Ask any bank or credit union in America what differentiates them from other financial institutions and invariably their answer will be “service.” They all emphatically declare, “Service is what differentiates us! Service is what our brand is about!” Here are four reality checks that should encourage your organization to look in the mirror and be honest.

Reality Check #1: As a financial service business, your service has to be good. If it isn’t, you’re out of business.

Of course “service” distinguishes financial services firms from one another. “Service” is, in essence, the “product” service firms produce. If you’re going to differentiate around “service,” you have to be a lot more specific and work a lot harder to define precisely how your service is different and why it is any better. The unique style and flavor of “service” is what differentiates each and every service business in the world.

What if you asked a car company what made them different from all the other car companies and they told you “our cars?” It sounds ridiculous, don’t you think? It dangles a question so obvious and implicit, it’s insulting: “Precisely how are your cars different?” And yet this logic doesn’t seem to apply to financial institutions. There are very intelligent people who never question precisely how their financial service firm’s “service” is any different from anyone else.

“We’re personal.”

Guess what? That’s what the other guy says too.

“We truly care.”

Ditto.

It’s not just players in financial services that struggle with this. It’s something that every service firm in every industry wrestles with — from plumbers to dentists.

Reality Check #2: If everyone says “our service is better,” someone is lying.

Service may be what your organization does best, but that doesn’t mean your service is comparatively better than anyone else. Even if it is true and the level of service at your financial institution is indisputably extraordinary, “service” is so commonly used by financial institutions as a primary brand theme that it is essentially impossible to differentiate around. You can’t take your claim to “better service” out to the public because your me-too message will be lost in the chorus of self-delusional financial institutions. Consumers, unable to sort out who is telling the truth and who is making shallow promises, simply tune everyone out.

Despite what you may believe, all the banks down the street aren’t mean and evil. They have nice people with generally good intentions. They say hello and smile at their customers, just like you do. They have customer service training. Yes, they occasionally drop the ball, but so do you. You’re fooling yourself if you think you can be nicer than the competition.

Reality Check #3: Saying “service is what differentiates us” is a cop-out and a roadblock.

If you ask any financial institution to describe what makes them unique without using the word “service” and you’ll come up empty-handed nearly every time. It’s as if banks and credit unions land on “service” and then never go any further or dig any deeper. It’s lazy. It’s a cop-out that enables financial institutions to dodge the hard questions. Are we really any different?

It’s easy to understand how the notion of “service” gets picked by boards of directors and management teams as the central brand theme for their financial institutions. For starters, it sounds good. Who can argue with “service?” It feels good. Throw on a few zingy adjectives like “premier,” “extraordinary,” “exceptional” or “world-class” and watch heads nod in unison around the room.

The belief that “service is what differentiates us” is the single biggest and most-common roadblock preventing financial institutions from developing a truly differentiated brand strategy.

Reality Check #4: Exceptional service does not mean providing a Ritz Carlton/Four Seasons experience.

A broad, general “service” strategy often leads HR departments to hire consultants who promise to train staff how to deliver the kind of phenomenal, world-class service one finds at the Ritz Carlton or Four Seasons hotels. That may sound great, but it only works if you target rich people who are willing to pony up big bucks and pay premium prices for VIP service. It’s an operational and fiscal reality: it costs more (a lot more!) to provide world-class service, which is something fewer consumers can afford.

Furthermore, it’s erroneous to assume great service always equates with 5-star, red carpet treatment. It’s not simply a matter of going above and beyond and bending over backwards. There are a lot of other factors that people use to define a quality service experience — speed, level of knowledge, responsiveness, ability to customize/personalize, dependability, etc.

Think about Southwest Airlines. No one feels special when they fly Southwest Airlines. You’re not part of the jet set, you’re flying the low-cost “bus of the skies.” And yet consumers love the Southwest brand because it is the most fun airline out there. Southwest’s sense of humor, funny personality and jocular attitude is what distinguishes their service experience. Their brand is about making an otherwise miserable experience fun.

