Adline Profile - IF                                                            Ruth Allen/Ruthmedia

Angela McIntosh

Sixteen months after the launch of Intelligent Finance (IF), Marketing Director Angela McIntosh is taking an hour out of a hectic schedule to lead me through its impressive track record of success in the competitive world of internet and telephone banking. The list of IF's achievements speaks for itself. 327,000 accounts and 242,000 individual customers in its first full year. A total of £8.9 billion balances in hand. New business growth averaging over £750 million per month. Share of the UK net mortgage market increasing for the year to 9%. Savings and current account balances amounting to £2 billion. Savings balances three times higher than sector average at £16,700. A trio of top awards in 2001's National Business Awards of Scotland - Company of the Year, Financial Services Company of the Year and Best Large Company. All of this after a potentially disastrous false start in the summer of 2000, when technical glitches brought a much publicised delay in IF's launch, from which it triumphantly emerged - through the power of positive PR - to its current strong and trouble-free position in the market.

How has it all been done? "Through a lot of hard work!" says Angela McIntosh, smiling ruefully at this statement of the obvious basic rule of business success. "But it's tremendously satisfying work, seeing an organisation develop around you. You've been in at the start of something big, planting the initial ideas and watching them grow."

There's nothing magical in the success story of Intelligent Finance - just application of the good old-fashioned central principles of marketing, adjusted for our high tech age. A solid product, a clear set of aims and target audience, imaginative use of the marketing mix, exciting and innovative advertising and a solid PR front embracing customers, clients and employees - this is the route to IF's success.

"We have a great basic belief in the strength of our product," says McIntosh. "It is so unique that we are in the process of applying for an official patent. Where other integrated banking services throw all your money into the one pot, we keep all your accounts separate, so that the customer can see at a glance what is going on in each one. Our 'intelligent banking system' links all products on a daily basis to see that everything is working at its best for the customer. We believe we offer the most flexible package and mixture of products - you don't even have to have a mortgage, or have your salary paid into a current account to bank with us. We reckon we're ahead of the pack, and plan to stay there."

Tapping in to the new technologies of telephone, WAP mobiles and internet was one of the main aims of Halifax plc when it developed the idea of IF in 1999. "We were explicitly looking to a market not usually attracted to the Halifax," says McIntosh. "We were moving away from the Halifax as a traditional mortgage bank, bringing in customers to a wider range of services, such as current accounts, loans and credit cards. So we've taken on board a fair sized group of 'early adopters', younger and more technologically orientated. But I'm pleased to say that our appeal is wider than that, with all backgrounds and ages - including some in their nineties!"

How do you market such a radical new product? According to McIntosh, it is through flexible use of the marketing mix, calling on all the appropriate tools at the right time : "We've looked at it as a three stage process. In the early days the aim was to establish the brand, combining the security of the old with an appeal to new audiences. Our adverts in press and on TV - including the ones with the Fatboy Slim soundtrack - created an image that said to people 'You'd be better off with us'. Phase two went into more technical explanations of how things worked in our system, and the current third phase features six actual customers explaining how they are better off with us. These testimonials from real people encourage potential customers to make the change themselves,and existing customers to take on more of our products."

IF's clear advertising strategy is a result of close collaboration with local agency The Union. "We have an excellent working relationship with them," says McIntosh. "We see the agency really as an extension of our marketing team, directly involved with every step of the planning and decision making, sitting in on all the key meetings. As our business has developed, we've moved beyond the immediate locality for some of our marketing work, with our direct marketing done by Navigator Responsive Advertising and the media buying account won by BLM Media, giving us a good national reach from its London base."

While most of its advertising remains traditional TV and press - and to a lesser extent outdoor and radio - IF is also naturally keen on newer outlets such as online advertising and innovative PR ventures to reach its new markets. "A favourite with us is what we call 'affinity partnerships' with local organisations that are consumer minded like us, such as the Hilton's Living Well health clubs and the local football teams Hearts and Hibs. We get publicity and new customers through their outlets, they get our commission to develop their facilities, and customers get our product at the standard price. It's a win-win situation for us all."

Another group that IF works closely with are independent financial advisers (IFAs) : "It's an important area, since 70% of our mortgage applications come from intermediaries. We do a lot to advertise in the trade press and to make sure IFAs are up to date with our latest information. We have a dedicated telephone line for IFAs and brokers, and are helping more of them to use internet access, while our intermediary sales team is heavily involved in IFA training."

Customers are of course a priority on the PR front, and the IF team went initially to the USA to find out what gave one call centre a 'personality' over another. "Actually we use the term 'contact centre'," says McIntosh. "We found this was the key element that people want in internet and telephone banking - to know that they can talk to a contact on the phone if they face any problem. If they can't work their way through the internet processes, or want to reassure themselves when they are pressing computer keys during major transactions such as mortgages, they know that there will be a human response available at the other end."

As every company knows, good PR starts with your own staff, and Angela McIntosh is confident that here too IF have hit on a winning formula : "We involve our 2000 or so staff at every level of the process, making sure that they are fully briefed on every new marketing development so that they are prepared for all queries. We try to keep motivation high through schemes like the half yearly 'open forum' when staff can question management on any issues. One of our key policies is promotion within the organisation, training up contact centre operatives who show potential to move into marketing or management positions. There are good opportunities for enthusiastic ambitious staff."

A dynamic, flexible approach is what is needed to survive in the financial sector, according to McIntosh, whose career has stretched across the full range of banking and financial organisations from the Royal Bank and Direct Line to Standard Life : "No bank can afford to rest on its laurels now. If people have overcome the inertia factor to move to your bank, they'll be ready to move again if you don't provide the service they want. People are more informed nowadays, especially the younger generation who are more confident with internet banking. This will be an area of continuous development, especially soon when features like electronic signatures come into play. We plan to be part of that growth and maintain and improve our market position. Our current adverts with specially commissioned music and real people explaining how the system has worked for them will continue to be a key part of that."

So with her eyes firmly on the future, it's time to leave Angela McIntosh to plan IF's next marketing moves, while I consider her evidence slipped into the interview that the intelligent banking system is the ideal solution for the financially hard pressed, self employed freelance journalist...