Here are two different approaches to building a brand strategy.

1) INSIDE-OUT

You pick your own brand direction. You take a stand, confidently go out to the world and declare, “This is what we stand for and the way we are going.” A combination of gut instincts and sheer courage is enough to create the conviction that your brand strategy will resonate with your target audience. You believe with all your heart that by sticking to your guns, you’ll win a loyal following.

Financial brands are most commonly built from the inside-out. Why? In some cases, an organization simply has supreme confidence in their vision, or they are comfortable moving forward without research. Often in these instances, they feel like they know their industry or market so well that they don’t need any research because it would only confirm what they already know.

Reality Check: The trouble with the inside-out approach is that it all to often leads to undifferentiated brand strategies – e.g., themes like “superior service” or “great value” because that’s all the internal team can come up with. Furthermore, there are those in management who won’t get behind ideas that aren’t substantiated with research.

2) OUTSIDE-IN

With this approach, you first identify a focused audience segment. Then, using research and market intelligence, you clearly identify the brand drivers for that audience, building your strategy around those thing.

Key Insight: With outside-in brands, your audience tells you what the brand should stands for. With inside-out brands, you’re telling the audience.

Arguably, outside-in brands are the way to go. Done right, this process yields a brand strategy that resonates with your target audience, clearly aligning with their wants and needs.

Reality Check: Research is expensive, and not always conclusive. What do you do when no clear brand direction emerges from the research? What do you do when the audience wants something you can’t deliver?

Bottom Line: You need to be able to deliver on a promise that really resonates with people…and it should be something your competitors suck at.

In northern Spain, there’s a bank that really gets branding. It’s called Caja Navarra, or CAN for short, and they could show community banks in the United States a thing or two about what’s really possible with “community banking.”

They didn’t just slap a bunch of generic principles together and call it a brand strategy. CAN has wrapped itself entirely around one, two-word concept: Civic Banking. The brand strategy is built solely around transparency, accountability and, above all, social responsibility.

Never before has The Financial Brand seen a bank so fully embrace a singular idea as much as CAN, for which Caja Navarra earns itself a Breakthrough Brand Award. In fact, there’s so many ways in which Caja Navarra lives out it’s “civic banking” strategy that it’s hard to find them all (much less remember to write about them).

The CAN website starts by detailing five “rights” they believe their customers are entitled to:

1. Know how much money the bank makes off of them.
2. Know and decide how customers’ deposits are put to work by the bank.
3. Determine how the bank’s profits are used to support socially-responsible projects.
4. Know what progress is being made by the socially-responsible projects the bank supports.
5. Help out by volunteering — giving their time and energy (not just their money) to socially-responsible programs.

You’d expect CAN, a bank centered around the community, to utilize social media…and they do. You can find Caja Navarra on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Friendfeed. And they are active — very active. They’ve tweeted over 2,000 times and have more than 500 followers. They have over 250 photos on Flickr.

The bank also has what it touts as “the largest social network in Spain,” including the CAN Civic Banking Community, where there are over 1,000 blogs about various socially-responsible projects.

The bank has more social networks (maybe too many to count). Here are some of the bank’s proprietary social media projects, all bearing the Caja Navarra brand:

• Volcan - more than 10,000 volunteers look for- and participate in volunteering opportunities in Spain or around the world
• Eurecan - network and community of entrepreneurs, including its own blog
• Tribucan - educational community
• Pluralcan - dedicated to helping women in the workplace
• Estoyenlista.com - a hybrid P2P lending effort

It’s not all just about the online community though. The bank has around 250 representatives that are fully mobile and will come to people’s homes. The bank has also redesigned its branches to function as community spaces. Anyone can walk in and surf the net for free. And one day a week, each branch hosts a public event like a concert, magic show, theater production or children’s book reading.

Customers Control the Profits

With CAN’s “You Choose, You Decide” program, customers can choose up to three general categories or specific projects within them. There are nine different categories: disability and welfare, research, cooperation, environment, employment and entrepreneurs, culture, preservation of heritage, sports and leisure. Customers can submit a project, or review other projects to see which ones they’d like to support.

Each time a customer gets a product or service from Caja Navarra, they choose where the profits will be spent, making customers feel with the bank and their community.

80% of customers choose where and how 30% of the bank’s profits are used. Last year 500,000 CAN customers decided how EUR 50 million would be distributed to over 2,700 projects. As of 2005, CAN customers decide where 100% of the bank’s socially-responsible spending goes.

In an effort to be completely transparent, CAN sends each customer an annual statement showing how much the bank made in profits, and what, exactly, the bank did with those profits.

Feedback & Measurement

CAN created an online survey so they can hear from customers how well they are doing with delivering on their ideals. It’s a great survey, and worth a look.

They also took the standard, academic, predictable survey questions you’d expect and phrased them in a way customers can actually relate to, an accomplishment that’s all the more impressive when you realize English isn’t this bank’s native language. One question with a 1-10 rating scale reads, “”At CAN, they are grateful when I complain or demand explanations for a mistake they have committed.”

There’s another section of the website where you are invited to “vialoga” with Can. It’s another feedback mechanism, where customers are asked questions like, “What would you do if you were the manager/manageress of a branch of CAN?”

Reality Check: You can say your brand is about anything you like, but if you aren’t measuring yourself according to the principles you espouse — like CAN is doing — then your brand strategy is basically meaningless.

Bottom Line: Between 2001 and 2007 Caja Navarra moved from 41st to 4th in return on equity, 20th to 12th in after-tax profits, and from 16th to 5th in margin per employee compared to other Spanish banks.

The Caja Navarra Website
You can get lost exploring all the various aspects, angles and components of “Civic Banking” on the CAN website, which has almost entirely been translated into English.

Virtual Host
Despite being both helpful and quite charming, the website’s ever-present virtual host cannot be muted so you may hear the same recording many times.

Caja Navarra’s “Civic Banking Community
Just one of the successful and vibrant online social media sites the bank has created.

Community Facilities
Customers can reserve and use special community meeting rooms in CAN’s 400 branch locations, what the bank calls “Cancha Offices.” There’s a cool, interactive tour of the facilities online, but it’s in Spanish.

Interactive History
One of the coolest interactive histories you’ll ever see for a financial institution.

Cancha Magazine
Cancha is CAN’s magazine about civic banking. It is solely focused on the bank’s values and how it lives them out. Cancha has multiple definitions and connotations. It can mean something like a “forum,” a “stadium” or a “field.” It can also mean “your element” (as in “está en su cancha,” or “he’s in his element, as well as a rough translation to “street cred.” Whatever the case, CAN has Cancha. Lots of it.

Roughly six months after GMAC became a bank in order to receive TARP funds, the financial services firm has decided to christen its new banking division as Ally Bank. Ally will be an online-only “direct bank” serving the U.S. as the deposit-taking division of GMAC Financial Services.

Ally offers a variety of savings products, including no-penalty CDs, online savings accounts and money market accounts. Ally will not offer any loans. Any lending products would presumably be handled by other GMAC divisions.

“Unlike other banks which depend on fees, we want to make money with customers, not off customers.”
– Al de Molina, GMAC CEO

A major component of the new bank’s branding effort includes an ambitious consumer-focused brand strategy. Ally Bank has sworn itself to complete transparency on rates and terms, and says it won’t hide behind legalese and jargon. Ally is promising “straight talk” for customers, no sneaky disclaimers, no teasers, no bait-and-switch tactics, and 24-hour service that connects customers with live representatives.

“The Ally brand is founded on three principles: Talking straight, doing what is right for the customer, and being obviously-better than the competition,” said Sanjay Gupta, CMO/Ally.

The bank will be using the slogan, “Straightforward.”

“We are launching a new brand with a new approach of treating customers with total transparency.”
– Al de Molina, GMAC CEO

On the Ally website, the bank describes itself as, “A bank that values integrity as much as deposits. A bank that will always be open, accountable, and honest. Yes, honest. We won’t deal in half-truths, kindatruths, or truths only buried in fine print. That’s because we don’t have anything to hide. We’re always going to give it to you straight.”

Key Questions:

• It’s a bold brand strategy, but can Ally Bank really deliver?
• Can Ally live up to its name and promise to be a “financial ally?”
• If the GMAC name wasn’t good enough for a new bank, why wouldn’t other divisions like GMAC Mortgage and GMAC Automotive Financing change names too?
• As Shalini Amarnani wondered, “does rebranding remove the taint” of the GMAC brand?

Ally Bank’s deposits increased 16.5% in the first quarter of 2009 to $22.5 billion.

Owners of the GMAC parent company include GM and private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. As the preferred lender for buyers of Chrysler vehicles, GMAC is expected to get more federal funds.

By Freddy J. Nager
Founder, Atomic Tango

So my longtime bank, Washington Mutual (WaMu), recently got taken over by megabank Chase. ‘Twas a sad day for us WaMulians, because, for all its faults — and it had a few — WaMu was a friendly place to bank, with everything from chirpy messages on the ATMs to free candy at the teller windows. What wasn’t to like?

WaMu was expanding rapidly nationwide without losing its character. But WaMu’s execs decided to join the greedheads in quaffing some subprime Kool-Aid. We all know what happened after that… With WaMu on the verge of failure, along came a monster of the financial deep — Chase — to swallow it up.

“I’ve penned some
new lyrics to a classic
pop song that will
no longer be heard
in our bank…a little ditty
I call ‘The Post-WaMu
Chase Blues.’”

– Freddy J. Nager

We WaMulians sighed, but were still hopeful. Perhaps Chase would recognize what a great brand they had in WaMu, and would simply clean up its finances and keep it going. But it was not to be. The name was changed to Chase. And that’s not all…

The other day my wife and I strolled into a Chase branch. It was like entering the tomb of the unknown banker. WaMu’s bright yellow had been covered in deep corporate blue, and the flamboyant posters that once hyped WaMu’s services had been replaced by… blank walls.

The tellers who once wore casual shirts were now suited up. We guessed all this was to convey how solid and dependable our bank had become — but, uh, yo, East Coast dweebs, we’re all like laid-back Los Angelenos, you know? And we still vividly remember how Wall Street was like totally screwed up by men in conservative suits — men whose enormous badness made those Somali pirates look like shoplifters, right?

So, instead of instilling us with confidence, Chase’s ultra-corporate vibe just depressed us, and we couldn’t wait to leave the premises. Sorry, teller dude, but no thanks, we don’t have time to discuss your credit card offer…

Most striking of all was the silence.

It was like being in the public library of the undead. We felt compelled to whisper. And that’s when we realized there was no more pop music playing over the speakers, as there always had been in WaMu. Yes, the day when WaMu became Chase was also the day the music died.

