ABA Bank Marketing articles from September 2007

ABA Bank Marketing archives from September 2007

Wachovia goes 'green' as part of West Coast Branch Update.(Marketing: News)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... As part of its plan to update its new and acquired branch network on the West Coast, Wachovia has adopted a "green" design that incorporates sustainable materials, energy-efficient ventilation systems and aggressive recycling programs. The...

Clarification.(Marketing: News)(Correction notice)
September 1, 2007... The attribution for some of the bank examples and other information that appeared in the article entitled, "Remote Possibility," (ABA Bank Marketing, July-August 2007) was inadvertently omitted. The information should have been credited to...

Yes, we financed the original Vermont hippie.(Marketing: News)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The 103-year-old Chittenden Bank in Burlington, Vt., recently launched a print campaign designed to recast the venerable institution as a "gutsy bank" that's willing to take a chance on imaginative Vermont business...

Peoples Bancorp has applied to merge its two subsidiary banks--First Savings Bank of Three Rivers, Mich., and Peoples Federal Saving Bank of DeKalb County, Ind.--into a single entity.(Bank Mergers and Acquisitions)
September 1, 2007... Peoples Bancorp has applied to merge its two subsidiary banks--First Savings Bank of Three Rivers, Mich., and Peoples Federal Saving Bank of DeKalb County, Ind.--into a single entity. The new entity would be entitled Peoples Federal Savings...

Landmark National Bank, Solana Beach, Calif., has agreed to merge with 1st Pacific Bank of California, San Diego.(Bank Mergers and Acquisitions)
September 1, 2007... Landmark National Bank, Solana Beach, Calif., has agreed to merge with 1st Pacific Bank of California, San Diego. Upon closing, 1st Pacific Bancorp, parent company of 1st Pacific Bank of California, will have assets of $450 million, with seven...

Harte-Hanks.(Service Providers)
September 1, 2007... Stephen Drees has been named managing director for financial markets at Harte-Hanks Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio. Harte-Hanks is a direct and targeted marketing company. Drees has previously held executive marketing and product positions with...

Q&A Jim Wardlaw: the value of "on-brand" behavior.(Marketing: News)
September 1, 2007... Jim Wardlaw is an agency principal at Publicom Inc., a services marketing consultancy specializing in brand development and on-brand behavior for service companies throughout the Midwest. The firm is located in East Lansing, Mich. Q: What...

Mobile banking: it's coming, but it's not here yet.(Marketing: News)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... The use of mobile devices for banking is only starting to emerge, according to a new survey by Synergistics Research Corp., Atlanta, entitled, "Mobile Banking: The Consumer Viewpoint." Providers face a number of market challenges that may...

Selling short-term CDs.(Letter Doctor)
September 1, 2007... This letter from Countrywide Bank does a good job of highlighting key selling points for their short-term certificate of deposit (CD) offering. With some minor changes, it could be an even stronger marketing message. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

Columbia Bank TV Campaign.(ABAMN 2006 Financial Marketing Awards: First Place, Humor, Asset Size of $500 Million to $1 Billion)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Institution: Columbia Banking System Inc., Tacoma, Wash. Assets: $2.3 billion Agency: Hadley-Green This TV campaign was created to increase awareness and preference for the bank. Two of the three...

Opening Doors campaign.(ABAMN 2006 Financial Marketing Awards: Fist Place, Diversity, Assets of Over $1 Billion)(Home Savings and Loan Co., Youngstown, Ohio)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Institution: Home Savings and Loan Co., Youngstown, Ohio Assets: $2.4 billion The purpose of the "Abriendo Puertas" (Opening Doors) campaign was to provide financial assistance to first-time Hispanic...

Tiger checking.(ABAMN 2006 Financial Marketing Awards: Runner-Up, Humor, Asset size of $500 Million to $1 Billion)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Institution: Boone County National Bank, Columbia, Mo. Assets: $1 billion Agency: Woodruff Sweitzer, Columbia, Mo. What do you get when you cross a university's beloved mascot with affinity checking? A...

ATMs in the metro campaign.(ABAMN 2006 Financial Marketing Awards: Runner-Up, Customer Retention Marketing, Assets Over $1 Billion)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Institution: Chevy Chase Bank, Bethesda, Md. Assets: $14.4 billion; 250 locations Agency: LM&O Advertising The campaign--consisting of print, Internet and radio ads--was designed to increase awareness...

2005 annual report.(ABAMN 2006 Financial Marketing Awards: First Place, Annual Reports, Assets Between $500 Million and $1 Billion)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Institution: Stearns Financial Services Inc., St. Cloud, Minn. The annual report tells the Stearns Bank story, featuring satisfied customers from all types of industries, with varied financing needs. Stearns...

Debit card blitz.(ABAMN 2006 Financial Marketing Awards: First Place, Customer Acquisition Marketing, Assets Under $500 Million)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Institution: First National Bank & Trust, Indianapolis, Ind. (Now part of Harris Bank, Chicago) Assets: $1.3 billion; 32 locations Agency: 2Fold This campaign was designed to increase debit card use....

Nostalgia campaign.(ABAMN 2006 Financial Marketing Awards: Runner-Up, Customer Acquistion Marketing, Assets of $500 Million to $1 Billion)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Institution: Bank of the Commonwealth, Norfolk, Va. Assets: $547 million Agency: The Ludlow Group Inc., Virginia Beach, Va. The aim of this campaign was to both retain existing customers and grow their...

Real Men Wear Pink.(ABAMN 2006 Financial Marketing Awards: Runner-Up, Diversity, Assets of Over $1 Billion)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Institution: National City Bank, Cleveland Assets: $145 billion Agency: Brand Partners, Rochester, N.H. This campaign involved a large window display at the bank's headquarters located in downtown...

