With the HSBC name likely to disappear from our high streets, could the Midland Bank brand name, its original UK incarnation, be resurrected? This has given me some thought as to those brands, now long gone, and many in the financial services sector, who still retain a good deal of latent brand warmth.

Amongst these were Commercial Union, Norwich Union, General Accident, Sun Alliance and no doubt many more. TSB was also one, but now that it has come back, only time will tell if it recovers any of its brand fan base as ‘The bank that likes to say yes’.

In other markets, TUI is phasing out its Thomson brand. But may be the time has been right for some while. The packaged holiday is far less attractive to the marketplace, now the internet has had such an impact on the way we purchase our holidays.

So there are brands which disappear for good reason: Hai Karate and Brut, so popular in the 70s, were undoubtedly aftershave brands of their time. Yet, the onomatopoeic Vim was replaced by the global Cif, which has none of the vitality or the nostalgic resonance. Similarly so, Opal Fruits was rebranded Starburst and Marathon was replaced by Snickers, which we all sniggered at in our youth, but how much better do we feel about Snickers now? And of course there’s Spangles – one of the most of popular of confectionary brands, now long gone, that many of a certain age still clamour for!

Yet there are those brands who seem to display no brand warmth at all: WH Smith is still around and as far as I can tell displays none of the discernible brand warmth that Woolworth’s had and yet that disappeared from our high street in 2009. But maybe that was my affinity for the Pick ‘n Mix!

My view is that WH Smith is different solely because there’s nothing as gloomy a shopping experience. Maybe its ‘ports of destination’ business keeps the high street arm afloat, but how long can it sustain that? Just what are its brand values to pull customers in through the high street doors?

Equally, I can name a few brands where the shopping experience to my mind is awful, even arrogant in its interaction, implicitly or explicitly, with the consumer. I and many others will do our utmost to avoid these retailers. Yet they are incredibly successful. Carphone Warehouse is one, IKEA another. They may well talk brand warmth, but in my view deliver brand frigidity.

So how have they made their brand matter to the consumer? That’s my benchmark for brand success in gaining and retaining customers.

Answers on a postcard – you know where to buy them!