When TD Bank Financial, one of Canada’s largest banking groups, acquired the New Jersey based Commerce Bancorp, it became North America’s seventh largest bank. The transaction more than doubled TD Bank’s presence in the United States. The acquisition created the need to consolidate the Commerce Bank brand and the existing TD Banknorth brand into a single entity with a new logo. Coast 2 Coast’s resources and depth of experience was an ideal match to enable TD Bank to quickly and cost effectively acquire the data necessary to implement the change across all locations.
This large-scale program entailed a two-pronged approach. One focus was centered around converting the former Commerce Bank facilities to the newly created TD Bank brand. The second area of attention involved re-imaging the existing TD Banknorth facilities including retail branches, remote ATMs and corporate campuses, that were all operating under the TD Banknorth banner.
Commerce Bank sites were heavily branded – exterior and interior signs, POP displays and marketing materials, branded architectural elements such as sidewalk pavers, door pulls, carpet, and ceiling accent lighting, and even the candy dishes – all had to be included in the scope of work. Of course with such major changes at the locations, changes in municipal sign codes also had to be considered.
The program involved numerous project managers, manufacturing personnel and installation crews. Sign companies were contracted to manufacture, and install new product for the over six-hundred branches and thousands of ATMs. This complex consortium posed multiple coordination and communication challenges for the multiple vendors.
Enter Coast 2 Coast.
Having long established relationships in the sign-survey industry, Coast 2 Coast was consulted by a few of the sign manufacturers. Taking notice of the quality and timeliness of the work, as well as recognizing the need to minimize coordination and communication issues, TD Bank selected Coast 2 Coast to be the sole provider for survey services and code research.
Coast 2 Coast deployed six, two-man survey crews. Using an outside-in deployment strategy, the survey crews worked their way from the periphery of the geographic cluster inward to Boston, while the municipal services team completed state-specific code research in parallel. Ten states, 657 sites and 5 weeks later, Coast 2 Coast delivered accurate, consistent, and signage brand books and sign code research, to the TD Bank internal stakeholders, project management team, and the multiple vendors. Having a reliable, consistent point of reference allowed these teams to tackle the each aspect of the multi-site roll-out and accomplish the overarching goal of consolidating the existing TD Banknorth and newly acquired Commerce Bank under a single brand identity.