TD Commerce Bank Stakes its Claim: America’s Most Convenient Bank

TD Commerce Bank, the result of the TD Banknorth and Commerce Bank merger, will adopt Commerce Bank’s tagline and position itself as America’s Most Convenient Bank after the two banks come together.

TD Banknorth’s President and CEO, Bharat Masrani was quoted in a press release today about the bank’s position:

"TD Commerce Bank will own the convenience and Customer service space from Maine to Florida and will live the promise of being America's Most Convenient Bank…We will be relentlessly focused on building a better bank for Customers by staying open longer than our competitors and providing Customers with the WOW! experience they have come to expect."

This begs the question: What does it mean to be America’s Most Convenient Bank?

As far as I can tell, TD Commerce Bank’s idea of convenience focuses on the number of branches and ATMs in its delivery network; it also means staying open seven days a week and having extended hours at its branches on a daily basis. And, I can certainly see how this offers customers that live in the markets served by the bank added convenience – but what about those who don’t?

Would TD Commerce Bank be considered America’s most convenient bank to a bank customer in Savannah, GA? - Or any of the other markets along the East Coast where the bank does not currently have a presence?

The bank has made its intention clear to “own the convenience and Customer service space from Maine to Florida.” And, with convenience at TD Commerce Bank focusing so heavily on its branch and ATM presence, it will be interesting to see how it lives up to this promise.

Will we see TD Commerce Bank embark on an expansion/acquisition effort along the East Coast in the coming months?

And what about the rest of America? I don’t think many people here in Chicago have ever heard of America’s Most Convenient Bank.

ING: On Message Once Again

If you're an ING Direct customer, you recently received an email thanking you for being a customer of the bank. Not something we typically see from financial institutions. Have you ever received an email like this?

But, more important than the fact that ING is using email to stay in touch with its customers, is the fact that the bank recognized the email as an opportunity to reinforce its "save your money" message. Check out the closing of the email:


Much like my experience with the banker/baristas at the ING Cafe in Chicago, this is a great example of how ING is constantly looking for ways to remind us, both directly and indirectly, that the bank is here to help you save your money.

What message are you putting out there?

Two Questions Bankers Should Be Asking Themselves

Two recent posts by Bill Taylor (co-founder of Fast Company Magazine) on his Game Changer blog have really grabbed my attention. Both posts pose questions that every financial services executive and marketer should think about.

The first question, discussed in the more recent post, deals with benchmarking – “Why copy the competition?” Bill frames this up using Commerce Bank as an example, saying “They (Commerce Bank) didn’t evaluate the company against Citigroup, Bank of America or Wachovia. They looked to Starbucks, Target and Best Buy.”

More people in financial services should follow a similar approach. Rather than looking at how your institution stacks up against your peer group, bankers should be looking to apply some of the thinking used by companies outside of the financial services industry.

And, I think this question should be asked anytime someone proposes adding/developing some kind of copy-cat product or service. All too often, new products are developed and introduced in response to a competitors’ new product offering. This kind of reactionary thinking only contributes to financial institutions looking more like one another – and does nothing to differentiate your institution.

The second question is my favorite: “As a customer, why should I choose your bank over the competition?”

Financial institutions need to establish relevant and meaningful ways to differentiate themselves from the competition. And, they need to communicate those differences in ways that everyone can understand. Think about what members of your team would say when asked this question.

Taylor’s post continues to say: “How can any business expect to outperform the competition when its own employees can’t explain – simply and convincingly – what makes them different from the competition?”

Some of the most innovative ideas in financial services are borrowed from other industries – and, in many cases, they can give financial institutions a clear and differentiated competitive advantage. It seems as though the most important step is often times the most overlooked – employee training. Every member of your staff should be able to talk “simply and convincingly” about the differences between your institution and the competition.

Change Your Mindset #19: Your Customers Need to See Themselves in You

In today’s commoditized banking world, customers are really searching for a bank that they can connect with, share values with and one in which they can see themselves. It’s all about being relevant to your target market and taking steps to show your target that you understand what they are all about. While there are many ways to let your customers see themselves in your institution, there are a few we see on a frequent basis.

For example; if your bank caters to the Hispanic community, you need to be relevant to that segment’s needs and preferences, which may include offering Spanish language brochures and merchandising, hiring Spanish speaking employees, having Spanish advertising and messaging, and so on. Beyond language, a target audience should see themselves in the photography you use in your collateral, in the artwork you display on your walls and in the community organizations you partner with.

