The Story

Hey all you research folks out there, I need help with a stat. My question: what percentage of bank and credit union employees have accounts at their bank or credit union? And secondly, what’s the average share of wallet for those employees? If you know, please e-mail me (Jeff Stephens)–I’d love to find out!
It’s […]

I recently read an article in Fast Company about the new era of vending machines. Vending machines…what does that have to do with bank marketing, you might say. Well, not a lot right now, but it could.
This isn’t your grandpa’s Coke machine where you drop a coin in and push a button for […]

As I walked out the doors of Oregon Community Credit Union, I glanced down at my freshly made deposit slip. Guess what it said? Give up? It said “Your hair looks good today.” Good for you OCCU for recognizing this little touch point and making it work harder for their brand. This is great […]

If you haven’t yet heard about California Tortilla’s latest promotion, read on. What a great idea to create something worth talking about about. Thanks to the tip from the DCist blog.
At California Tortilla last week, if you could beat the cashier at a game of paper, rock, scissors (Rochambeau to those of you […]

There’s lots of ways to shake hands, right? A few I know are:
1. No handshake
2. The dead fish (limp)
3. The firm shake
4. The two-hander (firm handshake plus the extra support)
5. The high-five
The list goes on and on. Which one is the right one?
The answer is there’s no right handshake. There’s only the […]

At first, it seems like a harsh, ugly question.  But asking “who cares?” is a critical way to get to the bottom of brand discovery.  At CBC, we talk about three broad ideas:
1.  Find the Story (few companies do this as well as they think they do)
2.  Tell the story (the fun part)
3.  Prove the […]

Speaking of non-conferences, I’ve just learned of one we plan on attending.  BarCampBank Seattle will be held on July 21st - 22nd, 2007, and should prove to be a lively discussion about a wide variety of innovations in the financial world.  Join us in Seattle next month!

A conference is a conference is a conference . . . .
We here at CBC participate at a healthy number of conferences throughout the year. We typically find these conferences useful for gathering industry information, networking and uncovering the latest industry trends. Although conferences vary is size and focus (and some are more enjoyable […]

I read an article a while back in Time magazine, talking about new word of mouth marketing strategies. Now, it’s not like this is a new concept or anything, but the article got me thinking about how perfectly this relates to experiential brand building.
Word of mouth marketing is completely experience driven…people talk about their experiences, […]