The Story

I realize Forward ‘08 was a while ago, but there were some important points made at the conference that I didn’t discuss in my last post, Successful word of mouth marketing. Namely, word of mouth marketing as it applies to services and B2B.
After Andy Sernovitz’s speech - which was mostly about word of mouth […]

A little while back I was standing in line at my bank and I noticed something that made me grimace. Behind the tellers were large LCD monitors showing the day’s business news. It was being broadcast from some generic source like CNN, so the bank didn’t have control over the content. During […]

There’s a definite trend among these tools being presented at Finovate Startup 2008–many of them are very goal-oriented, which I think is cool, and allow users to really track their progress toward reaching those goals. I believe that goal setting–and of course, the ability to execute on a plan to reach those goals–is one […]

More from Finovate Startup: Why Does Technology Have to Equal Web App?
Don’t get me wrong…I’m liking what I’m seeing here at Finovate Startup 2008. It’s fun and interesting, and I get to spend time with cool people, and even catch up with some old colleagues. What I’m wondering, though, is where are […]

So far Finovate Startup 2008 (the inaugural year) has been a pretty good event. There have definitely been tech issues with the presenters, which has been frustrating (especially for them!), but overall the program has gone well and we’ve seen some interesting stuff. I continue to be impressed by Mint.com and Prosper.com, and […]

I actually think FindABetterBank.com is a good service…I just couldn’t resist the headline, though, to illustrate my point that FindABetterBank.com is missing one big component: brand.
Here’s what I mean. People don’t switch service providers for ONLY rational reasons. Sure, there are many rational factors that influence a bank change (fees, rates, locations, […]

Today I’m at Finovate Startup 2008, in San Francisco. I thought you might like a few updates here from the show, so throughout today I’m going to blog and tweet a bit to keep you in the loop. If you’re not already connected to us on Twitter, hook it up at http://twitter.com/CreativeBrand.
So far […]

When, at the recent ABA Bank Marketing Conference, a participant in the roundtable discussion on bank branding said that she was concerned with “developing a message to appeal more broadly,” it occurred to me what a dangerous desire this really is. As we at CBC see it, developing a broadly appealing message is NOT […]

It used to be that back in the day of traditional marketing for banks, prudent marketers had to make sure most of their budget dollars were allocated for media, rather that creative development and production. In other words, although it would have been more fun to spend all your time copywriting and art directing […]

The notion of “try before you buy” has practically been around since the dawn of the dollar. What’s different nowadays is that marketers aren’t waiting for customers to come to their house to experience and test products. No, ma’am. They’re catching consumers in captive settings that are authentic, surprising, and most importantly not so pushy.
Nike’s […]