Let’s look at another example we encounter on a regular basis; if your bank is attempting to attract a younger customer segment (namely Gen Y) then you need to hire younger employees. Gen Y customers will not relate well if they walk into your bank branch and everyone waiting to serve them is of Baby Boomer age. Gen Y customers want to feel comfortable when doing business with your bank, and they can more easily relate to people closer to their own age. If you are explicitly pursuing the younger generation markets, you can’t profess to know them, know their needs, etc. if you don’t even have any employees that are their age.

The main point here is “be relevant”. You must be relevant to your target audience in everything that you do. Staying relevant to your target audience means talking the way they talk, using the technology that they use, expressing the same values, and tailoring your ads, products, images and merchandising so as to reflect your target audience.

Another Gen Y example is offering the types of technology that someone in that age group would expect. Your institution can’t be relevant with someone from Generation Y if your website either does not exist, or is remedial at best. One of the first places a Gen Y customer will attempt to learn about your institution is online. If you do not have a website that is attractive, that speaks to them and that meets their standards – then, chances are, they’ll be onto your competitors’ websites.

On the flip side, if your bank targets upscale and wealthy customers in the Baby Boomer generation who are nearing retirement age and looking for investments, staying relevant means something totally different. The expectations of this customer segment may not be met with a branch staff of 20 year old tellers and personal bankers, digital signage with flashing CD rates, and “We now offer free checking!” banners hanging outside the branch.

You have probably seen the WAMU Banker’s Pen commercials:


This is a good example of stressing the point of staying relevant. These commercials are geared toward the younger market segments and are saying WAMU is right for you If you’re looking for an institution that does things differently from the traditional banking business model.

Some of the best commercials I’ve seen recently related to generational marketing are for Investment Firms like Fidelity and Ameriprise. These two commercials do a great job illustrating how these companies are connecting with their target segments and staying relevant.

Fidelity Investments:


Ameriprise Financial:


Staying relevant works across all customer segments, and does not only apply to younger generations. It may be that you need to work harder to stay relevant to the younger demographic because their needs aren’t as obvious to you, but that is a trend faced by institutions across the country. You don’t know what you don’t know, until you do a little work to dig beneath the surface.

It all starts with knowing your market. Once you know your market, you can speak more directly to them. And once your customers see themselves in you, and realize that you are the institution for them, you’ll be better positioned to both retain those customers and attract similar ones.

Love, Hate and Indifference

Jeff Stephens’ comment to my post yesterday makes a great point about refining your message enough to allow customers and prospective customers to “clearly determine that you’re not what they’re looking for.” The flip side to this, of course, is that a refined message will allow others to clearly determine that your institution is exactly what they are looking for.

If you think about it across a spectrum with love on one side, hate on the other and indifference in the middle, we see too many banks seeking the comfortable middle ground with generic and all-inclusive messages – and this does nothing more than create a large group people who don’t really care about you one way or another.

Herein lies a challenge for many institutions – make a decision: decide who it is that you really want to love your institution. Then, hold that up to the messages you are putting out there. Do your messages resonate with this group; encourage them to establish and build a relationship with you; and make it easy for them to refer their peers to your institution?

At the end of the day, the customers that really love your institution will still be your most valuable customers – even when your competitor offers a little better rate or the latest iPod for opening a new account. And once you can take a stance and add real value to a focused target market (decide who should love you and who should hate you) you can differentiate your institution from the “all things to all people” competition, and allow your target to easily see that you are the best choice for them.

Keep It Simple

Today’s competitive landscape is changing; and as regional and national players become more aggressive in their marketing efforts, it’s time that you do the same. Marketing today’s financial institutions isn’t easy; but, in an industry where institutions continue to look more and more alike, and traditional “bank/credit union marketing” doesn’t work like it used to, marketing is more important than ever. Some institutions clearly understand the importance of marketing; however, many are employing reactive and unfocused strategies which often produce lackluster results and do little to add to the bottom line.

When it comes to your advertising campaign message, I suggest that you keep it simple.

Financial institutions are notorious for text-heavy, product-focused marketing that can seem random at times. Often times, these initiatives attempt to say too much, and can do more to confuse a customer than to encourage action and/or build a relationship. Today’s consumer is bombarded by as many as 3,000 advertising messages a day; and they want to know quite simply what’s in it for them – beyond the expected free checking account or great CD rate. So, rather than delivering a series of product-focused or rate-driven advertisements, complete with all the fine print, financial institutions can become more effective in marketing themselves by allowing one simple and compelling message to drive their efforts.