How come there isn’t a bank or credit union with a brand similar to Southwest Airlines? A brand built around fun? What’s stopping them? Perhaps it’s that they all still believe it is their “service” that separates them?

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.

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.

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

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: You can click on both images to enlarge.)

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 The Financial Brand’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.”

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 Nimble/Flexible and remaining Agile.

Note: 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:

1. Integrity – 34 banks
2. Teamwork – 15 banks
3. Excellence – 11 banks
4. Commitment – 10 banks
5. Honesty – 10 banks
6. Respect – 10 banks
7. Service – 10 banks
8. Professionalism – 8 banks
9. Customers – 7 banks
10. Trust – 6 banks
11. Community – 6 banks
12. Loyalty – 6 banks
13. Innovation – 5 banks

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:

[TABLE=2]

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.

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?

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.

In the final round of the TV gameshow Wheel of Fortune, contestants used to pick six letters. But almost everyone always picked the same six letters — S, T, R, N, L and E — and often in the same sequence.

It became so common that STRNLE grew into it’s own acronym, pronounced “stroonle” (sounds like “strudel”).

By 1988, the show’s producers changed the game’s format to address this predictability. Since then, those six STRNLE letters are gimmees. Now contestants get to pick four letters in addition to the ones provided.

The world of financial brands are way overdue for a STRNLE overhaul. Invariably, when you ask a financial institution what differentiates them, you almost always get the same answer: “It’s our caring, responsive and personal service.”

You know what acronym that makes? CRAP.

Reality Checks:

• Warm, friendly, personal service is the bare minimum in financial services. It isn’t enough to build a brand around. It just gets you to first base.
• “Service” may be one your organization’s core competencies, but it’s highly unlikely that it’s at a level much different than your competitors.

For most banks and credit unions, saying “service is what differentiates us” would be like Nike saying quality shoes is what differentiates them. Nike may be in the shoe business, but that isn’t what differentiates them. Similarly, if you’re in the financial services industry, you better have quality service because that’s what you’re selling.

The STRNLE reflex feels good because it’s totally safe. It doesn’t require an ounce of courage, so it never gets questioned — always lots of head nods, “That’s right! It’s our service!” The trouble is, it leads to CRAP brands. You simply can’t distinguish yourself by merely meeting people’s basic service expectations.

Besides, everyone is delivering CRAP service. At least that’s what they all say they’re delivering.

Key Takeaway: Avoid the pseudo-safety of CRAP traps. Find your own niche. Focus on a narrowly targeted audience and meet their specific needs. That’s how great brands are built.

Bank of America recently announced that it was introducing its first ever NASCAR-themed ad.

The 30 second spot titled “Who’s Your Driver?” features footage of a number of top NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers whose likenesses are available on NASCAR Banking check cards and credit cards. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Juan Pablo Montoya and Martin Truex Jr., are featured in the new ad and are among the most popular drivers featured.

This ad is Bank of America’s third major campaign this year focused on sports fans, including deals with the Olympics and Major League Baseball (press release here). The brand has been very focused on upbeat, uplifting messages like “America’s Cheer 2008” (previous coverage from The Financial Brand here).

This latest spot starts with the line, “This is America, and you have the freedom to cheer.”

B of A has a good promotional tie-in with its co-branded debit and credit cards. At a special section of its website called “NASCAR RacePoints,” the bank details how you can earn points and “burn” them using their plastic products. You earn one RacePoint for every $4 in net retail check card purchases, and can spend them on exclusive NASCAR experiences, race tickets, NASCAR licensed products and goodies like flat panel TVs, iPods and much more.

Use the NASCAR card, get NASCAR stuff. “Earn and burn.” It’s a nice, self-reinforcing promotion.

Bank of America first launched its NASCAR program in 2007. As the “Official Bank of NASCAR,” B of A can offer NASCAR themed checks, debit and credit cards. B of A calls it ‘NASCAR Banking.’

