The mutual, the celebrity and the forgotten community

Did ya hear? Some bank in Orstraya signed up Jerry Seinfeld to do their ads! Oh my god, oh my god, he’s just so nice.

Or so the fans were chanting down in Cedarhurst, New York, the location Greater Building Society flew its marketing manager and some Aussie talent for an ad campaign like no other.

The last time Jerry fronted up for a bit of corporate spruiking it was for Microsoft, and he was rumoured to have been paid US$10 million.

A spokesperson for Greater told us the building society paid “significantly less” than this and frankly they were a little surprised he took the gig. Apparently instead of “show me the money” Jerry said “I like it”.

Seems there was an “alignment” between Jerry’s humour and that of the marketing folks at Greater. Overstated American humour lining up with regional Aussie self-mocking – I guess that could work.

If you live outside regional NSW or the Gold Coast you’ll only be able to see the ads on YouTube, since Greater is not planning a national campaign and is sticking to TV, it’s advertising medium of choice. Greater Building Society has used TV almost exclusively throughout its history.



Type “Greater Building Society” into Google and you won’t see any targeted ads from the institution. Of course with the kind of free publicity the ad is generating there’s plenty of organic listings. But should you wish to apply online for a new account with Greater you’ll be disappointed.

You wont find Greater Building Society on Facebook, and I suspect they’re not fans of Twitter.

Which is a shame because with even a slightly improved online presence Greater could have taken its campaign national.

Perhaps if Greater was participating in social networks it would be able to respond to some of the interesting posts being made on Twitter. Like this one which appears to come from the husband of a staffer revealing concerns the ad spend might mean the death of this years’ bonus.

But putting all that aside and assuming the campaign delivers a rush of customers to Greater Building Society’s call centre and branches, is it right for a regional mutual to be putting itself in the same advertising ball park as American Express?

I’ve always had a soft spot for credit unions and building societies. I used to work for one. The idea of a financial institution that is owned by its members and isn’t run to profit shareholders who might not actually be customers makes sense to me.

But in recent years a rash of mergers and demutualisations have left me wondering if there’s room in Australia for small community banking.

When a group of economists came out calling for a state-supported bank this week, mutual industry association Abacus was quick to shout back “We’re the people’s bank”.

And there’s the rub. Much of the coverage and chatter about Greater uses the word bank. And if there’s one thing I remember from my days in credit union land, mutual people HATE being called bankers. A mutual being mistaken for a bank because of its advertising campaign is not doing anything to support the concept of mutuality.

Think for a moment about what a “people’s bank” would be expected to do. Would a people’s bank spend megabucks on glossy advertising campaigns? Or would it be expected to take the profits it makes and channel them back into the community, or offer more products with competitive interest rates and low fees?

New Zealand “peoples bank” Kiwibank gets it. In their albeit slightly lower budget advertising they highlight their understanding of local community. I’m yet to be convinced Jerry Seinfeld speaks community. Sure the ads are funny, but in five years time will we remember the regional bank with the celebrity spruiker, or the credit union that helped pay for the soccer pitch our children play on?

Mozo pitches at penny-pinchers

After months in development mozo.com.au has launched to the Australian public, hoping to capitalise on the financial crisis and appeal to consumers looking to get a better deal.

Mozo - Compare Credit Cards, Home Loans, Personal Loans and More via kwout

Mozo competitor Ratecity scores banking products with Cannex star ratings. Mozo will instead rely on consumer feedback, and partnered with Roy Morgan to generate 3,000 initial consumer reviews and ratings of individual banks for the site.

Banks were rated on five categories: trust, customer service, convenience, product features, and rates and fees. Based on the initial batch of reviews Australia's favourite banks are Bendigo Bank, Members Equity, Bank of Queensland, Suncorp and BankWest. All regionals, and all at risk of, or already being swallowed up by larger competitors.

Probably the most unique feature of the site is the “Health check” tool that enables users to compare their existing bank products with those of competitors and work out whether they would benefit from switching.

Users can shortlist the products they are interested in and come back at a later stage when they are ready to purchase. Mozo will generate revenue from leads sent to financial institutions, and display advertising.

Mozo has also secured an Australian Financial Services Licence, making it easier for the group to compare and discuss deposit products – a definite advantage given the current strong industry competition for retail deposits.

The only obvious exclusion from the site is a discussion forum, something the journos behind fatcat.com.au have managed to pull off with moneyconfessions.com.au.

The combination of qualitative and quantitative data is a must in the current climate where consumers are seeking advice and perhaps a shoulder to cry on.

We’ll be watching the social networks closely to see if Mozo pops up.

Let's debate innovation in Australian bank marketing

What’s more important in the current climate: Sticking to traditional messages that promote trust in your brand, or embracing innovative Web 2.0 marketing efforts? Can financial services marketers do both?

This is just one of the issues participants will be debating at this year’s Online Banking Review Marketing forum coming up in Sydney on August 28.

Ahead of the forum we’d like to open up the discussion to our audience. We'd love to hear your opinion on the current state of affairs in financial services marketing.

Is the current culture of online participation causing damage to bank brands?

Should marketers be re-directing the money they spend on TV campaigns to building better products & services that will then be spread via online networks?

How can financial services marketers get away from the current price-driven focus of online marketing activity?

Are we getting closer to the death of the campaign where activity is ongoing and integrated campaigns are less important?

We’ll be discussing these issues in more depth when we break for an interactive roundtable session being led by Hitwise analyst Sandra Hanchard at the forum.

Register for the forum before July 31 and you can take-advantage of our early-bird offer to bring a colleague for free. This offer will end on July 31, so let your colleagues/clients know about it today.

Speakers are already confirmed from Forrester Research, HSBC, Google, Ideal Interfaces, Commonwealth Bank, RaboPlus, and Citibank, with more to come.

I look forward to continuing the conversation..

Bringing you better bank marketing

Welcome to the latest Banking Review blog.

Our subscribers have been asking for more case studies, and we figured what better way to deliver them than via a dedicated blog.

We’ll continue to break news and bring you the latest industry thinking over at the Better Banking Blog, but at Better Bank Marketing our focus will be on the best and worst examples of online marketing, branding and customer servicing from the financial services sector.

We’ll also look outside of financial services to deliver examples of marketing we think the sector could learn from.

If you’ve managed or seen a leading example of online financial services marketing, please don't be shy in letting us know!