In honor of this transformation, I’ve penned some new lyrics to a classic pop song that will no longer be heard in our bank. So with apologies to the Righteous Brothers and their hit “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” here’s a little ditty I call “The Post-WaMu Chase Blues.”

“The Post-WaMu Chase Blues”

When you bought WaMu
you said everything would stay the same.
Then you spent 300 million
to redecorate and change the name.

You took a big happy bra-and
Then Chase-y, you done made it so bla-and…

CHORUS:
You lost that WaMu feeling.
You’re now just walls and a ceiling.
And that is so unappealing.
The fun is gone… it’s… wrong… whoohoo-not

Now your tellers wear suits
and no music ever fills the air.
Your vibrant colors are gone
and your once postered walls are bare.

It makes us all feel like snoozing
Oh Chase-y, don’t you know what you’re losing?

CHORUS:
You lost that WaMu feeling.
You’re now just walls and a ceiling.
And that is so unappealing.
The fun is gone… it’s… wrong… whoohoo-not

Chase-y, Chase-y, we still have all our savings with you.
If you would only please us — at least tease us — like WaMu used to doooo.
You had a brand… so grand… that millions of us came to adore.
And now… somehow… you think “trustworthy” means being a bore.

Oh Chase-y (Chase-y), Chase-y (Chase-y)
We beg you please… please,
Give us WaMu (give us WaMu).
We miss WaMu (we miss WaMu).
So bring it on back (so bring it on back).
Bring it on back (so bring it on back).

Bring back that WaMu feeling.
Its loss has sent us reeling.
Our souls are now congealing
‘Cause your brand… is… cold…
and it feels… so… old…
And we’re totally… not… sold…

Whoohoo-NOT.

[Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on the 'Cool Rules Pronto' blog. It is reprinted here with permission by the author, Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director of the L.A.-based strategy agency and production company Atomic Tango.]

$4 million severance one day… $474,000 salary the next

Steve Blakely joined Servus Credit Union back in March 2007, a little more than a year before the 3-way marriage between Servus, Community Savings and Common Wealth Credit Unions.

The merger, which received tremendous support from members who voted overwhelming to approve it, was the largest ever in the credit union industry, resulting in the third largest credit union in Canada and the first to canvass an entire Canadian province.

Key Question: Would members have been so enthusiastic about the merger if they had known their CEO would receive an enormous severance package?

“Unbelievable!! Where was this information when the merger talks were happening?”
— Comment on Edmonton Journal article

Blakely got $3.6 million. Why? Well the board of director’s asserts he was no longer the CEO of Servus when it was amalgamated into a new credit union and was therefore legally entitled to a severance package.

So Blakely was out of a job — fired, as it were — when his credit union was merged away.

But then Blakely was immediately rehired as the CEO of the newly merged, three-way credit union. The name of the new entity would be… (drum roll) …Servus Credit Union. Blakely’s new salary? $474,000, pumping his overall 2008 compensation up over the $4 million mark.

Reality Check: $4 million is a lot of money by any measure, but in credit union land, it’s considered a king’s ransom.

To put it in a regional perspective, the average professional playing in the NHL makes around $2 million. And these guys are the heroes of Canada.

Key Question: Blakely kept his job after the merger, so why was severance money paid? Or, as one reporter phrased it, “If you are rehired the next day by essentially the same outfit, why do you need or deserve a $3.6 million severance package?”

The board also gave itself a nice raise. The average compensation for a “volunteer” board member swelled to $59,000, up from $18,000 in the year prior to the merger. One volunteer board member’s pay, presumably the chairperson’s, jumped from $38,000 up to $103,000.

Overall, compensation for board members tripled, up from $339,000 in 2007 to $947,000 in 2008.

Side Note: The Edmonton Journal recently reported that income for Servus Credit Union was down 3%, or around a $3 million difference from the previous year. The credit union attributed a large chunk their losses to the cost of the merger. It’s not hard to figure out why.

Predictably, members are outraged

“The merger was orchestrated by the three CEO’s to feather their own nests.”
– Comment on Edmonton Journal article

When the compensation schemes from Servus became public, the story lit up the phone lines at radio talk shows and spread across the Canadian internet like wildfire. Articles and blogs received hundreds of angry comments from both members and employees. One article in the Edmonton Journal received over 200 comments, while another at the CBC website caught 80+ comments.

“I have never in my life heard of a contract that allows you get severance plus the job,” one upset member commented.

“How could the board give one staffer 8% of the year’s profits, diminishing the dividend for the other 400,000 members?” another observer wondered.

Someone else echoed this sentiment. “A system that pays one guy $4 million while splitting the rest of the profits among thousands of co-op members is a system that’s just broken.”

So much for the promises of a golden future under the umbrella of Canada’s largest, single-province credit union. Never mind the millions that was paid to Servus members last year in the form of dividends. All that goodwill is gone. G-O-N-E, gone.

Bottom Line: From the consumer perspective, this is one huge, ugly black eye for the Servus brand… and the brand for all credit unions in general. It will take years to rebuild Albertan’s trust in credit unions.

Some people have encouraged angry members to vote with their feet and take their money elsewhere. This seems like an odd suggestion, in light of the fact that members should be sticking around to vote with their votes.

“There is no difference between credit unions and banks in Canada any more. The whole idea of a credit union has been perverted and twisted to mirror banks. It’s all about PROFIT$$$.”
— Comment on CBC article

Blakely’s hasty exit

One person said what must have been on many members’ mind, “Mr. Blakely, you have your severance pay, so do us a favor and leave.”

Which is what Blakely will do. He will be retiring — presumably for good this time — on April 30. And one can only wonder if his first severance package will be all he’s taking with him.

As far as the other CEOs involved in the three-way merger… Well, the former CEO of Community Savings retired a while back. But it appears that Jeff Mulligan, the former CEO of Common Wealth, submitted his resignation last Friday alongside Blakely’s.

It is rumored that a “severance/merger bonus” was paid to all three CEOs for a total estimated cost to members around $10 million.

From the member’s perspective, this doesn’t quite sound like the bonanza of savings promised from the amalgamation, does it?

Employee morale in the doghouse

It’s unlikely the pressure to quit came from members. In all likelihood, it came from irate employees.

Blakely, after getting a $3.6 million bonus himself, recently told employees were told they may have to forgo bonuses this year. To put an even sharper sting on this, there were plenty of Servus employees whose only bonus in 2008 was a $50 gift card.

Needless to say, this has all left an extremely sour taste in the mouths of employees. Out of more than 200 comments on one Edmonton Journal article, most of them seemed to come from Servus Credit Union’s 2,000 employees. Some were disappointed. Others were outright furious. Most felt betrayed.

“I cannot support management any longer,” said someone identifying themselves as Paul, a Servus employee. “It’s going to take a lot of effort to win back the trust of many employees.”

“How are the staff supposed to look their member-owners in the eye and truthfully assure them that they work for a credit union that is serving the member-owner’s best interests?” another Servus employee wondered.

Since the stunning severance arrangement was brought to light, many of the Servus staff have been spending their time sympathizing (i.e., commiserating) with members. As one employee illustrated:

“Yes, Ma’am. Mr. Blakely is still running the Credit Union.”
“No, the Board of Directors are not embarrassed by this severance pay.”
“Yes, apparently, they are not worried about their reputations.”
“Yes, I understand you will be moving your accounts when you are able.”
“I’m sorry, I, too, use to be proud of my Credit Union.”

Apparently, there was an internal blog for all employees of Servus. It had been intended to help smooth out some of the bumps from amalgamating three separate cultures, but it was recently taken down by management after comments and concerns turned too negative.

“See what happens when you get off the internal blog?” one employee pointed out. “Now employees feel their only option is to air the dirty laundry in a public forum. Not smart.”

Before leaving his post (for the second time), Blakely responded to employees by telling them that his employment contract was an issue between him and the board. That probably didn’t do anything but hasten his exit.

Final Observation: The bigger a financial institution gets, the more responsibility it has to uphold the honor and ethics of its smaller brethren. This applies equally to banks and credit unions. Situations like this are nothing more than a lightening rod for bad press, undermining the trust and impugning the integrity of an entire industry. You could call it, “Too big to fail your peers.”

Earlier this year, Jeffry Pilcher, publisher of The Financial Brand and CEO/financial brand consultant with ICONiQ, sat down with Sandy Perlic from Credit Union Business magazine to talk about branding. While the interview specifically dealt with credit unions, there is plenty of information and advice here for any financial institution. Here is the full transcript of that interview:

What are some of the most common mistakes
financial insitutions make with their branding?

The most common branding mistake organizations make is obsessing over the brand’s visual identity. The look-and-feel of an organization is only one small part of an overall brand. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. Or, to put it another way, “The clothes don’t make the man.”

Perhaps the biggest branding mistake credit unions make is to follow in the footsteps of their bank peers. As credit unions add more and more services, expand their charters and extend their geographic reach, they tend to water-down their value proposition.

In the early days of credit unions, their charters unwittingly helped them build their brands. They were forced — by law — to have a focus. They were focused on a specific type of member in a limited geographic area. This gave their brands clarity and purpose. But as they grow, they tend to migrate towards the middle, essentially trying to be “all things to all people.” Many financial institutions define their target audience as “men and women ages 18-55.” That doesn’t cut it. You’ve got to be more specific and get as narrowly focused as possible. Branding is about focus. Focus, focus, focus.

And here’s a big branding mistake financial institutions make: assuming that it’s their “service” that differentiates them. When I ask a financial institution what differentiates them, 9 times out of 10 they’ll say, “It’s our service.” If everyone is saying the same thing, then (1) it isn’t helping differentiate anyone, and (2) in all likelihood, many of them are lying. Even if your service IS what differentiates you, you need to drill down and get more specific. HOW is your service any different? Are you faster? More easier? More flexible?

What do financial institutions need to understand about branding?

A brand is a promise. It is your reputation. Inasmuch, financial institutions need to understand that everything they do, say and sell affects- and builds their image. A brand involves a lot more than a name, logo or slogan. Every interaction someone has with every aspect of your organization is important. You’re either maximizing these opportunities to build the brand…or not. All the details matter.

How much time and money is involved in creating a brand strategy?

There are a lot of ad agencies and design studios out there selling “branding,” but what many of them are really offering is a design-centered solution. They may charge anywhere from a few thousand dollars all the way up to $40,000 or more. But if all you’re getting is a new look-and-feel and you haven’t really addressed the brand strategy — the organization’s core DNA — you’ll be selling yourself short.