“Our affinity products are some of the fastest growing products we have at the bank. And the NASCAR products are in the top 10 of those,” says Mike Hargrave, an executive with Bank of America’s NASCAR program.

It’s worth noting that B of A is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the heart of NASCAR country.

The NASCAR Banking ads, produced by worldwide advertising behemoth BBDO, won’t be running nationally until July.

You can read the full script for the spot on page 2. You can read B of A’s full press release here.

Bottom Line: NASCAR is on-brand for B of A. They should be the sponsor of American traditions like NASCAR. After all, their name is Bank of America. They’ve sponsored the Dallas Cowboys — “America’s Team” — for over two decades. The Olympics. MLB. And this announcement from today: the U.S. military. All things American. This is a much better, much more believable brand direction than “Higher Standards.” Two thumbs up.

Key Takeaway: Affinity products are a great way to engage people with a financial brand and counteract the dull, stodgy and boring image associated with the average bank or credit union. What brands can you link with? (Note: You don’t have to be a major brand, nor do you have to pick a major brand to partner with to succeed with this strategy.)

A research company studied brands in 75 different categories to measure the degree of differentiation among competing companies. Banks were among the companies studied.

Guess what? Banks are viewed as having zero differentiation. The good news is that banks weren’t the only undifferentiated category:

“Banks, motor oil and 20 other categories – nearly a third of all the categories examined – did not have any differentiated brands. The products and services were ‘known,’ but not known for anything in particular.”

For some reason, soap manufacturers have figured out something most financial institutions haven’t. The study found that 100% of soap brands differentiated themselves.

It makes sense. Look at the six brands of soap to the right. All six are distinct. Most people could probably articulate something different about each of them even if they don’t personally use those particular brands.

• Dial works longer.
• Lava is for tough guys with dirty hands.
• Dove is smoother, and for women.
• Zest opens your eyes.
• Neutrogena is pure, simple and clean.
• Irish Spring leaves you “Fresh and clean as a whistle.”

One reader of the study blames hollow bank slogans and endless mergers for the lack of differentiation among providers of financial services:

“Take the category of banks. They produce one meaningless slogan after another. ‘Where money lives,’ ‘Embracing ingenuity,’ ‘The clean Swiss bank,’ ‘Here today. Here tomorrow.’ Slogans like these and endless mergers have commoditized the category.”

Add to this the many similar-sounding names endemic to banks and credit unions — 1st, First, One, Community, etc. — and you’ve got another major contributor to financial “blanding.”

Bottom Line:

• If you don’t clearly stand for something — anything! — consumers will think you stand for nothing. This is a recurring theme in financial services.
• Failing to create meaningful differences forces people to define you by their own criteria — usually quantifiable things like rates, fees and the number of your branch/ATM locations.
• You absolutely must distinguish and differentiate your financial institution from the countless bland options that already exist or risk reduction to a simple commodity.

Key Questions: Can your organization succinctly articulate a clear, unique and meaningful brand promise or position? Do key stakeholders in your organization agree on this brand position?

Reality Check: Is there anyone else in your industry who could credibly make your Brand Promise? (Hint: If you said anything about “friendly, personal service,” or something like being “the best provider of financial solutions,” the answer is most definitely “yes.”)

Note: The original study is available offline from Brand Keys.

“Aren’t you ready
for real differentiation?”

Financial institutions across the country are duking it out over high-interest checking accounts, the ones paying upwards of 6.25%.

These high-interest checking accounts were a differentiator for a brief while when they first came out. Today, there are multiple financial institutions offering the exact same account in every city in America.

Take Portland, where at least three different community credit unions are slugging it out. There’s Rewards Checking from Rivermark. There’s Remarkable Checking from Oregon Community. There’s Fusion Checking from Advantis.

Which one to pick? “Hmmm, I’ll go with this one. They’ve got the best rate.”

Fusion Checking was the latest to enter the market, so that’s probably why they had come in with a higher return.