The first step in keeping it simple is letting go of the traditional financial services marketing mindset where every advertisement highlights the latest product or rate promotion. Sure, many customers want the latest products and the best rates, but no one has the time or patience to read every last detail about them in an advertisement. Keeping it simple is about communicating your unique value quickly in one powerful and easy to understand message.

Think of the messages used by Citi over the years: Live Richly; Where Money Lives; and the Citi Never Sleeps. Each of these messages is simple; none of them mentions a product or rate. Furthermore, each works to establish a deeper connection with the audience, beyond the latest product or rate promotion, and each was/is used as an organizing principal around which all marketing efforts were based.

The idea of keeping it simple can also make individual advertising and marketing efforts more cohesive when it is applied to an entire campaign, as opposed to just individual ads or marketing pieces. As mentioned in the Citi example, once your message is established, it should be used as an organizing principal that informs all of your marketing efforts.

Another great example of allowing one simple message to drive an entire marketing campaign is Harris Bank’s “We’re here to help” campaign. The message is simple and compelling. The advertisements that support the marketing campaign feature clever help tips and advice for the audience. The help tips include everything from driving directions to subway information; they do not discuss product details or rate promotions.

Consumers have been conditioned to expect text-heavy advertisements from financial institutions who offer the latest giveaways for opening new accounts and great home mortgage rates. Because of this, the audience tends to ignore these expected messages. Effective marketing in today’s marketplace demands that you communicate a simple but compelling message that can stand alone – without all the details and fine print.

Bank of Opportunity

Bank of America is ready to elevate its marketing efforts. As reported by the Wall Street Journal yesterday, and confirmed in a press release issued by the Bank, B of A is adopting a new tagline, investing big money in advertising and pushing forward with its most aggressive marketing campaign to date. The theme of the campaign “Bank of Opportunity” definitely positions the Bank to appeal emotionally to customers and, as WSJ reports “The campaign underscores the company’s strategic need to squeeze more business from existing customers.”

The new tagline “Bank of Opportunity” will be introduced as the replacement of “Higher Standards” during television commercials that will run first during the Academy Awards on Sunday night. The campaign will take shape on Monday morning as representatives dressed in B of A red aprons will be passing out coffee vouchers to commuters in select markets; the vouchers will emphasize opportunity with the message “Wake Up to Opportunity.”

Perhaps the most interesting part of this new campaign is the fact that it shifts the focus back to the customer. “Higher Standards,” as discussed in the WSJ article, was more about how Bank of America conducted business, while “Bank of Opportunity” is clearly more focused on value-added to the customer.

This value-added message is an excellent example of how financial institutions, especially community institutions, must move away from talking about themselves only in terms of products or rates. The commoditization of financial products and services demands that institutions establish and cultivate an emotional relationship with their customers, which can ultimately support the development of customer loyalty. Bank of America has certainly built a strong physical presence in many markets across the country, and it will be interesting to see how this campaign is leveraged to maximize organic growth for the Bank.

Great Idea: HSBC BankCab

I was reading trendwatching.com’s “Being Spaces & Brand Spaces” today, and as I read about the innovative being spaces and brand spaces that companies like Starbucks, J. Crew, and Nokia have created, I began to think about how this type of thinking could be applied to the financial services industry. Then, as I scrolled further, I was presented with two great examples of how financial services have applied these ideas; and, not surprisingly, the examples showcase ING and HSBC.

We are always stressing the importance of communicating your message consistently and effectively, and after reading about HSBC’s BankCab program, it’s obvious that Renegade Marketing Group (the brains behind the idea) had the same thing in mind when developing the campaign.

The campaign seems pretty straight forward on the surface. HSBC branded some 1982 taxi cabs in signature red and white colors, and sent them out to drive the streets of Manhattan; the cabs not only exposed the HSBC brand to a countless number New Yorkers, but offered free rides to HSBC customers to anywhere in Manhattan. The idea was developed to support HSBC’s tagline “The World’s Local Bank,” and this translated into having the taxis driven by New Yorkers who not only knew how to get around the city, but also were knowledgeable about restaurants, shows and all things local.

Another article on brandchannel.com tells of the calm experience in the cab, where the taxi drivers exhibit patience and politeness that would otherwise be non-existent in any other NYC taxi. And if this wasn’t enough, after the buzz was created, HSBC offered the free cab rides to non-customers as well for a twelve day period to give them a taste of the HSBC experience.

This is the type of innovative thinking that separates ordinary companies from the extraordinary; and, I agree with the statement from trendwatching.com, in that “we think this is an idea still ripe for copying.”