You could build your own brand strategy, but the do-it-yourself approach can be hard. The learning curve is pretty steep, and it can take a lot of time. It’s like remodeling your home. If you don’t have any prior experience, you may make some mistakes, and you might not be thrilled with the outcome.

Also, when you go it alone, you may reach some conclusions that are fairly common and cliché. Hiring someone with prior experience who can really help you dodge the pitfalls is probably worth the money. These projects require a deep understanding of every aspect of a financial institution’s culture, products, staff, members, competitors, marketing, etc., so it can take over 100 hours just for an outside partner to get through the discovery phase.

There are branding firms out there who say they can deliver a brand strategy in a day. That’s total bullshit. Any firm who claims to be able to create a brand strategy quickly is probably trying to rush the project so they can move swiftly into the design phase (presumably the firm’s strength and profit center). It takes time to think things through, weigh all the variables, pull everyone together a few times and sort it all out. Most branding projects should take a couple months. Some Fortune 500 companies have spent a year or more. It isn’t an easy, quick or comfortable process. It takes time, it can be scary, and it often hurts like a good workout.

Any tips to help credit unions identify what sets them apart?

It’s not about the member-owned, not-for-profit stuff you hear all the time. It’s not that this stuff isn’t important. It’s just that these messages don’t differentiate one credit union from another; they only define the differences between all credit unions (as an industry) and other types of financial institutions. Also, these principles don’t drive business for a significant portion of the population. People appreciate the principles as a benefit, but rates, fees and service will are way bigger priorities.

Nevertheless, the “credit union philosophy” is a common trap credit unions fall into. They start to believe that “the credit union difference” is what makes them different. Even ad agencies and branding firms can fall into this trap if they’ve never worked with a credit union before. The fundamental principles driving credit unions can be fairly romantic. It’s easy for neophytes to fall in love with credit union ideology, but it’s problematic when any specific credit union’s brand is built exclusively around these principles. You’ve got to figure out what makes your credit union different from all the other credit unions — especially those that you are directly competing with.

You have identified what makes you different. Now what?
How do you decide what to ignore and what to emphasize?

The problem with a lot of branding projects is that they can tend to gravitate towards safe, feel-good clichés. Everyone loves terms like “value,” “quality” and “service,” but what do these terms really mean? There is such a wide range of interpretations that anyone can find something in them they like.

Other words you’ll hear often include personality traits like “caring,” “responsive” and “personal,” etc. If another financial institution could make the same claim, then it isn’t what differentiates your brand. And the reality is that there are hundreds — if not thousands — of banks, credit unions, investment firms and insurance companies out there saying the same exact things. If everyone says this kind of stuff, how differentiated can it possibly be?

It’s the same problem with mission statements, and why everyone’s reads exactly the same: “Our mission is to be the premier provider of quality financial solutions by earning people’s trust in the most friendly and professional manner possible.” Scratch out the common clichés and what are you left with? Not much.

This is what makes branding really hard. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it (or doing it well).

Who should be involved in the branding process?

Internally, the entire senior management team should be on the brand development team. Branding is not the marketing department’s job. It’s everyone’s job. In fact, HR and Operations have as much responsibility as Marketing, if not more. Effective branding pervades every corner of your organization, so each department needs to be involved from start to finish.

You also need to involve the staff. If they don’t know what a brand is or what your brand stands for, you’re going to have big problems living up to your brand promise. They need to feel engaged and have a sense of ownership in the brand. That only comes from involving staff in the process, and doing so at various junctures all along the way, not just at the tail end. It’s especially important to identify and involve those employees who are passionate about the organization. You’ll need them on-board as you roll various stages of the brand out.

The board of directors should be aware of what’s going on, but it isn’t critical to include board members in your brand development team.

Externally, there are all kinds of ways to involve members and non-members in your branding process. You could have focus groups at almost any step along the way. And there’s theoretically no limit to the amount of research you could do. Time and money are the only constraints.

If your management team is open to the idea, you could include a few members on your brand development team.

What do financial institutions need to do
to make their brand recognizable?

At the very least, it should look different. Even if you can’t figure out what differentiates you at the basic DNA level, you should make sure you don’t look like everyone else. A good place to start is to get rid of any pictures of shiny, happy people in your marketing materials. I’ve got drawers full of brochures from banks across North America that are brimming with lifestyle photos. Avoid these like the plague and you’re well on your way to creating a distinct brand identity.

When people can’t see any visible differences between you and the competition, they only thing they’ll use to compare you by is rates.

What does the current state of the economy mean
for credit unions and their branding efforts?

Current market conditions are creating an optimal environment for credit unions to flourish.

Now is not the time to cut your marketing budget (as reflexive as that may feel). First of all, as the economy gets tougher, you need to ramp up your spending just to stay where you’re at. Second, it’s easier to “cut through the clutter” when there’s less clutter. But most importantly, times have never been more ripe for credit unions to pick up new members, so you need to get out there and tell your story now — immediately.

It’s certainly important to let people know you’re safe, strong, secure, stable and sound, but that’s not the only message you want to send. All financial institutions should be out there with that message in some form or another. You still need to grow new accounts, fund new loans, etc., all while differentiating your brand, and a straight “safe and sound” message isn’t going to do all that for you.

What’s your best advice to financial institutions
with regards to their branding efforts?

1. Put “brand” on your meeting agenda and leave it there. Management teams across America need to talk about their brands more regularly — certainly more than once a year, but few even it that often. They put topics like “Lending,” “Member Growth” and the “Annual Meeting” on their agendas, but they almost never talk about their brands. Branding should be a subject discussed among a financial institution’s senior leadership team at least once a month.

2. Give brand-building an annual budget. Branding is not just the marketing department’s job. Inasmuch, financial institutions should establish a separate budget for brand-building efforts. Unfortunately, money for any kind of “branding” activities usually gets siphoned out of the marketing budget. A branding budget should be supplemental to the marketing budget. Of course, marketing and branding budgets are the first to get slashed when times get tough. And once they’re cut, it takes forever to fully restore them.

Think about it. If you aren’t talking about it, you aren’t meeting about it, and if it doesn’t have a budget, then is it really an important part of your business strategy?

Human beings are hard-wired to notice things that stand out.

There are only a few basic principles that drive all successful brands. You must be able to consistently deliver something relevant to consumers that’s different than what your competitors provide. And hopefully, your strategy isn’t something your competitors can easily copy. The more your brand meets these criteria, the more successful you will be.

But of all the components fueling a strong brand, the most critical is differentiation.

Reality Check: Most financial institutions look, sound and act almost exactly alike.

The overwhelming majority of banks and credit unions have similar-sounding names, use similar slogans, share the same values, offer the same products and use the same basic look-and-feel. (If your corporate color isn’t blue and you don’t use pictures of smiley, happy people, chances are you are way ahead on the “Differentiation” curve.)

Key Takeaway: When financial institutions look, sound and act alike, consumers will dwell on whatever differences they can find. That means when it comes time to make their decisions, rates, fees and locations will be their deciding factors.

Financial institutions constantly bemoan that “price is the only thing that drives consumer decisions” and “big banks get business because they have branches on every corner.”

Reality Check: Financial institutions commoditized themselves. They have no one to blame but themselves. Rates, fees and locations are the only tangible, relevant points of differentiation most financial institutions offer consumers.

This also explains why marketing research in the financial industry always reaches the same conclusions: “It’s all about rates, fees and convenience.” Who needs to pay $50,000 to find out that the only thing consumers want is better rates, fewer fees and more locations?

Bottom Line: You must be different. If you can’t actually be different, at least look different. Differentiation — even if only achieved on a cosmetic and superficial level — will at least get you noticed, and that’s the first step on the way to building a strong brand.

You may have heard that the economy could start its recovery sometime this year. Or maybe you believe that the financial industry’s worst months were back in October and November last year. If so, you might be tempted to think that the pressure to communicate your financial institution’s strength, stability, soundness and security has subsided.

Think again.

Reality Check: The scars left by the financial meltdown will leave consumers wary of financial institutions for many months to come — maybe even years.

Conservative estimates place the number of banks that will fail this year at around 100. The Financial Brand’s forecast isn’t quite so optimistic. With three banks seized by the FDIC on Friday, the total is now 20 so far this year. That leaves at least another 80 to go. To put this in perspective, remember that there were only 24 failures in 2008, arguably the most dismal year for the financial industry since the Great Depression

Key Questions: What will consumers think about your financial institution each time they read the headlines about more failed banks? How are credit unions going to respond to the flood of bad press about the seizure of U.S. Central and WesCorp on Friday?

Reassuring people is going to take a lot more than simply uttering the words, “We are safe and sound.” Where’s the proof? How will your employees respond when consumers ask you, “But how do I knooooww you’re safe and sound?”

Reality Check: Not one financial institution in the country gets an ‘A’ grade from The Financial Brand when it comes to communicating their strength and safety. (Yes, that include you, gentle reader.)

Below are 20 questions your entire staff had better have answers for if you’re going to be able to craft a credible “safe and sound” story. The answer to every one of these questions could help you and your staff assuage people’s fears. Think about each one from the consumer’s perspective.

If you’re ready to take your “safe and sound” strategy seriously, check out ICONiQ’s Economic Crisis Communications Checkup. It’s the most valuable $995 you’ll spend this year. (Note: These questions and the analysis of the answers only represent a small portion of the checkup. The project includes a thorough examination of all media, marketing and communications.)

Are you safe? Here’s 20 things your staff better know

1. How many assets do you have?
2. What is your capital ratio?
3. What is your financial institution’s position on TARP? Has it been made public?
4. How has your loan volume changed over the last 12 months?
5. What is your loan portfolio comprised of? What is your subprime past?
6. Do you service your own loans? Or do you sell them off?
7. What is your default rate?
8. What were your loan loss provisions for last year? This year?
9. What was your net income for the last 24 months?
10. Do you expect to show positive net income in any quarter in 2009?
11. How have your rates shifted in the last 6-12 months (loans or deposits)?
12. How have your fees changed in the last 6-12 months?
13. Have you had any turnover in the top positions (CEO, EVP, VPs)? How about your board of directors?
    
14. Have you recently merged or are you considering a merger? How about a name change?
15. Have you closed or are you closing any branches? Have you built or are you building any new branches?
16. In what ways do you support local communities, the arts or charitable/social organizations? What is the annual amount of these activities?
17. What sponsorships do you pay for? Little league teams? Stadium names? Concerts? What is the annual amount of such sponsorships?
18. What is your travel budget for executives, employees and board of directors? How much is spent on attending conferences and other events?
19. What kind of perks are made available to executives, employees and the board — anything, like things like cars and trips?
20. Have you been rated by any ratings agencies like S&P, Moody’s, Fitch, Bauer Financial or Bankrate.com?

