The big winner at this years advertising awards shows, in the world
of banking at least, was the quirky campaign by Melbourne agency Clemenger BBDO
for the National Australia Bank. For those who were perhaps slightly baffled by
some of the ads (a guy being assaulted by tennis balls on the tennis court,
another guy being locked as a prank in a sauna) the reason the advertising
community liked the campaign so much was that the creatives at Clems had
finally found a compelling insight with which to crack one of the most vexing
advertising briefs of the last two decades: how to distinguish four virtually identical
banks from each other. Their solution? The NAB had decided to “break up” with
the other three.
Having opened (and closed) accounts with three of the big four over
the last twelve months, I can confirm that the preconceptions that they are -
save the odd genuinely supportive individual staff member - all exactly the
same is true. Or to put it less kindly, they are all as bad as each other. This
didn’t come as a surprise to me. Having made ads for several banks, I can
confirm that their marketing briefs bear an uncanny similarity to each other.
In all the tens of millions of dollars worth of TV commercials,
print ads, junk mail, online ads and radio campaigns that are thrust upon us
each year, there is only one strategic message that the banks are attempting to
convince you of; getting you to switch from your current bank to theirs.
Indeed, the idea of "switching" is one that the Treasurer himself
keeps banging on about, as if it were a dire threat, little understanding that
switching banks- or churn, as it is called - is the sole goal of all bank
advertising.
The reason? Virtually everybody in this country already has a bank
account. The majority are neither particularly happy nor unhappy with their
choice of bank. Banking is an annoying fact of life. Bank-bashing is fun, but it
takes a lot of carrot and stick to actually provoke people to take the plunge
and switch. When consumers contemplate doing so, all sorts of complex emotions
come into play; anything from a reluctance to change for the sake of it to a
subconscious tie to where your parents banked or to the mob who you opened your
first account with. Which is why the NAB campaign, with its explicit recognition
that switching is akin to breaking up, struck a chord. Cleverly, the campaign
not only tapped into that emotional insight, but it allowed the NAB to point
out it's perceived differences ("it's not you, it's me”) with the other
three, all in the guise of writing a "Dear John" break-up note.
In doing so, the NAB campaign achieved what the Commonwealth have struggled
to do with their ponderous and sometimes downright whacky "Determined to
be different" campaign. (Unsurprisingly, the Commonwealth - who for some
years have oddly had their advertising account with an American, not an
Australian, ad agency - are putting their account up to pitch again.)
Differentiation is the only way banks can grow their customer base.
Which is why we've seen, over the years, every slogan from "Which bank?"
to "Happy banking" attempting to persuade us that, contrary to the
evidence of our own eyes, there does exist out there a bank that is
significantly different to the others, and therefore worth the agro of
switching to.
But if the NAB have won the ad wars, it's the ANZ who have finished
the year with an absolute strategic blindsider, pipping the rest of them at the
post. The decision by ANZ chief Mike Smith and his right hand man Philip
Chronican to set their own interest rates "every second Friday of the
month" is one of those game changing ideas that is as breathtaking in it's
audacity as it is inspirational. I can guarantee that in the marketing boardrooms
of the three other banks their strategists and planners are literally kicking each
other - and themselves - under the table. Those that still have a job, that is.
“We are not going to play this game of having an RBA rate move and then
people asking 'who is going to move by what amount'," Mr Chronican
announced, thereby proving that his bank – unlike all the others – really is
determined to be different.
Whether or not the bank is bold enough to genuinely separate itself from
the pack in terms of radically altering its interest rates – up or down - remains
to be seen. But from a marketing point of view, it is the ideal vehicle with
which to demonstrate that this bank practices what it preaches, and is prepared
to go it alone. Even a tiny fraction of an interest rate cut will be enough to
generate untold free publicity, word of mouth and consumer attention.
Like all great, simple marketing ideas, its genius lies in the fact
that it is so bleeding obvious. Why wait for a bunch of fuddy duddy tea-leaf
readers at the Reserve Bank to every month make their Delphic pronouncements while
you've got your own highly paid entrail-readers who can grab those very same
headlines for yourself? From now on, all eyes will be on the monthly ANZ
pronouncement, giving them a unique platform of authority from which to spruik
their wares.
Expect to see the other three banks forlornly scurrying to catch up.
Come the first "second Friday of the month", the gentle
sound of clinking champagne glasses will emanate from ANZ HQ. When you’ve got
an idea as good as this one, who needs to waste money on ad campaigns?
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