Few bank marketers will tell you price is the most important selling point, yet that’s precisely what gets marketed online, says NAB chief marketing officer Howard Silby.
Speaking alongside a panel of his peers at last week’s CMO forum, Silby argued most financial services marketing is still “very Web 1.0”. “It’s department store type marketing – there’s a lot of display or banner advertising, and that actually reinforces the point that you can easily price shop online.”
Silby says: “What the industry hasn’t cracked is a genuinely interesting or differentiated brand experience online”.
He was responding to comments from Mark Buckman, the marketer behind the Commonwealth Bank’s controversial Goodby Silverstein-produced TV campaign.
Buckman argued industry thinking has gone beyond “Web point two” to what he labeled “Web point three”: “So using things like artificial intelligence and contextual searching to actually build a more dynamic experience for customers.”
Silby was not convinced, telling Buckman “I really have no idea what Web 3.0 or ‘point three’ is, so I’m looking forward to Mark telling me about that.”
I’m inclined to agree with Silby. There are very few examples of Australian banks embracing Web 2.0 tools for marketing purposes, and most that do exist are the work of institutions other than the Big Four.
The Commonwealth Bank’s local business banking community is a step in the right direction, but a far cry from what the bank could produce if it devoted more time and money to Web 2.0 initiatives.
ANZ’s head of cards marketing Paul Riley agrees bank marketers should be thinking about how to move away from discussing price online. “I think the ability to talk about your brand online, outside of price, will give some banks more of an advantage in the future.”
Silby says one way to do this is with more involvement in communities that are discussing financial services online. “There are not really any great examples here, but there are in the US. Wesabe is an interesting one.”
Wesabe is yet to determine whether it will offer contextual search alongside its discussion groups – to date it has avoided any form of advertising.
It seems just a matter of time before an Australian entrepreneur meets the challenge of combining product and price information with consumer generated content and discussion groups that banks can participate in.
What do you think?
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Is bank TV advertising a waste of time?
“Why is any bank these days spending millions of dollars on creating TV ads?” columnist Simon van Wyk controversially asks in tomorrow’s edition of Online Banking Review.
This is something the panelists on last night’s episode of The Gruen Transfer touched on when they analysed the latest set of bank advertisements. You can download the transcript here.
DDB creative director Matt Eastwood agreed advertising a bank is a challenge and that “The problem with a lot of them is that they try to make you love them and it’s never going to happen”.
Van Wyk argues banks should be taking a leaf from the books of the new crop of agile, web-based financial services companies like Wesabe, Mint, Prosper and Zopa – all of which make it easy for people to deal with them, and provide a valuable experience.
He says it’s time bank marketers concentrated on creating value by launching innovative products and services that can be spread via networks, rather than just delivering advertising messages.
Both van Wyk and the Gruen Transfer panelists use the Commonwealth Bank’s most recent “Determined to be Different” campaign as an example.
The question is: Did the campaign work?
CBA marketing director Mark Buckman certainly thinks it did, telling The Australian the campaign had contributed to the bank’s recent 0.34 per cent increase in market share in deposits."We've had month after month of positive market share (growth) in all our key product lines that we haven't had in years.”
What do you think?
Could the bank have achieved the same growth by launching an innovative new deposit product and releasing it on Facebook?
Should banks be redirecting the millions of dollars they spend on TV advertising to services that provide real value to customers?
This is something the panelists on last night’s episode of The Gruen Transfer touched on when they analysed the latest set of bank advertisements. You can download the transcript here.
DDB creative director Matt Eastwood agreed advertising a bank is a challenge and that “The problem with a lot of them is that they try to make you love them and it’s never going to happen”.
Van Wyk argues banks should be taking a leaf from the books of the new crop of agile, web-based financial services companies like Wesabe, Mint, Prosper and Zopa – all of which make it easy for people to deal with them, and provide a valuable experience.
He says it’s time bank marketers concentrated on creating value by launching innovative products and services that can be spread via networks, rather than just delivering advertising messages.
Both van Wyk and the Gruen Transfer panelists use the Commonwealth Bank’s most recent “Determined to be Different” campaign as an example.
The question is: Did the campaign work?
CBA marketing director Mark Buckman certainly thinks it did, telling The Australian the campaign had contributed to the bank’s recent 0.34 per cent increase in market share in deposits."We've had month after month of positive market share (growth) in all our key product lines that we haven't had in years.”
What do you think?
Could the bank have achieved the same growth by launching an innovative new deposit product and releasing it on Facebook?
Should banks be redirecting the millions of dollars they spend on TV advertising to services that provide real value to customers?
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Social media shouldn't only be about bank bashing
What do beer ads, rejuvenating face cream and bank managers all have in common?
They’re all the subject of some entertaining spoof ads, created by users of the ABC’s website for new TV program the Gruen Transfer.
It’s another case of social media related to banking that is more about bank bashing than anything else.
Some of the titles of the many videos put together by consumers on the site include:
“We don’t care about anyone”, “Bad bank” and “Bullsh*t is our business.”
The site is getting some strong traffic with viewings of the spoof ads also high for user-generated content.
One contribution titled “A bank that tells it like it is” reflects the overall theme of the videos with lines including “At Gruen bank our queues are short because most of our customers have given up trying.”
“Take out one of our low interest high risk loans today. You’ll be paying it off until you die. And then it will be your children’s problem.”
“Gruen Bank – Bleeding you dry for 25 years.”
The site is an interesting research vehicle for bank marketers.
Instead of believing that consumers care about the latest product feature or promotional offer perhaps financial services marketers should be working out better ways to connect with customers, to generate a laugh, or alter perceptions that the bank only cares about the bank/shareholders and not its customers.
Good examples of institutions doing this include Raboplus, Community First Credit Union, and Savings & Loans.
Isn’t it time a major bank started using social media to connect with customers?
They’re all the subject of some entertaining spoof ads, created by users of the ABC’s website for new TV program the Gruen Transfer.
It’s another case of social media related to banking that is more about bank bashing than anything else.
Some of the titles of the many videos put together by consumers on the site include:
“We don’t care about anyone”, “Bad bank” and “Bullsh*t is our business.”
The site is getting some strong traffic with viewings of the spoof ads also high for user-generated content.
One contribution titled “A bank that tells it like it is” reflects the overall theme of the videos with lines including “At Gruen bank our queues are short because most of our customers have given up trying.”
“Take out one of our low interest high risk loans today. You’ll be paying it off until you die. And then it will be your children’s problem.”
“Gruen Bank – Bleeding you dry for 25 years.”
The site is an interesting research vehicle for bank marketers.
Instead of believing that consumers care about the latest product feature or promotional offer perhaps financial services marketers should be working out better ways to connect with customers, to generate a laugh, or alter perceptions that the bank only cares about the bank/shareholders and not its customers.
Good examples of institutions doing this include Raboplus, Community First Credit Union, and Savings & Loans.
Isn’t it time a major bank started using social media to connect with customers?
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