All these accounts are identical in every way except the rate. They all offer a high interest rate and free ATM refunds, with no monthly fees. They all require 10-12 debit transactions, and you must access online banking and receive electronic bill payments every month.

There are minor variations with only slightly different requirements, such those that require direct deposit. Oregon Community offers a derivative it calls FreeTunes Checking, where you can get four free iTunes downloads each month in lieu of earning interest. At least that’s a little something different.

Reality Check: Trying to create differentiation around any financial product or service is tough. Once anything is successful, everyone will be doing it.

There’s one company behind this widespread high-interest checking phenomenon: Bancvue. They are the folks that first introduced Rewards Checking (as it’s commonly called), and they’ve been marketing it very aggressively. Earlier this year, Netbanker reported that there were over 400 Bancvue accounts, and that Bancvue adds 30 customers every month.

Bancvue’s website is a slick Flash tour that does a fantastic job selling the Rewards Checking solution. There’s language all over the place touting how Rewards Checking can “truly differentiate you from the competition,” and asking questions like “Aren’t you ready for real differentiation?”

The company’s “distinctive” claims were very true in the beginning — before everyone had Rewards Checking — but probably not anymore.

The folks at Bancvue shouldn’t take this the wrong way. Bancvue isn’t to blame. They’re doing exactly what anyone else would do in their shoes. They have a hot product and they are selling it to everyone who will buy it. But is it the best thing for their bank and credit union customers?

Key Questions:

• What would have happened if Bancvue had offered exclusivity in certain markets, as Currency did with Young & Free?
• Reverse-engineering a Rewards Checking account seems pretty straightforward, so what value does Bancvue provide? Wouldn’t an intelligent CFO be able to crunch the backend numbers to make them work?

Bottom Line:

• It’s not “differentiating” when everyone is doing it.
• If your financial institution deploys a Bancvue-style product, please, do yourself a favor and don’t use the generic name, Rewards Checking. There’s already way too many of those. Just Google it and you’ll see.

“In today’s business environment, the word ’same’ could be shorthand for ‘out of business.’” — Dan Clark

Never mind that the author of this blog post is only 21, this kid nails it:

“The best way to draw people in is to show how you are different from a bank; rate and fee changes aren’t going to do that.”

His step-by-step advice is elegant in its simplicity:

1. The first step is to figure out who it is you serve.
2. Once you know who exactly you are serving, you’ve got to figure out exactly what they want.
3. Once you have that information, change is required. Otherwise, what use is it to collect all this information if you just say you support your field of membership without actually shifting your position to serve those people?

Bottom Line:

“Don’t be afraid to be different. If you do something different in a way people can see, it will draw more eyes…to your credit union.”

Tip of the Hat: To Andy LaFlamme, employee of Maine State Credit union, publisher of The CU Loop, and author of this post. His succinct articulation of many ‘Fundamental Theorems of Branding’ is simple and straightforward.

“The challenge is that most banks have a long legacy of product-centric, ‘everything for everybody’ ways of thinking. This leads to decision-making and resource commitments that reinforce ‘better sameness’ rather than true differentiation.”

– Frank Capek

The Northwestern Financial Review ran a story back in 2004 on research conducted by financial consulting firm NewGround Resources. The study included 480 credit unions. From the article:

• Only 2% of those in the survey believed that there is “lots of differentiation” among credit unions
• 68% said they expect their member representatives to deliver a memorable experience over and above the basics of good service
• 78% of credit unions said they were in the business of “building emotional loyalty”
• 26% said they had outgrown and changed their name
• 38% were planning to change their name
• 21% said lack of creative thinking was their biggest challenge
• 69% said their main competitor was a local or nationwide bank
• 20% said their main competition was other credit unions

Key Question: How can you deliver a memorable experience when you don’t offer anything different from your peers?

Reality Check: Credit unions now compete with credit unions. More community charters means more competition. This could strain the cooperative spirit that has historically existed between peers.