An AIG corporate security memo, leaked to Gawker, advises employees on how not to fall victim to the populist horde calling for their heads. Click to enlarge.

Here’s to hoping your financial institution never, ever has to issue a memo like this.

$500 billion FDIC bailout forebodes massive failures

Late last week, the U.S. Senate proposed to allow the FDIC to borrow as much as $500 billion from the Treasury Department. While the mainstream media obsesses over the seemingly never-ending stream of colossal bailouts pouring out of Washington, another — arguably more important angle — is going relatively unnoticed: Massive bank failures are on the way.

Bailout increases normal FDIC fund by 1000%

First, let’s put the dollar amount in perspective. Historically, the FDIC fund has maintained a reserve around one percent of all insured deposits. At the start of 2008, that was $52.4 billion. But one year and 25 bank failures later, the fund held $18.9 billion, down 64%. As of February this year, another 14 banks had failed, draining another $1.7 billion from the insurance fund. Three more banks have already failed in March, whose hits to the FDIC have not yet been calculated.

Currently, the FDIC’s deposit fund is at just 0.4% of banking industry assets. That’s barely a third of the 1.15% statutory minimum. So the FDIC desperately needs cash…and a lot more than the $15 billion in special assessments they just tagged on their insured institutions (for just this year alone).

How big is the problem?

It almost seems the FDIC’s insolvency is inevitable. At least that’s what the FDIC’s chief Sheila Bair is worried about.

Last month Bernanke sent a letter alerting Congress to the imminent dangers if the FDIC wasn’t given a “mechanism that would allow the FDIC to respond expeditiously to emergency situations that may involve substantial risk to the financial system.” In case you aren’t nuanced in the language of “Fed speak,” what Bernanke is saying is, “Look out. Something’s coming. Are you hearing me??? Are you listening? Something big is going to happen.”

At the current rate, the FDIC will seize over 100 banks by the end of the year. Some prominent research firms in the financial industry predict that the banking crisis will claim 1,500 banks before it’s all over. RBC Capital Markets recently upped their expectations for bank failures earlier this month, warning that they anticipate 1.000 institutions could fail over the next three to five years, up from their earlier forecast of only 300.

More than 1,900 financial institutions went under during 1987-1991, peaking with the failure of 534 banks in 1989.

Institutions on the FDIC’s  “problem list” grew to 252 lenders in the quarter ended December 31. Back in Summer 2008, there were only 90 so-called troubled banks. But nowhere on the list was IndyMac, Washington Mutual, nor Wachovia.

Reality Check: The FDIC doesn’t know which banks are going to fail this quarter or the next. All they know is that massive failures are on the way.

Some people speculate that either Citi or BofA are next. If either one failed, that would slam the fund for around $500 billion according to some estimates. When IndyMac failed, it cost the fund $9 billion and the bank had $31 billion in assets.

The five biggest U.S. bank holding companies — Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Wachovia (now owned by Wells) — had domestic deposits ranging between $271 billion and $701 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2008.

“It’s the biggest banks that need the bailout,” says Walker Todd, a former Fed official, lawyer and economic historian. “And those hold the vast majority of the estimated $4.54 trillion in FDIC insured deposits.”

Bottom Line: Whether it’s one big bank or hundreds of smaller ones, the shockwaves hammering the financial industry are far from over. By the end of the year, there will be far fewer bank brands covered by this publication. And it could be a long time — if ever — before we ever see the 8,000+ banks that the U.S. once had.

Key Questions: If the amount of insured accounts is fixed at $250,000, what will the affect be of making FDIC premiums permanently larger? What is the right amount for the FDIC to hold in reserve? Is it more than the historical 1%±?

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Here’s the easy way to pick a new name for your bank or credit union…and run into some serious trademark problems while you’re at it.

All you have to do is pick something from
Column A and pair it with Column B.

• First Choice Credit Union
• NewView Bank

You can also switch it up and pick something
from Column B first.

• Service Secure Credit Union
• Horizon First Bank

You can even pick just one word from either
column and just go with that!

• Sun Bank
• Advantage Credit Union

Throw in a few terms of your own (how about
“Green?”), and you can easily yield a name list
with a thousand names. “Green Horizon.”
“Greencrest.” “Greenview.”

Reality Check: Just because there isn’t already a financial institution in your area — even your entire state — bearing a name you like, doesn’t mean you can use it, nor does it prevent a trademark lawsuit.

Bottom Line: Pick a name using words like these and you run the very real risk of getting sued and having to start over. Someone, somewhere is using something similar.

“Your partner for life!”
“Solutions for life!”
“Banking for life!”

Many financial institutions use this common two word phrase as part of their tagline. It makes logical sense for a bank or credit union to use this phrase, “…For Life.” It has a nice double meaning. On the one hand, it means, “for everyday living.” On the other, it means, “forever.” Who doesn’t think that feels good?

The only problem is that for some people, “forever” is an awfully long time. “For life” can sound like a life sentence. At the very least, it’s a big commitment.

Key Takeaway: One of the hitches with marketing is that you can never be sure that the message you creatively encode will be decoded by your audience the way you want. Something to think about.

“It said LAFCU YOUR CREDIT UNION FOR LIFE. Something about it made me feel a little trapped and panicky… FOR LIFE… *shivers*”
– ConnieBonnie, blogger

“Your bank for life.”

– LCNB National Bank

“Your bank for life.”

– Western Springs National Bank & Trust

“Your bank for life.”

– Town & Country Bank

“For work. For home. For life.”

– Univest

“The bank you keep for life.”

– Newton Savings Bank

“Your partner for life.”

– Farmers & Merchants State Bank

“Your financial partner for life.”

– Georgia FCU

“Your credit union for life.”

– Quaker Oats Credit Union

“Your friend for life!”

– Parkside Credit Union

Right now, there is much debate about how much banking executives should or shouldn’t make. Is $1 million too much? Is $500,000 fair? What about bonuses? One of the big concerns is that Washington will end up structuring compensation packages at banks (along with shareholder dividends and interest rates). Socialized banking here we come?

But these are the wrong kinds of things to be worrying about. It’s not about the decay of capitalist principles. It’s not about banking execs living the high life.

It’s about who is getting the big bucks, not how much. It’s also about principles like merit and accountability. That’s why people are so huffy about big bank bonuses this year — because they are being paid to the same people who screwed the financial industry up in the first place.

Reality Check: If a bank gets TARP money, it is probably screwed up somehow. People who screw up, or people who run screwed-up banks, shouldn’t get bonuses.

Win = bonus. Fail = no bonus. Right? The American Way? Getting paid a salary is one thing, even a handsome one. But earning anything above and beyond should be based on merit.

Financial institutions complain about how the government’s restrictions on compensation will affect their ability to “attract and retain top talent.” Attracting top talent is certainly a major concern; the industry needs the brightest and most capable leaders to get through this. But retaining talent?? Most of America (e.g., bank shareholders) is haggling over how much bankers should/shouldn’t make when many bankers probably shouldn’t even have jobs at all.

Bottom Line: You can’t attract qualified executives when the compensation is capped at $500,000. No one will get the job done for that amount. Especially not the current guy.

Reality Check: Thinking the same people who got us into this mess can get us out is like thinking more debt will fix our credit crisis.

The U.S. is (1) giving away money it doesn’t have (2) to the same bankers who created the problem so (3) banks can lend it (4) to people who don’t qualify so they can, in turn, (5) buy crap they don’t need and can’t afford. And we expect a different result?

Yesterday, The Financial Brand looked at the core values of 50 banks. Today, we’re repeating the exercise, but this time we’re looking at credit unions’ core values. How are they different? How are they similar?

Here are the core values most commonly listed by the 50 credit unions studied, and how they compare to banks:

What are we to infer from this? That credit unions value Trust and Respect more than banks? Or that banks value Loyalty and Excellence more than credit unions? No, that probably wouldn’t be fair.

One difference that does stand out is Community. But this makes sense. The geographic limitations placed on credit unions means that they are better positioned to support local communities.

Generally speaking, banks and credit unions see pretty much eye-to-eye on their basic core values. Both give high rankings to Honesty, Commitment, Respect, Excellence and Service, and both put Integrity at the top of their lists.

The most common core values cited by credit unions are depicted in the Wordle diagram at the top of this article (click to enlarge). The more common the word, the larger it is.

For easy comparison, here is yesterday’s Wordle diagram for banks’ core values (left), next to the one for credit unions (right):

The relative emphasis (or frequency) of the core values of banks and credit unions are
fairly comparable, as indicated by the relative size of the words within each diagram.
(Note: The location and colors of words don’t mean anything.)

What’s striking about this comparison isn’t the similarity in core values. It’s the core values that aren’t shared by both credit unions and banks that are most interesting.

Here are some of the core values listed by credit unions that weren’t listed by banks:

1. Cooperation, Democratic Principles
This isn’t the same thing as Partnerships, something that both banks and credit unions listed. This goes beyond mere collaboration. And this is as it should be. Credit unions were founded on the principle of “people helping people,” so one would expect to see credit unions value things like Cooperation and Democratic Principles. However, there seems to be fewer and fewer good examples of credit unions exercising their democratic processes. Mostly, members vote on board members, name changes and mergers/conversions, as mandated by law.

2. Ethical
Six credit unions said “operating ethically” was a core value, while no banks listed it. But don’t fault banks for excluding Ethical from their core values. It’s not like you can say, “Well, banks didn’t put Ethical on the list, so that means they’re out to break the law.” The bigger question is why do credit unions feel the need to say they will “operate ethically?” Isn’t that a given? It’s kind of like Accuracy — you just expect a financial institution to be ethical. Maybe the word is Responsible, something listed by seven credit unions but only one bank. Or Prudence (credit unions = 2, banks = 0).

3. Environment
The Environment was such an important issue to two credit unions that they listed it as a core value. Again, no banks.

4. Employees
A few credit unions said their Employees were among the things they value the most. Perhaps banks, by their very nature, are forced to put Shareholder Value first?

5. Fun
Only two credit unions said Fun was important to them. No banks. What’s sad about this is that only two financial institutions out of 100 believe in Fun. Financial services are as boring as it gets. It’s too bad more banks and credit unions don’t see the opportunity to make banking more pleasant and entertaining for both consumers and employees alike.

Conclusion

Corbin Rusch, commenting on yesterday’s study of banks’ core values, sums it up pretty well:

“Integrity, Teamwork, Excellence, Commitment, Honesty, Respect, Service, Professionalism, Customers, Trust, Community, Loyalty, and Innovation should be applicable to most every kind of business. A hospital, a paper supply company, a construction company, even an exterminator could share these values. As a consumer, I expect businesses I deal with to have these values at their core.”

