process, the current RAAM products will be branded Sagitta-Rothschild until the first quarter of 2003 and Westpac products will continue to be branded as Westpac. Rebranding campaigns have already begun through Ideaworks, with two full-page ads appearing in major metropolitan and national newspapers this week.
Sagitta-Rothschild’s assistant director of marketing communications and promotions Geoff White said the group would spend close to $1m over the next five months to relaunch the brand. In February next year the campaign will extend to TVCs as the strategy moves from a customer retention exercise to an acquisition one.
White said the name Sagitta—one of a list of 500 potential new monikers the company had considered—is derived from the Latin and Ancient Greek word for ‘arrow’, RAAM’s symbol.
