Brand surgery with Abbey's Doctor Porter: Morag Cuddeford Jones talks to Angus Porter, former managing director of BT Retail and customer director of the newly rebranded Abbey bank, and discovers that this jack of all trades is brand master of more than one

Brand Strategy, November, 2003 by Morag Cuddeford Jones

Dr Angus Porter, to call him by his full title, would have given his school careers adviser a heart attack if he'd told them what his planned job path would be. In a 20-year period, he has crammed in a wide variety of professions. These include metallurgist, Malteser-improver, salesman, telecoms managing director and now, customer director in charge of driving a total rebrand of the bank formerly known as Abbey National.

Porter's dress sense reflects Abbey's latest incarnation as the people's bank, rejecting the stuffy image of suited and booted bank managers. In an open-necked shirt, he reluctantly huffs: "I suppose I'd better put my jacket on" when lining up for his photo.

The reinvented, relaxed Abbey is a reaction to disastrous results last year when the...