As suggested yesterday, it might help to think of the financial industry’s common core values as more of a generic Banking Bill of Rights — something that applies equally to every financial institution and every banking customer. Throw out all the cliches; they’re just antes — chips you’ve got to throw in just to play in the financial space. Then, you can finally be free to explore some of the more interesting core values that your organization could be considering.

Here’s some thought-provoking core values that could help differentiate a financial institution — things you don’t expect from every bank or credit union:

• We believe in being Proactive.
• We believe in Work/Life Balance.
• We believe in Accountability.
• We value Transparency.
• We believe in fostering Engagement.
• We value Relationships.
• We believe in financial Knowledge and Education.
• We believe in Diversity.
• We believe in Flexibility and remaining Agile.

Now go come up with some of your own. (There’s help available if you need it.)

Tip of the Hat: To Dupage Credit Union, who had the brass to list their Image as one of the things they value the most.

Recently, The Financial Brand studied the core values of 50 banks with assets ranging from a few million up to hundreds of billions. The conclusion? No matter how big, how small or where they are in the world, banks all pretty much share the same beliefs. Shocking? Not really. But there were a couple of surprises along the way.

First, what are “core values?” Financial institutions often get confused about what the difference is between mission statements, vision statements and core values (see The Financial Brand’s comparison here).

Quite simply, core values are philosophical ideals an organization stands for. One easy easy way to define a core value is to simply finish this sentence: “We believe in ___________ .” If it doesn’t fit in this sentence structure, it probably isn’t a core value and belongs somewhere else.

Here are the values most commonly listed by the 50 banks studied:

Ironically, one bank listed “staying true to our core values” as one of its core values.

Key Question: Where is Transparency? Accountability?

The most common core values cited by banks are depicted in the Wordle diagram at the top of this article. The more common the word, the larger it is (the colors don’t mean anything).

Integrity was offered by over two-thirds of banks. Many made an effort to define the term, although most agreed on the general principle, “It’s about doing the right thing.”

Reality Check: Just like mission statements, financial institutions’ core values are loaded with bromides — safe expressions that the committee/board can rally around without a struggle. Who can object to “Teamwork?” Aren’t you in favor of “Excellence?” For many institutions, this is pretty much C.R.A.P. If your core values include any from the list above, they probably aren’t doing much to differentiate you (if anything). They are everyone’s core values, and yet they are no one’s.

Key Question: Why have core values if they are going to be the same as everyone else?

Homework: What would happen if there was a “Financial Constitution” for consumers — a Banking Bill of Rights — that laid out what people should expect from any bank: Integrity, Excellence, Honesty, Respect, Professionalism? If that standard applied equally to everyone at all banks, what would your core values be then?

Most of the 50 banks’ core values were dull, uninspiring bullet lists that eventually all blurred together. But there were some interesting values that popped up once or twice: Agility, Creativity, Knowledge, Passion. These are the kind of values that help differentiate a financial institution.

Mulukanoor Cooperative Rural Bank in India is another example. Its core values aren’t just corporate cliches:

• A belief in being true “sons of the soil”
• A pride in a calling called farming
• Help thy farmer brother, you are helping yourself
• Self discipline and honesty
• Complete transparency and accountability

Cornerstone Bank also receives an honorable mention for its unique Christian values.

The most interesting set of core values from a financial behemoth comes from WaMu (yes, the failed bank):

• Fair
• Caring
• Human
• Dynamic
• Driven

These are uncommon core values, and they were something WaMu tried hard to live out (maybe too hard on the Driven value, since it appears their subprime assertiveness is what drove them into the ground).

As far as the number of core values each bank listed, here’s how it breaks down:

The average was 4.66 values per bank.

Reality Check: No matter what the consultants say, there is no “right number” of values to have — not too many, not too few. Your organization is what it stands for, however many things that may be.

Bottom Line: Core values are meaningless unless you…

1. Use them to evaluate prospective employees,
2. Measure employee performance accordingly, and (most importantly)
3. Stick to them.

Bonus: How do you think banks’ core values compare to credit unions? Find out later this week when The Financial Brand looks at the core values of credit unions.

The emergence of a new, educated middle class with a larger savings capacity has meant Mexico’s demand for financial services is on the rise. Most Mexican banks have been slow to adapt.

Enter El Banco Deuno. This upstart bank is sporting a fresh brand identity that is simple, distinct, flexible and aesthetically pleasing. And the best part is that the new look-and-feel is actually based on strategy.

El Banco Deuno roughly translates to “one’s bank” — in other words, “my bank, and everybody’s bank.”

The bank’s slogan is, “El nuevo banco para el nuevo México,” which means, “The new bank for the new Mexico.”

The branding and design work was done by Saffron, a firm that prides itself on finding “inspiration in expressions of local culture and interpret them in a way that speaks the global language of design.”

The identity integrates nicely into environmental applications.

The typography in the logo is as daring as anything ever attempted in the financial industry. Branding firm Saffron worked with Type Invaders to create a proprietary typeface exclusively for El Banco Deuno’s use only. The bank’s logotype and main typography were inspired by a pre-Columbian pattern found near Mexico city. It is a combination of the stone carved glyphs and the calligraphic quality from hand painted signage.

The logo is designed to function in multi-colour scenarios to be more expressive and break the mold of the traditioanl bank which typically lives in more rigidly contolled colour environment.

The letters are also used as container shapes for communication elements or illustrations.

Products and services are subranded, using a complementary color palette and the bank’s distinctive typography.

Source: via Brand New

Filene recently released an excellent report that tackled this question: “What is ‘the credit union brand’ good for?” It’s a fair question. In the war for retail financial services, the battle line between banks and credit unions has become increasingly murky over the years.

How are credit unions any different than banks? You hear a lot about the not-for-profit structure of credit unions. Or as a member, “you’re an owner.” Even “one member, one vote” is sometimes mentioned. Is this what make credit unions special? Maybe, but none of that really makes any difference to most members.

“With the economic times we’re in, other institutions may be increasing their rates and their fees for services. Instead, you’re reinvesting in your members as a ‘thank you’ for their loyalty.”
– Jim and Terrie B, members
Wright-Patt Credit Union

But here’s a concrete example of “the credit union difference” Filene was searching for: member dividends.

Granted, not all credit unions pay dividends. But for those that do, like Eastman Credit Union, who just distributed a $4 million dividend to its 107,000 members, an average of $37.38. This is the 12th year in a row the credit union has paid a dividend. Since 1998, a total of $37 million has been paid out.

Delta Community Credit Union just paid a $5.0 million “Patronage Reward” to its 177,00+ members. Members with deposits earned a bonus of 4.50% of the total interest they earned in 2008. Borrowers received a rebate of 2.50% of the interest they paid on their loans during the same period.

And Western Division FCU paid over $1 million to 9,700 members — a whopping $103.10 average payout per member. The dividend equaled 33% of all interest earned on savings, certificates and money market accounts during 2008. It was the sixth year in a row that the Williamsville-based credit union has declared a bonus dividend.

Bottom Line: There is no better way to tell the world you are safe and sound than sharing your profits — something both banks and credit unions can do.

But as a bank, it’s shareholders — not customers — who are the beneficiaries. With credit union dividends, members are directly rewarded for the size of their relationships. And the mass media, happy to report any good financial news in a recession, eats this stuff up.

Key Questions:

• What will happen to credit union dividends in 2009? WIll fewer credit unions pay out? Will the economy put dividends on hold for a while?
• Has a bank ever tried something this? Giving back money to its customers on such a wide scale?

“Intentionally left bank,” is the only thing Seattle Metro Credit Union’s billboard says.
How many financial institutions run billboards that look this uncluttered?
(Note: This is actually a full-color photo. That’s what Seattle looks like in winter.)

Seattle Metro Credit Union is running a simple-yet-clever brand-building ad campaign, Intentionally Left Bank, that twists popular idioms such as “fill in the blank” into tongue-in-cheek expressions about lousy banking relationships.

The campaign is designed to complement the credit union’s “7 Principles,” a philosophy built around the idea that a financial institution doesn’t have to be self-serving.

The campaign’s media strategy relies heavily on outdoor. Eight billboards will rotate in four-week cycles during the first and second quarter. Ads will also run on the sides of 16 Metro busses. Full-page ads will appear in Seattle Metropolitan magazine, The Stranger and Conscious Choice magazine over the same period. T-shirts are coming next.

All-in-all, this is a fairly sizeable campaign for a credit union with just over $500 million in assets.

“Fill in the Bank”

“Heart” will start running next week, right in time for Valentine’s Day.

While the ads themselves don’t ask for people to share stories about their bank breakups — there isn’t even a web address on one billboard — the open comment section on the credit union’s website was created for that purpose. So far, the credit union’s received 24 comments, including pithy anecdotes about people’s failed banking relationships.

Some people stopped by just to comment on the campaign’s creativity. One person called the campaign “witty and smart,” while another declared, “It’s corny and I LOVE it!”

All the work on the campaign including concept and design was done by Seattle Metro’s in-house marketing group. “I’m really proud of our team,” said Jill Vicente, CMO and VP/ Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union.

“Wrapping the ‘7 Principles’ around our credit union - both internally and externally - has been a huge task,” Vicente told The Financial Brand. “It feels good to see it evolving with each project.”

Seattle Metro’s last promotion garnered mounds of media coverage after the credit union announced it was giving away free money.

This ain’t no joke. Honest to gosh, Redneck Bank is fer real.

Redneck, the online direct division of Bank of Wichitas, caters to a “Larry the Cable Guy” crowd — you know, those folks who need to take care of “personal bankin’ bid’ness,” as the Redneck site puts it.

Indeed the site is drenched in redneck vernacular. It is, after all, “100% internet bankin!”

• “Git yer redneck checkcard now!”
• “Nuttin’ to sign, fax or mail.”
• “Got yer account number?”
• “Check yer balance.”

With Redneck, you only git three basic accounts to choose from:

1. Rewards Checking (shoulda bin called “Rewards Checkin”) paying 5.25%
2. Mega Money Market with a 3.10% APY
3. “You’re Approved Checking — a “second chance” checking account

Bank of the Wichitas, a self-described “country bank” in its own right, first applied for a trademark on the “Redneck” name in the fall of 2006. By the end of 2007, the bank had a website live at redneckbank.com.

“We enjoy a good laugh, but taking care of your banking needs is no laughing matter,” the bank says. “Redneck Bank is here with experience and good old-fashioned service.”

