Fascinating phone survey is now being conducted in metro Charlotte by Wells Fargo looking for positive impact related to its recent sponsorship of the golf tourney at Quail Hollow. The gist is clearly to find the extent to which the sponsorship has raised the name ID and consumer standing of the bank, particularly among high-dollar demographics.

You understand the timing considering Wells looks ready to pounce on the UBS brokerage unit (at one time the old Paine Webber) — and UBS brokers and advisors want no part of such a marriage. Via CNBC:

“Wells Fargo is a terrible brand. When I think of them, I think of credit cards being handed to college kids drunk in Cancun,” one financial adviser said.

Another financial adviser described an acquisition as a “demotion.”

“Working for a big Swiss bank has some cache. Maybe we’re not Goldman or Morgan Stanley, but we’re not nothing either. Wells Fargo is like a social demotion,” the advisor said.

With the phone survey itself Wells Fargo seems to confirm — or at least suspect — that it does not have the shiniest brand around. Wachovia was consistently listed as another “competitor” brand among the raft of when-you-think-about-Qs, a sure sign that Wells knows that in the Southeast at least it does not yet have a positive image it can bank (ha!) on.

Bonus Huh: The phone survey oddly asked if Quail Hollow and the PGA’s Tour sponsorship of Teach for America made you feel better about Wells.