Dear Abby: Someone at the bank might be sleeping with the branding consultant. Should we blow the whistle?

The branding revamp, which will incur £11m of costs plus consultants' fees of £500,000, (US$833,920) will change the bank's name for the first time since Abbey National was founded in a 1944 merger of the Abbey Road and National building societies.

Abbey National's red brand signs will be replaced by "abbey" in blue, green, orange or pink. Branches will be refurbished. The company will continue to be registered and listed as Abbey National.

So, let's get this straight. For nearly a million dollars in consulting fees, the branding advice is to shorten the name from Abbey National to just "abbey" and replace red brand signs with blue, green, orange or pink. Stop using the slogan, "Get the Abbey habit." But, keep the company name registered and listed as Abbey National. And, the big branding idea for the bank -- talk to customers in plain English. In case you missed the special effects of this million dollar rebranding effort linked on the bank's corporate website, take a good look. This is designed to "turn banking on its head."

Edward Firth, analyst at Credit Lyonnais, said: "What this reeks of is somebody who's spent a fortune on consultants." Really? It's happened before.

Another banker said: "I do not think anybody in the industry will be losing sleep over this tonight. Abbey is not going to get new customers by putting frosted fronts on branches. Banks succeed or fail on their pricing."

Effectively branding its position in all markets as the value leader, ING proves the point that branding is not about getting your customers to choose you over your competition. It's about getting them to see you as the only choice.