The Story

Check out this spot for Air New Zealand, where they market their straightforward and transparent pricing policy by showing all their flight staff wearing no clothes - only body paint. Voice over towards the end says, “At Air New Zealand our fares have nothing to hide, which is why the price you pay includes everything… up front.”

This is kind of interesting, because upon visiting the Air New Zealand website, the first thing I encountered were airfares that did not include everything upfront. The three prices were accompanied by a block of fine print explaining that government taxes and certain fees were excluded, (see enlarged image below).

Hey Air New Zealand, have you guys noticed the discontinuity between your ads and your website? (Is there some kind of law against including taxes in the stated fare?) At CBC, we always preach that words must be supported by actions, so your website doesn’t match your advertising.

Other than this awkward situation, I do like Air New Zealand’s creative and funny interpretation of the campaign message. It also is very relevant to banks and credit unions, who are really pushing the “open and transparent” theme in their marketing. There are so many metaphors that can be used to express this message better than print ads that read, “We have integrity.” We’ve already seen body paint, what can you think of?

I recently went to Walt Disney World for the first time, and despite the hotter than Hades temperatures and the ride-closing lightening storms, it was a ton of fun. And you know what the most fun part of my day was? Mickey’s PhilharMagic 3D movie.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad were fun and thrilling, but it was Mickey’s PhilharMagic that delivered the best, most complete experience of the day.

It’s a 3D movie, so there was the fun of having objects seem to fly out right in front of me. But the best parts were the non-visual aspects, like getting spritzed with water when a bucket was tipped over, smelling the freshly baked dinner offered up by Beauty and the Beast’s Lumiere and friends, or feeling the rushing wind on my face as Donald Duck flew on a magic carpet over the streets of Aladdin’s Agrabah.

It was a truly multi-sensory experience that enhanced the feeling of being in the midst of the action taking place all around me.

I know we’ve been saying this for years, but there are so many opportunities to enhance the visual aspects of your bank marketing or credit union marketing efforts - you can’t limit yourself to just one sense.

Find a way to add just one additional sense into your next product promotion and see how much more connected to your message your bank or credit union. Disney is one of the most experiential brands out there, what hints can you take from them to improve your environmental design?

I came across Kiwi Bank’s website and boy am I glad I did! How refreshing is it to see a bank that is willing to step out of traditional, corporate and “safe” branding of yesterday and step into 2009. The best part of this site is the homepage banner, which is interactive and extremely attractive to a new visitor who may be “shopping” for a new bank. My only gripe is that interactive elements weren’t also used on the secondary pages, which is a pity because they definitely add visual interest.

The bank positions itself as being “100% Kiwi owned” and brags about “taking on the Aussie banks and giving Kiwis better value”. Their proud, local, not-from-Australia branding is sure to attract New Zealanders who want to keep their money in the community, or just those who hold a little grudge against their next door neighbor.

The website indicates that Kiwi Bank has a specific target market in mind. They know who they want to attract and made sure their branding and the website functionality are directed towards this target market. Their “vive la résistance!” position against foreign bank ownership is probably not going to resonate with everyone, (there are some people who simply don’t care), but it definitely has a sizeable and very receptive audience in New Zealand.

So many times we see banks that truly want to differentiate themselves, but are reluctant to define a target market or adopt a position that doesn’t speak to everyone. They always choose to go the safe route (and often subjectively choose a campaign look, which has nothing to do with their brand position) and wonder why a certain product isn’t selling. Banks, it is time to wake up and take a stand!

As you may know, we at CBC believe that you can’t be everything to everyone and this is a great example of a bank proving that story.

So some advertisers are not feeling the new Wells Fargo / Wachovia commercials for their Way2Save program, and while the two spots are by no means revolutionary in the world of bank marketing, they are doing a couple things right.

Created and produced by DDB West / Epoch Films, the spots focus on individual people’s stories and address how Way2Save meets their unique needs. You might not closely relate to the dog lady who spends every penny rescuing neglected canines, but you understand how the financial product helps her save for the thing she cares about most… pups. The stories make Way2Save personal. Thumbs up.

To find out all the nitty-gritty details, you actually have to go to the website, indicating that the bank is probably not trying to compete on rates. Actually they make no mention of APY at all. Another thumbs up.

There’s been some criticism that the spots are choppy and some of the metaphors totally irrelevant…I can see that. But I don’t think it really muddles the overall message, which is “our product meets your unique, one-of-a-kind, situation and needs”.

I know this isn’t anything new, but we just got our latest Fearless Flyer from Trader Joe’s and reading through it made me realize how good Trader Joe’s is at selling products.

Instead of just showing you the products with prices in bright starbursts, every product has a story. For instance, I love reading about how Dijon mustard was created by Pope John XXII’s official mustard-maker, his nephew from Dijon, because of the Pope’s crazy obsession with mustard. It’s not until the end of the 2nd paragraph of the story that you find out how much the mustard costs, and by that point, I’m totally sold - before I’ve even seen the price!

Trader Joe’s does a great job at getting you emotionally involved and engaged with their products to convince you to buy them. Banks and credit unions could learn a lot from the way they market their food items.

Don’t tell me about a great rate on a CD, tell me how I can use the money I earn off of that CD to do something to make my life better. Or, tell me how this amazing mortgage rate will allow me to have a lower monthly payment so I can take that family vacation I’ve been dreaming about.

Financial product advertising should sell me on something other than numbers. I’m much more likely to buy if I’m offered a reason, an example, or a story that shows the relevance of that product to my life.

In addition to challenging notions of what a successful business model is and being known for cutting-edge, award winning design, Good Magazine makes good charts.

The bi-monthly rag has really impressed me with it’s ability to create beautiful charts and graphs, something the magazine calls “transparencies” on their site.

