The Story

I’ve found myself giving this example a lot lately in meetings–and there’s a good reason: it’s a simple test that says a lot about how well you’re proving your story through multi-sensory experiences. Try this:

If you were to cover up every single logo and tagline in your branch bank marketing or credit union marketing materials (all the signs, brochures, displays, etc.), and ask a member/customer to walk in, would they know where they were at? Be honest. The answer is almost certainly “no way.”

Now think of a powerful retail brand, like Starbucks. If you were to walk into a Starbucks in which all the logos were covered up, you’d still know exactly where you were. Without a doubt. Why? Because Starbucks creates experiences using all the senses–Starbucks has an unmistakable sound and smell that cannot be replicated.

Now before you bust out all the easy cop-outs like “we aren’t a retail bank,” or “our people make the difference,” think it over. Do the same test with your people, your brochures, your website, etc. Cover up that logo and be honest with yourself–most people would not have any clue whatsoever which bank’s stuff/people/site/etc. they were looking at.

Think about that for a while–is your “branding” all based on your logo? It probably is…but it shouldn’t be. It takes more than that to prove the story.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 10:51 am and is filed under Bank Branding, Credit Union Branding, Bank Marketing, Touch points, Experiential Marketing, Branding, Credit Union Marketing, Corporate branding, Multisensory Marketing and 5 Senses Branding, Starbucks Branding & Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.