Halifax banking on Late Late success

Bank of Scotland (Ireland) is set to open more branches in the Republic of Ireland under the Halifax brand name as part of a expansion plan to win over customers from rival financial institutions.

And to kick start the roll-out of more Halifax branches throughout the country, Bank of Scotland (Ireland) has signed a major deal to be the main sponsor of RTÉ’s top show, The Late Late Show fronted by Pat Kenny.

Halifax takes over as lead sponsors of The Late Late Show from Renault who held it for five years.

And while there will be no more free Renault cars at part of competitions on the show, Halifax said there would be plenty of big prizes on offer to those attending the programme and for viewers at home.

Pat Kenny told the Evening Echo that Renault boss Bill Cullen got good value for his sponsorship of the Late Late over the years, but the time had come to “wrap it up”.

Halifax refused to say how much they paid to be the lead Late Late sponsor for the next two years, but the deal is part of a total 12 million annual marketing spend, which also includes other high-profile sponsorship, such as the backing given to the Leinster rugby team.

Already retail branches on Grand Parade and Ballincollig are now trading under the Halifax name and another will open in the city centre after Christmas. The bank is looking for prime, main street locations to expand operations from 23 branches nationwide to 46 outlets.

Halifax will up the ante to rivals by opening longer, from 9am to 5pm Mondays to Fridays, and they also open on Saturdays. They also have a plan is to win over 45,000 new customers by year end with low-cost credit card deals and good value lending packages for the small to medium-sized business sector.

Bank of Scotland is expected to maintain the name over the door at its headquarters on Cork’s South Mall, as it is mainly deals with business clients, not the general public.

Rosaleen Kelly, head of marketing and PR at Halifax, said: “The Late Late Show is the most popular entertainment programme on RTÉ Television and it provides us with an instant platform to market our new brand to a huge number of consumers, particularly around the country.”