As we in the financial services industry know all too well, sometimes you just have to share statistics, numbers, data and rates in your marketing materials. These cold hard facts often challenge us to dig deep into our creative vaults to find ways to make them interesting and stimulating to viewers.

I think we all can take inspiration from the innovative, bold and eye-catching graphics that Good Magazine has been making. Not-so-interesting statistics are presented in creative ways that truly illustrate the bottom line the research has unveiled. My hope is that us bank marketers can be inspired to think outside the box the next time we create a rate sheet. I know I am.

I’ve probably talked before about how important advertising is during a recession, and how research (specifically a study by McGraw-Hill) shows that companies who do advertise seem to come out on top when the economy turns around again. And conversely, “if companies cut deeply into advertising and communications in a down period, the cost to regain share of voice in the market once the economy turns around may cost four or five times as much as the cuts saved” (Knowledge@Wharton).

A recent article titled “Advertising to repair banking industry’s image?” on Fierce Finance brought the issue to mind again. According to a J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Retail Banking Satisfaction Study found that since 2007, there has been a 6% drop in consumers who feel “highly committed” to their banks.

That’s not surprising, especially considering this year’s events. Fierce Finance notes that, “As the numbers decline, you end up with more customers willing to switch banks.” If there’s an increasing number of people out there actively searching for alternative banking options, then this is a critical time to be advertising and ensuring the visibility of your brand, not only to catch new customers, but also to solidify the relationship with your current ones. The article quotes a Marketing Daily expert who says that, “moving just 5 percent of customers from low and moderate levels of commitment to high commitment can mean additional deposit growth of more than 2 percentage points higher than average.”

This is why we’ve seen bank brands like Chase rolling out massive, expensive, geographically targeted campaigns. They realize that:

A) Former WAMU customers are probably at their lowest commitment level ever, and it’s going to take some muscle to keep them and to re-establish loyalty with a new brand.

B) In both their old and new markets, there are a record number of “uncommitted” consumers looking for new banking options.

Peter Fader, a marketing professor at Wharton, has stated that as companies slash advertising in a downturn, they leave empty space in consumers’ minds for aggressive marketers to make strong inroads.

What kind of inroads is your bank making?

Recently, Maija here in our office shared a great website with me. Goldwater Bank, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, prides itself on being a true “lifestyle” bank. They strive to make things as effortless as possible for their customers by offering what they call “The Five C’s“: common sense, courtesy, customization, concierge and courier services. Their efforts have created an almost hotel-like experience.

Goldwater Bank’s branch looks like a high-end hotel lobby, complete with comfy armchairs and coffee tables. I can’t even see a teller row in the pictures; it’s very Zen and cozy feeling, somewhere you come to hang out, not just get in and get out.

Many touch points prove the bank’s luxury lifestyle story. Their concierge service offers help with things that aren’t related to your banking at all - like getting tickets to concerts or making restaurant reservations and travel arrangements. Just like a high-end hotel, Goldwater Bank wants to help you take care of more things in your daily life than just your banking.

They even have a courier service so you can bring the bank to you when you need it, rather than you having to come to the bank - the height of convenience and a great way to make people feel that their time is as much appreciated as their deposits. (Similarly, check out Insinger de Beaufort’s “shoe box” courier service that was written up in Forbes last year.)

I love that this bank is taking cues from another industry to enhance their customer experience. The best ideas for making your bank or credit union more memorable and unique live outside the banking industry. Explore what other successful businesses are doing in ALL industries and see what pieces you can bring to your bank or credit union to provide a truly different brand experience for your customers.

We have all heard about Washington Mutual merging with JP Morgan Chase. I know that I for one would have been reluctant about the merger if I was in California and was losing “my bank” to one I had never heard of before. So, I think it is safe to say Chase had some work cut out for them to gain the trust of everyone in California who would be their new customers.

I must say, I am impressed with what they did. I love the commercial below that specifically targeted the Californians who are now customers of Chase. It is fun, innovative, easy to relate to and most of all, focused on reaching out to those who live in California. It was a nice touch to specifically acknowledge that Chase knew they were “the new kid on the block” and owned that, but to also reassure Californians that they have been around - even if not in their new members state.

I was happy to see them roll out a similar campaign everywhere that they are located, even in those states where they already were (see the tri-states commercial below). The feel of their branding and marketing is invigorating and creates a sense of excitement, which is hard to find in bank advertising right now, where most of the focus is on shushing people’s fears and promoting “security”.

Overall, there are two good things about this campaign that I’d like to point out:

1) There is no mention of Washington Mutual. Everyone knows who bought out WaMu, and it doesn’t need to be reiterated. Chase also recognizes that the defunct brand carries negative connotations and talking about it would bring up sour memories, spoiling an otherwise 100% positive campaign message.

2) The spots, though clearly part of the same campaign, are distinctly different in order to relate to their target markets. Chase sometimes uses a blanket marketing approach on billboards, but even there we see them try to target specific markets.

The Financial Brand made a good point about USAA’s marketing campaign in this recent post, with the quote: “People aren’t going to heap praises on companies just because they didn’t screw up.” Here here.

USAA is heavily advertising the fact that they aren’t from Wall Street and didn’t receive bailout funds. I wasn’t aware that not going bankrupt is now a bragging point, because that sets the bar seriously low for bank marketing. Honestly, I am glad that they didn’t have to accept TARP money, but then again most banks didn’t have to. We just hear a lot about the ones that did.

“We didn’t go belly up!” is not a good differentiator because:

A) That’s to be expected
B) Most banks and credit unions didn’t
C) The recession won’t last forever…you should spend your energy and marketing dollars positioning yourself in a way that will stand the test of time.

You wouldn’t congratulate a child for not cheating in class, would you? Shouldn’t honest behavior just be assumed, not rewarded?