Analysis: This is — without a doubt — one of the most distinctive brands in the financial industry. There is all kinds of creative material to work with using redneck themes and language. But how will consumers respond to a glib and cheeky financial brand, especially during these economically turbulent times?

(Via SmarterBank.biz)

The financial industry has suffered the most severe blow to its image in generations. Everything from TARP bailouts to multi-billion dollar ponzi schemes has left consumers reeling from a loss of trust and confidence in banks.

That is why it’s unfortunate to see this AP article with this headline:

“Where’d the bailout money go? Shhhh, it’s a secret.
$350 billion later, banks won’t say how they’re spending it.”

The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions:

1. How much has been spent?
2. What was it spent on?
3. How much is being held in savings?
4. What’s the plan for the rest?

As one BNET reporter put it, “Dude, where’s my money?”

None of the banks provided specific answers, and no bank provided even the most basic accounting for the federal money.

Instead, banks like JP Morgan expressly declined to discuss what they’ve done with their TARP money. The most they’d say is, “We’ve lent some of it. We’ve not lent some of it.”

That’s too bad. These banks missed a real opportunity to rebuild trust and confidence. It’s not that they are obligated to conduct dollar-in/dollar-out tracking of their capital — even taxpayer money, in this case. But if these banks want to help rebuild their image and that of their industry, next time they’ll think twice about being less secretive and more transparent in the future.

“If they’re not more forthcoming about how they’re spending this taxpayer-funded aid,” wrote the BNET reporter, “Banks are on the path to further losing their customers’ respect, regard — and business.”

Late last month, Tim McAlpine over at Currency Marketing conducted a 40-minute podcast interview with Jeffry Pilcher, the editor/founder here at The Financial Brand. Advice and comments on financial branding follow a 12-minute professional biography. Topics include:

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY:

• College years, and how beer shaped my career
• The influence of Apple’s Macintosh computer
• Starting and running Sharp Advertising
• Working at Weber Marketing Group
• Highs, lows and challenges of working in financial branding

LOOKING AT 5 OF THE 7 DEADLY BRANDING SINS:

• Delusions of Brandeur
• Toxic Sameness
• LCD Syndrome
• Criminal Neglect
• Cosmetic Fixation

ABOUT THE FINANCIAL BRAND & ICONIQ:

• How The Financial Brand got started
• A day in the life of The Financial Brand’s editor
• What ICONiQ does

ONLINE BUSINESS REPORT - “GROWING DEPOSITS”:

• What the report is about and why I wrote it
• A reference handbook for constructing a deposit-building campaign

You can listen to the podcast here (over at Currency).

For anyone interested, there are more pictures of my last fishing trip to Alaska that is mentioned a couple times in the podcast.

Did you get a lame gift for Christmas this year? If you got a phony jar of homemade jam, a fake star adoption certificate, or a cheap computer printout of a seascape, you can thank FirstBank.

The bank’s holiday-themed campaign offered cheapskate gift ideas to mall shoppers in three states: Colorado, California and Arizona. People were encouraged to take pictures of the bank’s posters with their cell phones, then print the images out at home to make ultra-cheap holiday gifts.

The tongue-in-cheek brand awareness and image campaign bears the theme, “We’re here to help you save.”

Earlier this year, First Bank ran a campaign about “Secure Online Banking.”

FirstBank is Colorado’s largest locally-owned bank, with assets of $8 billion and additional locations in California and Arizona.

Agency: TDA Advertising & Design

Click on images to enlarge.

USA Fed is using a tough-but-loveable bulldog to take aim at “fat cat” bankers. Spike, the $700-milion CU’s new “spokesdog,” encourages non-members to join the credit union and enjoy special offers.

In the brand campaign, Spike draws sharp distinctions between credit unions and banks, noting that they are “as different as cats and dogs.” Indeed, the entire copy platform for the brand is bold and scrappy.

“Join the credit union revolution!” one t-shirt reads.

“There is a lot of debate in the industry as to whether we should emphasize the differences between banks and credit unions,” said Rob Folsom, Chief Strategy Officer/USA Fed. “But as we started developing this campaign we realized that the differences are what it’s all about.”

Even the credit union’s slogan makes the point: “180° from banking.”

Spike emerged as the brand’s focal point in the second half of 2007, when Weber Marketing Group, debuted the bulldog in a two-month campaign resulting in 4,000 new members. The promotion was a coordinated multimedia effort that included advertising, direct mail, online marketing and one-day sales events.

Spike is currently starring in USA Fed’s “Debit Rewards Skip the Pin and Win” sweepstakes. Thus far, USA Fed has landed 1,869 checking accounts — from non-members — leaving them only 131 away from their goal for the campaign.

Weber Marketing has been USA Fed’s brand development partner since 2002.

The credit union’s About Us page on its website says, “Meet Spike, USA Fed’s spokes dog. He represents what makes us different from those other guys! Loyal. Unique. Reliable. He is devoted to helping our members achieve their financial goals leading the way to financial freedom.

Members receive a t-shirt featuring Spike with every newly opened checking account.

Weber Marketing Group created all materials for the member acquisition campaign.

Spike’s “Scratch-and-Win”
Mailed to San Diego area residents with opportunities to instantly win HD TV’s, iPods, Nintendo Wiis, cold hard cash, a $2,500 dream vacation and the grand prize, a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Spike invites people to “Join today, save big and win cool stuff!”

Banner ads on USA Fed’s website, featuring Spike in various settings and contexts.

Spike makes an appearance at a USA Fed sales event.

Spike’s real name is Tubbs. He’s been in a movie, “The Game Plan,” with Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson.

“What we tried to do is replicate the surprise and delight tactics that happen within each TD Bank store.”
– Greg Siano,
EVP/Tierney Communications

After a few naming hiccups earlier in the marriage, TD Banknorth and Commerce Bank have just christened their first major branding campaign under the name TD Bank.

The campaign is built around Commerce Bank’s slogan, “America’s Most Convenient Bank,” something it had been using for years. TD Banknorth decided to retain the Commerce slogan post-merger.

A launch promo, running through this month, expresses the “convenience” theme by providing over a million free services to those ranging from Connecticut to Florida.

Some will win a personal chef, chauffeur or house cleaner in the “At Your Convenience” sweepstakes. In guerrilla “Random Acts of Convenience,” thousands of people will be handed a free cup of coffee or an umbrella on a rainy day, while mall shoppers, from Thanksgiving to Christmas, will receive free gift wrapping, gift consulting, and premium shopping bags.

The “Random Acts of Convenience” guerrilla launch includes:

• Street or mall “Convenience Crews” will give away 20,000 umbrellas on rainy days in NYC and Philadelphia
• 25,000 cups of coffee in NYC and Philadelphia
• 150,000 premium shopping bags at 22 malls
• Free gift wrapping for all at 22 malls (11/28-12/24)
• Free gift consulting for all at 22 malls (11/28-12/24)

TD Bank will also be partnering with over a thousand pizza parlors and dry cleaners to offer “Convenience Surprises,” pies and laundry to your door — at no charge.

“We tried to explore things that were convenient,” a representative with TD Bank’s ad agency said. “We’re doing anything that makes people’s lives more convenient.”

Brand ads in newspaper and outdoor will concurrently emphasize TD conveniences like seven-day banking, extended hours, free coin counting, free lollipops and doggie treats. TD has ads dominating New York’s Grand Central Station and Philadelphia’s 30th St. Station.

Advertising media includes:

• 8,400 spots featuring Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa
• 3,900 spots promoting the “At Your Convenience” sweepstakes
• 1,500 outdoor units, including highway, urban, phone kiosk, and bus shelters
• 220 full-page or page-dominant newspaper insertions

“Regis & Kelly”
Initial brand advertising TV and radio features a nervous Regis Philbin struggling to cope with change, and an unperturbed Kelly Ripa. The bank is running 8,400 TV and 9.000 radio :60s of the “Regis & Kelly” spots.

The campaign is the first for TD Bank produced by Tierney Communications out of Philadelphia.

Tierney Communications started as Commerce Bank’s agency when it had just 55 locations, twelve years ago. At the time of the merger there were 575. Tierney Communications, Philadelphia, part of the global Interpublic network, is a full-service advertising and public relations agency.

The brand campaign will be ongoing.

“Convenience Surprise” Retail Partnerships
400 parlors will give away 20,000 pizzas in special gift boxes. Free dry cleaning and delivery will come from 620 dry cleaners.

“At Your Convenience” Sweepstakes
Prizes you can win for a full week: personal chef, personal limo, groceries (including delivery), dry cleaning (including delivery), and house cleaning.

Online “TD Bank Theater”
A JibJab-style interpretation of the “Regis & Kelly” spot.

“I’ll be honest, there were
initial apprehensions.
But this soon gave way
to excitement.”
– Cas Scott, Companion CU
Marketing Manager

To support a new brand theme, “We’re Listening,” the members of Companion Credit Union, based in Australia, were invited to vote and pick the new logo for their organization.

Voting was open the entire month of October, and the winner was unveiled at the credit union’s Annual General Meeting on November 12th.

“The credit union is really owned by the members and therefore we decided we should invite them to actively participate in helping us decide.” said Ray O’Brien, CEO/Companion.

Over 1,000 votes were cast by the credit union’s 12,000 members.

The old logo had a style reminiscent of the London Underground.

The winning logo maintains links back to its predecessor using color and a curvy shape.
Four icons of people join hands to create a “C” monogram cupping the name.

On its website, the credit union says the new logo represents “our members, staff, community and our partners all working together — hand-in-hand — connected as one, for the mutual benefit of us all.”

Key Question: How comfortable would you be handing a strategic brand decision like this over to the general public?

In an interview with The Financial Brand, Cas Scott, the credit union’s Marketing Manager, said “I’ll be honest, there were initial apprehensions,” Scott said. “But this soon gave way to excitement as the concept grew on our management team.”

“Many of our current members founded Companion Credit Union, so it only seemed fitting that they would be a part of our new journey and direction,” Scott added.

The credit union gave the membership three choices:

Option A - Opts for a dramatic square instead of a circle.

Option B - Only minor alterations to the old logo, mostly eliminating the pixels.

Option C - A combination of four people linked together.

A new slogan is the centerpiece of the credit union’s new brand positioning, featured in TV spots stressing a message of dialogue and interpersonal communication between the credit union and its membership.

“We’re Listening” will replace the previous tagline “Your Personal Financial Companion.”

According to research conducted by the credit union, Scott said the new slogan “better reflects the relationships we have with our current members, and adds-in the warmth and emotive feelings they have with us.”

