Phoenix Marketing International, a US-based research company, released findings from recent studies among retail banking customers age 25+ and with annual household income of at least $25,000.
Advertising evaluated between April 2011 and March 2012 demonstrate that market response is more likely from print and TV ads that “show a company that I can trust,” and therefore leads targeted consumers to conclude ads “portray a company I want to be associated with,” and ideally “makes me want to start a new relationship or expand my current relationship with this company.”
Advertising for ING Direct, JP Morgan Chase, TD Bank, and Wells Fargo does well on these messaging attributes, and consequently response to brand advertising is optimized by these and other performance metrics tracked monthly by Phoenix.
Findings are based on analysis among 103,188 assessments of 493 unique ads made by 29,811 retail banking customers.
“We have obtained over 1 million detailed assessments of retail banking ads since 2005 and our historical brand and advertising metrics show that presenting the bank as a trusted brand is essential for effective advertising. In fact, the need for banks to establish brand trust was recently featured in a global Edelman report, ‘The Industry That Consumers Trust The Least: Banks,’” stated Daniel Rivera, Senior Analyst covering North America for Phoenix.
“In addition, our research enables clients and their agency to identify requirements that retail banks must achieve to be considered a trusted brand and consequently to measure whether or not brand advertising is on target with achieving this essential communication objective,” adds Rivera. For example, successfully demonstrating that a brand has outstanding customer service and provides its customers with good value are prerequisites for positioning a retail bank as one that can be trusted.
Other retail banks that do well with portraying themselves as a trusted brand include Citizens Bank, PNC, Regions, SunTrust, and US Bank. However, advertising for these brands fell short on influencing consumers to start or expand their relationship, and doing so constrains the level of achievable trust.
Phoenix found examples of advertising for brands that are effective with invoking a market response, but attribute this to achieving success with unique advertising creative such as “breakthrough messaging” deemed as clever, entertaining, humorous, or unique. Similarly, brands often connect with their target audience on a cognitive level with believable, clear, informative, meaningful, and relevant messaging. Successful retail banking ads are also impactful, as measured by their ability to create market buzz.
About Phoenix Marketing International
Phoenix Marketing International polls 3,000+ retail banking consumers each month about their impression and consideration of numerous companies offering retail banking products and services. Banks that Phoenix tracks and evaluates include Ally Bank, BofA, BB&T, Capital One, Charles Schwab, JP Morgan Chase, Citi, Citizens Bank, Deutsche Bank, Emigrant, Fifth Third Bank, Harris Bank, HSBC, ING DIRECT, Key Bank, M&T Bank, PNC, Regions, Sovereign Bank, SunTrust, TD Bank, US Bank, U.S. Trust, Webster Bank and Wells Fargo.