The Story

You’ve probably heard of MoneyAisle by now from several tech/ business publications and blogs like Netbanker. The service has been up for about a month, and just recently received a further $7 million in funding from several investors. MoneyAisle, owned by NeoSaej, is an online auction site where banks compete to offer the […]

I came across a quote recently that made me think. Ken Simms, Avidia Bank’s senior vice president of marketing, was quoted in the Worcester Business Journal in reference to his bank’s recent name change following a merger. He said:
“You don’t want a long, involved name, or a name that doesn’t readily come to […]

brass is the magazine about young adults and money. Fresher than Forbes or Fortune, this publication targets Gen-Y with articles, interviews, and statistics that are relevant for them. Not only is the content original – so is the marketing. At brass, they know that the under-30 crowd doesn’t respond well to flat […]

Attention-grabbing, brilliant, tacky, non-trad, childish, irritating - a range of adjectives have been used to describe Tao Lin’s self-promotion strategy. Though people can’t come to a consensus about the author, they can firmly tell you whether they love or hate him.
Tao Lin has been putting stickers around New York that say “Britney Spears” to […]

As business people, we talk a lot about “managing expectations.” That’s a fancy way to say, often, “let’s set the bar low enough to make sure we jump over it.” You know what I mean…gotta make sure you don’t over-promise and then under-deliver.
But there’s a whole different side of expectation management, I’ve come […]

I’m pleased to introduce a new mini-series within The Story, called “Amusing Yet Disturbing.” In this series, I’ll share with you some of the “amusing, yet disturbing” questions, discussions and comments I come across from bank and credit union marketing folks. Why are these items both amusing and disturbing? Because they often show […]

I had a tremendous, highly personalized experience recently with a local mortgage broker, Mortgage Trust (a CBC client) and it made me realize how un-personal my other loan experiences with banks have been. Most banks marketing themselves as customer-centric have a long way to go to compare with this company.
After completing a loan transaction, […]

Good news–after a bit of drama, I’m happy to follow up to my previous post, It’s Hard To Eat Your Own Dogfood, and report that we did the right thing. We’ve separated from a client who was not a good fit. Does it hurt revenue? Yes. Is it frustrating as hell? […]

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to do a field test on two taglines for a credit union client. What a branding experience indeed. Not only did I get to experience first-hand what their current and potential target market audience responded to (and not to mention what they looked like and sounded like), […]

Recently I’ve gained a new level of respect for the challenges our clients face. Not because of the economy, not because of competition, or anything like that. More because they’ve got me constantly harping at them, telling them to prove their stories…preaching that they need to have a spine, stand up for what […]