The credit union’s corporate website will be re-launched in two weeks with the new logo and slogan.

Companion’s TV spots prove you don’t have to be a billion-dollar credit union
to get commercials on TV. They produced a series of three spots that use only still images
but they keep them moving at a healthy clip.

A fledgling microsite used to launch the campaign aspires to be something along the lines of a community portal/local social media hub.

There’s also a 12-minute history video you can watch.

For many years, credit unions have lobbied hard to make sure they get fair and equal treatment from the U.S. Government. But begging the Treasury for TARP money is not a good idea.

CUNA, NAFCU and Fryzel at the NCUA have all joined together recently with their hands out as they ask for taxpayer relief. Each time they do, it undermines all the positive press credit unions have been getting (as reported by The Financial Brand here, here and here).

Key Question: Exactly how big is this problem? How many credit unions out there were engaged in risky lending practices that now leave them in such a vulnerable state that they need a bailout?

After weeks and weeks of mainstream media articles touting the safety, security and soundness of credit unions, why would credit union industry leaders want to come out with a “we-need-a-bailout-too” message? Are they willing to gamble the entire industry’s image just to make sure they get the same treatment as big banks?

Reality Check: If credit unions need a bailout, then they are contradicting claims that they are run differently than banks.

Big banks have made it tough for everyone in the financial services industry, for sure. And maybe the imposition on credit unions is so great that they actually need some relief. But if that’s the case, then this assistance should be directed at all credit unions, and not just used to create relief mechanisms for those who put themselves in jeopardy.

And if credit union associations feel that injecting capital into conventional banks is a misuse of TARP funds, then they should be lobbying Congress and the Treasury to have that money returned to the taxpayers — not begging for their “fair share.”

Bottom Line: If credit unions get TARP money, they are taking a powerful arrow out of their quiver and handing it to banks who will fire it right back at them.

If there are credit unions out there with “toxic assets” due to subprime mortgage practices, then they should take their lumps as quietly as possibly and not drag the entire industry down along with them.

Here’s a story from a reader of The Financial Brand. We’ll call her Erica (that’s not her real name). Erica got a letter from Chase a month ago. The letter informed Erica that her home equity line of credit was arbitrarily being cut by 65% — down to $171,000 from $495,000.

Here’s what the letter said:

“With home values falling in many parts of the country, we’ve used a proven method to estimate your home’s value at $530,000. Unfortunately, this value no longer supports the full amount of your Line of Credit.”

A more honest version of the story probably goes something like this: “We were running low on capital, credit got tight, housing prices plummeted and we freaked out. Sorry. We’ve had some time to think it out, and we acted hastily. Ooops.”

The Financial Brand has confirmed that Erica’s house is easily worth at least $1 million — there’s no doubt about it. You can’t find any 5,000 square foot luxury homes in her city — in any major metropolitan market, on the water, with amazing views and a private elevator — for anything close to $530,000.

Needless to say, Erica was miffed. Even though Erica had never needed to use more than $60,000 of her home equity line and the current balance was less than $50, she liked the idea of being able to borrow half a million bucks just by writing a check.

Sure. Why not?

Erica was on the verge of shipping an official appraisal off to Chase to prove she was indeed worthy of having her line of credit reinstated. The appraisal would have put his house at around $1.4 million.

But then, all of a sudden, out of the blue, came another letter from Chase:

“We apologize for a recent letter that incorrectly reduced your home equity line of credit. Unfortunately, the valuation was not properly matched to your property. So please disregard that notification. Your line of credit limit has been reinstated to your original credit line of $495,000 and you may begin drawing against it again.”

In an email, Erica wondered aloud (to me, along with 40 of her friends and family), what shape Chase would be in today if they used their “proven valuation method” in other areas of their business.

Key Question: Did Chase use their “proven valuation method” when they decided to takeover WaMu?

Reality Check: Things like trust and confidence are the most delicate of brand assets. Just like with our interpersonal relationships, trust can take years to build and only seconds to lose. Often, all it takes is one bad decision and “poof!”

Observations & Reflections:

• Erica will probably never trust correspondence from Chase again.
• Word-of-mouth marketing is powerful stuff. Personal, first-hand accounts like this one — whether they are good or bad — are the kinds of brand stories people tell one another.
• It was good that Chase caught it’s own mistake, but it’s a mistake that shouldn’t have been made in the first place.
• A more honest version of the story probably goes something like this: “We were running low on capital, credit got tight, housing prices plummeted and we freaked out. Sorry. We’ve had some time to think things out more clearly, and we acted hastily. Ooops.”

Deutsche Bank built a revolutionary branch prototype back in 2005, something it named Q110. Besides being a gorgeous architectural statement, the branch is one of the most progressive you’ll see anywhere in the world, combining most — if not all — of the latest ideas and newest innovations in financial retailing.

Before you read any further, go to this website and take the bank’s virtual tour. The branch could have been dull and boring and this interactive tour would still be awesome. Other banks have done virtual tours of their branches before, but never one this cool.

There are four “hot spots” you can move to within the virtual tour. In each hot spot, you can rotate your view 360° with your mouse. And not just left and right rotation. If you want to look at the ceiling, go for it. You can even zoom in [SHIFT key] and zoom out [CTRL key].

To make bank products more tangible, Q110 customers shop for financial products in off-the-shelf boxes, like in a supermarket. But Deutsche didn’t settle for a typical retail box (like Jyske or BNZ). Deutsche opted for tins. (See detail photo near the bottom of this article.) Very classy, very cool and probably very few are thrown away once they get home.

But that’s not all Deutsche Bank is retailing. They’ve got windowed storefronts displaying shelves full of soaps, candles, games, lotions, magnets, glass figurines, piggy banks, handbags, portfolios and logowear from just about every football club in Europe.

You can almost hear the bank’s salespeople saying, “What a lovely purse! Would you like a checking account with that today? There’s a discount if you get both.”

Reality Check: Most banks are good at warehousing money, but they aren’t nearly prepared to operate a retail store that includes challenges like “inventory” and “shrinkage.”

The Q110 name is short for Quartier 110, a mixed-use building on Friedrichstrasse in Berlin. Friedrichstrasse is a major European shopping Mecca, so the branch’s heavy retail theme and product displays should help pull a curious and unsuspecting public off the streets and into the branch.

Occupying an impressive 13,500 square feet (1,260 square meters), Deutsche Bank’s Q110 is being used as a platform for testing new branch features and technologies. The bank planned on rolling out successful Q110 elements including the Trendshop, lounge, product tins, and private advisory rooms to its other branches in Munich and Aachen.

But wait, there’s more.

As if the virtual tour wasn’t enough, the bank even took their Q110 concept to SecondLife. You can see a video about it on YouTube.

The architectural design firm on the project was Schwitzke & Partner, who has nine more photos of the project at their website.

This beautiful and innovative branch prototype is unquestionably deserving of a Breakthrough Brand Award from The Financial Brand.

The vestibule has an optional concierge station.
The seating arrangement drives traffic left of the greeter.

The lounge has a half dozen sofas and seating for at least 30 people.

A close-up view of the lounge. There’s a full espresso bar, with seating for 6 more.
Notice the library of books.

The Q110 branch includes what Deutsche Bank calls the “Trendshop.”
You can buy various items for the home, family or the office. Oddly, the signs are in English.

Within the Trendshop, Deutsche Bank retails items
from around Europe, including popular sports teams.
The bank rotates various big brand, major label retail items on a regular basis.

Bank employees circulate openly as a sales cleark might do in a regular store.
They present and discuss products with customers face-to-face.

A plasma screen near the entrance shows which employees are working that day.
The headline “Ihre Ansrechpartner” literally translates to “Your Greeting Partners.”
You’ve got to love Maxi’s title in the picture (above): “Produktinnovationen.”

The open floor plan almost entirely eliminates walls, counters and other barriers.

A foosball table? That’s the second foosball table to show up in an article about branches
here at The Financial Brand in the last two weeks.

Tip of the Hat: To Casey Davis, who, in addition to Deutsche’s Q110, also wanted everyone to see this supercool branch from Jyske. Another tip of the hat to the Europeans, who seem to be leading this year’s Branch Design Ryder Cup.

People still argue about whether credit unions should use the B-word or not.

The concern is that when credit unions use the B-word, they are blurring the distinction between themselves and banks. Someday, the difference could become so fuzzy that legislators decide to tax credit unions. At least that’s how the argument goes.

Reality Check: The issue of credit union taxation will not be affected by semantics.

A whitepaper commissioned by CUNA back in 2005 acknowledges the word’s ubiquity and its generally-accepted definitions:

1. Trying to ban “banking” it is a fruitless task — not worth the trouble because it is no big deal to consumers.
2. Bank is a generic term, and there is no reasonable alternative.
3. Creative and clever marketers can, and should, take on the challenge of finding words to describe the credit union experience, and establish “credit union” as a brand.

“Finding words to…establish ‘credit union’ as a brand,” as CUNA puts it, is certainly worthwhile, but CUNA didn’t include “finding a substitute or synonym for ‘banking’” as part of that task, acknowledging that there is no “reasonable alternative,” and banning it is pointless.

Remember, this is CUNA talking.

Reality Check: Consumers are going to refer to basic financial services as “banking.”

The credit union brand does struggle with a different B-word: “Branding” — real, meaningful differentiation.

Credit unions, especially those with broad community charters and billions in assets, have an increasingly tough time distinguishing themselves from banks, not to mention each other. As they continue expanding, they match most banks’ product lineup all the way down to business banking (or ‘business services,’ if you like).

Key Question: If credit unions haven’t been able to successfully communicate the fundamental differences between them and banks in the last 50 years, how can they ever hope to train the public to use whatever verb the industry may prefer?

There is certainly a difference between using the noun “bank” and the verb “banking.” But if the differences between banks and credit unions boils down to rhetoric, everyone (taxed or not) will be competing on things like rates and how many branches they have.

Sydney Credit Union recently relaunched as SCU and rolled out a new brand theme, “More Generous Banking.”

To celebrate the launch, SCU sent out street teams across Sydney conducting “Random Acts Of Generosity” including giving out free coffees, free massages and — no joke — free hugs.

As part of the overhaul, SCU streamlined its product lineup and unveiled what it describes as a more “user-friendly website,” two moves it hopes will appeal to younger consumers.

In addition to being generous with java, rubs and hugs, the credit union outlines a few other ways in which it is “generous” at its website:

• Being more generous with our time
  We’re happy to spend as much time with you as you would like in order to share what we know with you and help you to make the right decisions.
• Being more generous with our money
  You can always expect great rates from us and low (or no) fees and charges. And better than that. We’ll always look at the total deal you are being offered and do everything we can to make it as generous as possible for you.

