TD Bank is dropping the “Bank” from its brand name.
The state’s fourth-largest retail bank by market share has undergone a subtle makeover, to coincide with a new marketing campaign in its home country of Canada as well as the US. It’s the biggest campaign for the bank since 2019, long before a money laundering scandal put TD in the news in 2024.
Most notably, where the bank’s logo once said “TD Bank,” it will now simply be “TD.” Chief marketing officer Jennie Platt said simplicity, clarity, and consistency drove the idea behind the new brand, and the idea of uniting Canada and the US together for one campaign. (Presumably, there will be some financial savings as well.) “We’ve never had a North American unified campaign launch,” Platt says. “As a marketer, this is a once-in-a-career opportunity.”
The “More Human” campaign, developed with marketing giant Publicis Groupe, launched on Super Bowl Sunday, with a TV ad showing a small delivery robot making its way through a city with some assistance from people along the way (while the Killers’ song “Human” plays in the background). The ad first aired during the Super Bowl in the Boston market, and before and after the game in several other US metro areas on the East Coast.
TD, an abbreviated form of Toronto-Dominion Bank, first entered US retail banking when it acquired control of Banknorth in 2005. The CEO of Banknorth at the time, Bill Ryan, is a huge Boston sports fan, and jumped at the opportunity to bring back the “Garden” name to the arena that had been known as the FleetCenter, until Fleet, too, was acquired by a bigger bank (in Fleet’s case, Bank of America).
Thanks to Ryan’s deal-making, the arena, owned by Delaware North, was known as TD Banknorth Garden from 2005 until 2009. Around that time, TD merged the Banknorth franchise with Commerce Bank in New Jersey, and the US arm became known as TD Bank (it still uses the TD Bank name for legal and other purposes). TD renewed its naming rights with Delaware North three years ago, extending the contract through mid-2045.
Fortunately for everyone involved, the Garden was renamed the TD Garden back in 2009 — no more “bank” in the name — so there’s no need to change signage now.
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.