Smart marketers will vulture the corpses of their peers

There are stories all over the place about banks and credit unions seeing huge upticks in business as customers flee failed banks like Wachovia and WaMu. BB&T says it has picked up $1.2 billion from Wachovia customers alone. What drives this consumer behavior? Fear? Resentment?

Who cares? Instead of waiting for those funds to simply walk through the door, why not aggressively market to attract those deposits? Like SunTrust, whose latest ad softly reminds people that “When you’re ready to switch accounts, we’re here to help.”

One bank has run out of Visa Check Cards, another credit union has run out of switch kits. It’s a feast. Pull up your seat at the table and dig in.

Bank of America’s “Financial Crisis ‘War Room’”

BofA has organized a “war room” so that when a headline in the news raises flags with consumers, the bank can figure out how to respond. They also say they have no plans to cut their $2 billion marketing budget in 2009, but haven’t ruled it out either. One more interesting thing: They say they’re trying to work in the word “guaranteed” more often to reassure anxious consumers. For instance, BofA’s CDs now feature a “guaranteed rate of return.”

Fortis to change names

The chairman of Fortis says the name has acquired a negative connotation due to the global financial crisis. (Fortis really took a big hit in Europe.) They don’t yet know what the new name will be. They just think the old one is baggage that needs to be dumped.

National City shares real customers stories

But only two stories at a time? At the bank’s website, www.nationalcity.com/realstories, there are only two testimonials to choose from. They say more testimonials are coming, but right now, it looks pretty paltry. Will they grow the library as videos are added? Or will there always only be two at a time?

UPDATE: They just added a third video.

The stories came out of company research with more than 5,000 current National City customers. The bank will be running ads in 160 regional publications throughout its nine-state footprint to promote the site.

AdAge says ING Direct’s brand love will help it weather the crisis

ING’s singular focus on helping people save money is behind the love, and the bank is staying on-message with its meltdown marketing. The article ends with a quote from The Financial Brand.

Canadian credit unions contribute $35.8 million to charities

Yeah, but if the numbers coming from Vancity Credit Union are right, it looks like this one single credit union gave away $3.67 million in 2007. That’s about 10% of all donations by all Canadian credit unions combined. Of course, their brand is built around “doing good” and “giving back.”

Kudos to Vancity. Double kudos, actually.

Burning Bridges: The Ultimate Dear-John-Goodbye-&-Eff-You

Andrew Lahde, the boss of a successful US hedge fund, made a mint last year by betting against subprime mortgages. Last week, he quit the industry — forever, you can be sure — with an extraordinary farewell letter dismissing his rivals as over-privileged “idiots” and thanking “stupid” traders for making him rich.

The 37-year-old told his clients that he had hated the business and had only been in it for the money. He declared he would no longer manage money for other people, because he had enough of his own. [Editor: Who else wants to know where Mr. Lahde is putting his money today?] He concludes with a plea to legalize weed.

You can’t make this stuff up… Read the whole letter here.

Accounts on the move

Compass Bank awarded creative duties on its $10 million advertising account to GSD&M Idea City. Crispin Porter + Bogusky previously handled the account, the agency that came up with The Subservient Chicken for Burger King.

Also, USAA has parted ways with Deutsch New York and placed its $15 million account in review.