SCU isn’t the only financial institution using the venerated piggy bank icon. BNZ, a bank in New Zealand, has built their entire campaign around them.

In an interview, Adam Milbank, marketing manager of SCU said, “We’ve got a modern and fresh new look that we believe will appeal more to the younger generations. Although it’s hard to compete with the big banks on advertising budget we have a strong brand and a great proposition that’s a little more fun and little more friendly.”

PR agency One Green Bean was appointed to support the brand refresh and new website, which was developed by design group Blue Marlin.

In the Danish market, Jyske Bank has introduced a whole new way of delivering financial services, using the theme “Jyske Differences.” Jyske says its “blazing new trails in interior design” with its branches, something that’s hard to argue with after you watch this video:

Jyske’s bank of the future is as imaginative as what Umpqua did with their “branch-of-the-future” video a few years ago. The concept centers around financial products that are presented in physical packages.

Here are some of the highlights:

• They call the branch a “shop.”
• The branch features a conceirge, called the AskBar.
• They are using a hotel-style check-in desk as their transaction/teller station(s), something they call the MoneyBar.
• They call the area between the various bars The Market Square. That’s where you’ll find Theme Island, with stacks of financial products packaged in boxes (see The Financial Brand’s previous coverage of BNZ’s pre-packaged, boxed financial products).
• They have a TestBar, where you can scan any of the boxed products for an on-screen tutorial.
• The branch has an Oasis, something that looks a lot more like a reading room than the waiting room it would be in a regular branch.
• Jyske says it wants to be known for its “good coffee,” so they’ve placed their CoffeeBar next to full-length windows surrounding the branch.

Key Question: Can anyone explain the catfish on the wall that “sets the mood” and “tells the history” of the bank?

The Financial Brand is honoring Jyske Bank with a Breakthrough Brand Award for having a very cool video about an incredible branch with great design and more features than one can list in a single article. Jyske could open a branch in any city in the Western world and wow just about everyone. I mean, come on: Who can possibly resist a conference room table made out of a foosball table? By the way, the conference room has a name too: Inspiration.

That’s an understatement.

Tip of the Hat: To Casey Davis, for bringing Jyske Bank to The Financial Brand’s attention.

With economic upheaval on Wall Street, many Americans are looking for answers on a wide range of financial matters. O Bee Credit Union is telling people to “Get lost!” Literally. In a maze.

O Bee Credit Union has partnered with a local newspaper and the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions to create one of the most original, most creative and most engaging financial-education promotions ever attempted.

The credit union’s name, “O BEE,” is the centerpiece of a massive, 6-acre maze made from corn. They call it “The Amazing Money Maze.”

The “Amazing Money Maze” from O Bee Credit Union. Look closely. There are two bridges.

There are two separate corn mazes, a 1.2-mile maze and a 1.8-mile maze. In each maze there are six checkpoints. As participants work their way through one of two mazes, they try to answer questions at different checkpoints about savings, budgeting, investing, debt, credit, identity theft, retirement, college, insurance, credit score, checking/debit and housing. Each checkpoint has a question for adults, teens and children.

After reviewing the questions and answers, participants get their checkpoint card punched to enter to win a weekly drawing for movie tickets, iPods, savings bonds, piggybanks, bags of shredded money, museum prizes, martial arts lessons, dance lessons and other stuff kids dig.

The maze is created by the hyper-imaginative folks at the Rutledge Corn Maze. In previous years, the farm’s mazes have been more conventional in their design, but still cool nonetheless.

Admission is $7. The maze is currently “haunted” for the Halloween season. Oooooh spooky!

This multi-way co-promotion is also a fund-raiser for programs that help promote financial education throughout the credit union’s communities.

If you want to see more, check out the website they’ve got set-up at amazingmoneymaze.com.

O Bee: One A Mazing Brand

An incredibly engaging financial education promo isn’t the only thing the O Bee brand has to be proud of. For instance, the “O Bee” name name is great.

For starters, it’s highly unusual, which not only helps the credit union get noticed and stand out, it allows them to have the ultra-simple web address obee.com. But the name makes sense too. You see, it’s the phonetic spelling of “O.B.,” short for “Olympia Brewing.” The credit union, the 99th ever started in the country, was originally founded in 1955 to serve the employees of Olympia Brewing.

The ‘O Bee’ name, logo and slogan all work together
to help create a rich and interesting brand story.

The credit union’s slogan, “Refreshingly Familiar,” is refreshingly unique for the financial industry. The slogan says the credit union is a comfortable place to do business, while simultaneously suggesting they have a personality and approach unlike “those other guys.”

For cutting through the clutter by carving their unique name into a cornfield, O Bee is getting a Breakthrough Brand Award from The Financial Brand.

“Money creates money concerns. And genuine attention to money helps eliminate them.” That’s the underlying premise behind Key Bank’s latest brand ad campaign, “Money Needs Attention.”

The campaign includes print, TV and outdoor advertising, as well as a microsite.
(more…)

Filene just released a study on employee perceptions of credit unions.The study concludes that credit union employees are confused about what “a credit union” is. Among the conclusions:

• Employees agree on the “credit union idea” but have a very difficult time explaining that idea to external parties.
• Employees can’t neatly compartmentalize how a credit union fits into our society.
• Employees can identify the parts of the credit union puzzle, but they don’t see how it all fits together.
• There is significant variance in employee commitment and in the consensus of what a credit union represents.
• Employees younger than 30 and those with higher levels of educational are less committed to credit unions.

It sounds pretty bleak — like all the people who actually work at credit unions don’t know what “credit unions” are.

Surely there was some discord among the survey’s responses. But when you actually look at the data, the news is pretty good for credit unions. In fact, you almost have to wonder how the survey’s authors came to such dire conclusions.

The survey posed over 150 different questions to 340 employees. Here’s some of the results:

• 99% believed great service is a defining feature of a credit union.
• 98% felt credit unions exist to serve ordinary folks, not just people with money.
• 96% believed credit unions made a difference in people’s lives.
• 96% thought “people helping people” pretty much summed it up.
• 96% knew that credit unions were different because they had all-volunteer boards.
• 95% believed there was more of a community feeling at a credit union.
• 95% have recommended the credit union to someone other than family.
• 95% believed that members actually own their credit unions.
• 94% believed it was more important to look after a member and not push them into something they don’t want.
• 91% believed that fundamentally, a credit union is a pooling of the members’ financial resources for the members’ benefit.
• 90% have tried to get one of their family members to join.
• 88% felt treating members equally was an underlying value of credit unions.

Bottom Line: It sounds like employees of credit unions have a lot of pride in where they work, and know more about “credit unions” than we may assume. Some messages are clearly getting through…to staff, any way.

If you’ve got 20 minutes, check out this PDF of Filene’s results.

If you’ve got another 20 minutes after that, Filene has a 20-minute MP3 about the study.

Both are worth the time — if you have it.

Key Question: What would employees of banks say if they took a similar study?

Some financial institutions have mission statements. Some have vision statements. Some have both. Some companies have a defined list of core values, while others don’t. One thing is for sure: There is a lot of confusion about what each of these tools should do.

The difference between a Mission Statement, a Vision Statement and Core Values in the simplest terms:

• Mission Statements – Say what you’re doing today
• Vision Statements – Say what you want to accomplish tomorrow
• Core Values – Define what you believe in

Reality Check: Most mission statements are full of trite, feel-good expressions. They only get approved because they say nothing unique nor courageous.

Here’s an example of a mission statement for an imaginary financial institution:

“Our mission is to be the premier provider
of superior financial solutions by
earning people’s trust in the most friendly,
professional manner possible.”

It is no one’s in particular. And yet it is everyone’s.

The day-to-day purpose, goals and beliefs of most financial institutions are almost identical, so it’s no surprise that they have similar-sounding missions, visions or values. They all want to “do what’s right,” and “hold themselves to the highest standards,” so they can…Yeah, yeah. It’s the same stuff you hear from hundreds of financial institutions.

Reality Check: In this economic climate, you’ll have to forgive the folks on Main Street. You may say you’re trying to do the right thing for your community, your employees and your shareholders, but right now, people are a little jaded and skeptical about such statements. When most people read a mission statement (including employees), they roll their eyes and think, “Phhbbbt…’a premier financial institution.’ Just more corporate mumbo-jumbo.”

Lookalike missions, visions and core values aren’t the real problem though. It’s when the board, CEO or senior leadership of a financial institution confuse any of these things for a brand strategy or brand position that real problems arise. In most cases, they aren’t anywhere close.

The missing piece: a brand position

All too often, senior management and the board are left trying to build a 3-legged brand strategy out of statements that essentially say the same thing as their competitors. The result? An undifferentiated brand.

Reality Check: The #1 thing that prevents an organization from crafting a brand position is that the CEO or board thinks the mission or vision is “the brand.” Odds are, these brands will live stunted lives.

What they need is the fourth leg of the table: a Brand Position. A Brand Position (or brand essence, or brand strategy, or USP, or whatever you want to call it) is where you can really differentiate yourself in relevant ways.

Things like mission, vision and values clarify what an organization is about, while a Brand Position says how you will deliver on those things. A Brand Position says how you will achieve your mission, accomplish your vision, and live out your values. It says how you will be different than your competitors. Will you become “the premier provider” by making banking easier? Will you be the most knowledgeable advisors?

Let’s use Disney as example. Their mission might be something safe, like:

“Our mission is to provide a wide range
of quality entertainment options
to families and children of all ages.”

Other entertainment companies could very well have an identical mission statement. And Disney’s core values are probably shared with at least some of their competitors. After all, Disney isn’t the only innovative family entertainment provider out there.

So what makes Disney special? It’s their Brand Position:

MAKE MAGIC MOMENTS

And they live this out. If you’ve ever seen a Disney film, gone to a Disney theme park or cruised on a Disney vessel, you should have had a fairytale experience. That’s how they provide “quality entertainment to families” differently than everyone else.

They can train people to live out their brand position. They can (and do) teach people how to make magic moments — how to use their imagination and creativity to do something people will remember. It’s engaging. Fun. Inspiring.

They are “The Happiest Place on Earth” because “The Magic Kingdom” is the kind of place “Where Dreams Come True.” (See the how a brand position can bring clarity, relevance and differentiation to tangible things like slogans?)

It’s a lot harder to help your staff understand what “premier” or “preferred” mean. Those kinds of terms are hard to train because they are vague, and have many varied interpretations to different people.

Give them something inspirational — that’s also credible — and watch them respond.