For me the highlight of the Digital Marketing Days Conference held in New York this week—Mintel Comperemedia was a sponsor—was listening to Thomas Hoehn, Director, Interactive Marketing and Convergence Media at Eastman Kodak. In his session entitled “Your Brand Deserves More Conversation,” Thomas showed how Kodak is a leader in social media marketing. As financial services companies grapple with social media, they could do themselves a big favor by looking at Kodak for an example of best practice.
Kodak has transformed itself, in recent years, from being a traditional “film” company into being a “digital” company. This was primarily an issue of consumer perception. After all, when we think of Kodak we think of a “Kodak Moment” – a phrase first used in 1961 which was meant to represent a special memory captured on Kodak film.
However, not many people know that Kodak was a pioneer of the digital camera business and actually invented the first digital camera in 1976. Fewer people know that, because of Kodak’s digital technology, it was able to provide the only television pictures of the Tiananman Square Protests in 1989.
A key part of the Kodak strategy involves social media, and the company stands out as one that has truly welcomed social media into its marketing mix. Kodak produces four blogs—it has been blogging for four years—and is always seeking new and creative ways to utilize the full range of social media tools.
Thomas Hoehn passionately believes that the worst thing consumers can say about you is nothing. Positive and negative comments about your brand, products or category abound in social media and both can provide marketing opportunities.
He handed out a color booklet entitled “Social Media Tips” which has been produced as a guide for vendors and partners of Kodak. The booklet includes Kodak’s social media policies as well and an outline of the company’s “Convergence Media Tactics.” It provides fascinating insight into Kodak’s approach to social media. He also handed out a booklet entitled “Mobile Marketing Tips.” You can download both booklets and review Kodak’s social media marketing efforts at http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/ourCompany/index.jhtml?CID=go&idhbx=followus.
Thank you everyone for attending my webinar yesterday on 2010 Banking Predictions, and thank you for submitting so many questions. I’ve answered most of your questions below, so let me know your thoughts!
If you’d like to download the slides or listen to a recording, click here.
Also, if you’re interested in learning more about Mintel Oxygen’s Finance Reports, please email Zach Leahy at zleahy@mintel.com. You can see a list of past and future titles here.
Q. Have you noticed a penetration difference between the $15 incentive and the $50 incentive. What is the optimal figure?
A. The $15 and $50 cash incentives were for increasing debit card usage. Typically on an acquisition campaign we see about $100, although amounts are increasing. For loyalty campaigns, the amounts are lower. The optimal figure is dependent on the total cost to increase debit card usage and the long term profit. Each bank is going to differ in that equation.
Q. As it relates to incentives, do these predictions still apply to non-traditional banks, like Schwab bank and other asset managers looking to acquire new clients and assets?
A. Investment firms are struggling right now with an image crisis. As a result, most investment marketing is focused on regaining trust or convincing consumers that the firm is focused on the customer rather than just on selling products or services. Investment firms typically don’t rely on incentives to acquire customers. Instead they rely on free seminars, webinars, education, etc.
Q. Do you predict any differences in these trends between banks, credit unions or other types of financial institutions?
A. Credit unions and smaller banks are less likely to use cash incentives and more often offer merchandise or the offer to buy back unused checks and debit cards. Across the other trends, however, we see similar types of things. We tried to incorporate examples from all types of banks to illustrate that point.
Q. Who’s going to win, regional or big banks?
A. Big banks are always going to win on the national level. However, while it’s almost impossible for a regional bank to compete with Chase, for example, on a national level, they can certainly compete with the Chase branch across the street.
Q. What banks do you see as having best practices in social media at this point?
A. Since banks are doing so little in social media, none of them really have developed a “best practice.” Certainly Chase was successful in its Community Giving Program that it moved to Facebook. It was a program that existed offline, but in an effort to make consumers part of the decision, the company moved it online. More importantly, Chase did it in a way that allowed Facebook members to participate in a meaningful way.
Q. Have we seen debit card promotions targeted at non-customers?
A. Absolutely. Debit cards are being aggressively marketed in acquisition campaigns. We see this mainly through rewards programs, since rewards are earned primarily through debit activity. But we also see cash incentives for opening a new account tied to a debit card and debit usage.
Q. Any predictions on credit cards as stand-alone products outside of a banking relationship?
A. Companies have recently moved away from this, so I don’t expect a return anytime soon. MBNA was bought by Bank of America and Capital One obtained its banking charter so that it could use deposits to fund its lending activities.
Q. Can you explain how the deposit money app works on the iPhone?
A. The feature works through an iPhone application that customers download from the iTunes Store. When the user accesses the application they are asked for their user name and password. To deposit a check, the customer touches “Remote deposit.” The check must be placed on a dark surface. Then the customer takes a picture of the front and back of the check. While in this mode, green lines are visible so the customer can line up the check correctly. Once both sides are captured, the customer clicks submit and the transaction is complete. A video of the process is available here:
Q: Have you developed any predictions for the future of credit cards?
A. My colleague Andrew Davidson conducted a webinar last September titled “Seven Predictions for the Future of Credit Card Marketing.” If you’d like a copy of this presentation, please email press@mintel.com. His predictions were:
1. Direct mail is coming back
2. There will be more integrated marketing campaigns
3. The brand message will become more important
4. The CARD Act will lead to creative new products
5. The national wallet will shrink
6. The subprime segment will redefine itself
7. The card industry will adapt to the environment
Today (Wednesday, May 5th), Mintel Comperemedia is hosting a webinar on “Seven Predictions for the Future of Banking.” Join Susan Wolfe, Vice President of Financial Services, as she explores seven key predictions for banking in 2010, using research and examples taken directly from Mintel Comperemedia and custom consumer surveys.
–The return of banks to “relationship banking” and how they will promote this
–Incentives and their importance in acquisition marketing campaigns
–Use of financial literacy programs by banks as they rebuild from the financial crisis
–Mobile banking as the “new” online banking
–Use of social media among financial institutions
Date and Time: Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 2:00pm-3:00pm CST (45 minute webinar, 15 minutes of Q&A) Cost: Free
Vanguard launched a new advertising campaign last week encouraging investors to “stop just investing and start Vanguarding.” The company began the marketing campaign by running ads on the front page of each section of The New York Times Monday, March 15 and a full page ad in section A, page five.
A key component of the launch was tying the message of the ad with the content of the media. An ad on the front page of the paper stated, “Reading only the front page is just investing. Getting the whole story is Vanguarding.” The ad on the front page of the arts section read, “Going with the latest fad is just investing. Choosing a timeless style is Vanguarding.”
Vanguard’s marketing campaign takes a cue from companies like Bing and Google, who have sought to create verbs out of their names. The campaign seeks to return to the basics of investing and in doing so uses an old-fashioned approach—turning a company name into a verb.
Why this approach? Vanguard stated that with competitors’ increased advertising, it couldn’t take a “me too” approach. Vanguard wants to establish its way of investing as the best way—following sound principles, investing at-cost and partnering with a client-owned firm.
A digital component is also part of the campaign, with advertising placements on websites such as CNN Money and Yahoo Finance. Half of Vanguard’s advertising budget will be allocated to the digital space, compared to 30-40% in the past.
This new campaign is a great approach for the company and will definitely help differentiate it from competitors. However, since this campaign is different from Vanguard’s past approach, it will have to prove very successful in order to continue.
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