Tires from China, Islam, online sales and you.(Marketing: Solutions)
September 1, 2007... O.K., the Jeopardy category is 'Tires from China, Islam, Online Sales and You." You must be just dying to know the question. We will get to that, but first some background. "Made in China" is on the verge of becoming the unfortunate brand...

Sweetening the deal: what types of employee inducements are banks offering these days to encourage valued behavior? we speak with three different marketers.(Employee Incentives)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Everyone agrees that dangling a carrot in front of your employees can entice them to behave in the way that your organization desires. Deciding what type of carrot-incentive to extend is another issue. The right...

Standing out: you don't have to be a large bank with a big budget in order to tap into the emotional power of brand positioning--a process that differentiates your financial institution and bolsters customer loyalty.(Branding)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Let's look at the increasingly complex environment that banks face today: Not only are there more players in an already crowded space--with insurance, investment and lending services entering the traditional banking...

We need to "Talk": an inbound call center at a New Zealand bank has been cited for having the world's best customer service.(Call Centers)(Company overview)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The secret? The emphasis is on "great conversations' and not on sales quotas. Bank call centers have a mixed history. Unlike their counterparts in telecommunications or credit cards. where call centers...

Sight i see: effective marketing is communicated through all the sense--sound, smell, touch as well as taste.(Multisensory Marketing)
September 1, 2007... Imagine walking into a small shop downtown while blindfolded. You can't see a thing--not a logo, piece of furniture of product, You can, however, hear, smell and touch. Your ears quickly identify the sweet sound of Ray Charles telling you how...

Big payoff: customer rewards are no longer limited to debit or credit-card usage. Some banks today are experimenting with programs that provide incentives for the utilization of wide variety of financial products and transactional behaviors.(Fundamentals: Customer Reward Programs)
September 1, 2007... What is the goal of a reward program? According to Dr. Xavier Dieze, marketing profession at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business, the answer is, "To effect behavior, to have customers become more engaged and be willing to...

Use direct mail to stimulate customer referrals.(Direct Mail: Essentials)
September 1, 2007... A personal reference is the strongest advertising there is. So, among your marketing plans for the year, have you allocated any of your budget dollars toward generating referrals? First, ask yourself if you are confident that your customer...

Tool helps to acquire customers, grow deposits.(New Products)
September 1, 2007... DepositPlus is a name of a new strategic service designed acquire new customers and to generate larger deposit balances. The "turnkey tool" is offered by Goldleaf Financial Solutions Inc., Brentwood, Tenn. The service helps the institution...

New type of agency offers fast, affordable TV ads for Community Banks.(New Products)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Community banks have traditionally avoided television advertising because of the cost and complexity--as well as the inability to focus on a highly targeted audience. In recent years, new services have sprung up in an effort to make...

Credit, debit card links added to PayCash Mobile payment system.(New Products)
September 1, 2007... A service that can link a consumer's credit, debit, stored value card or bank account to a mobile telephone or wireless device is being offered by Cyphermint Inc, Marlborough, Mass. The service, which will be offered through the company's...

Subscribers to First Research, Raleigh, N.C., can now access the company's business research via their BlackBerry, Palm or Windows personal digital assistant or Web-enabled cell phone by simply logging into the user site and clicking "Wireless Access.".(Product File)
September 1, 2007... Subscribers to First Research, Raleigh, N.C., can now access the company's business research via their BlackBerry, Palm or Windows personal digital assistant or Web-enabled cell phone by simply logging into the user site and clicking "Wireless...

A magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) printer (ST9512) has been released by SourceTechnologies.(Product File)
September 1, 2007... A magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) printer (ST9512) has been released by SourceTechnologies, Charlotte, N.C., as a follow up to its desktop-class MICR printer (ST9512) designed for on-demand check printing of such items as official...

Business Intelligence Powered by BenchMark is a tool that enables timely comparison and best practices for consumer and automotive lending.(Product File)
September 1, 2007... Business Intelligence Powered by BenchMark is a tool that enables timely comparison and best practices for consumer and automotive lending. Program subscribers can compare their core process performance to peers at the local, regional, national...

A white paper that discusses the impact of changing interest rates and economic conditions on consumer financial asset allocation has been released by StrategIXInsights, a division of IXI Corp., McLean, Va.(Product File)
September 1, 2007... A white paper that discusses the impact of changing interest rates and economic conditions on consumer financial asset allocation has been released by StrategIXInsights, a division of IXI Corp., McLean, Va. The paper, entitled, "Money on the...

Sixty-three students graduate from 2007 ABA School of Bank Marketing.(MARKETING edge)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Sixty-three students graduated in the 2007 class of the ABA School of Bank Marketing and Mangement (SOBMM). The school was held June 23-28 at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. The 2007 graduation took place...

New, improved resource kit for 'Get Smart About Credit Day'.(MARKETING edge)
September 1, 2007... The ABA Education Foundation is offering a new and improved Get Smart About Credit Day resource kit in honor of the program's fifth anniversary. For the first time, the kit will include electronic materials to supplement the written lesson...

2007 ABAMN calendar.(MARKETING edge)(Calendar)
September 1, 2007... September 16-18, 2007 ABA Marketing Conference Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, Baltimore This conference delivers valuable, in-depth content to help you and your financial institution to succeed. With content developed by an advisory...

New FDIC Insurance sign required this November.(Marketing Compliance)(Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Bank marketers are familiar with the "FDIC Insurance" sign. These are the small signs posted at teller windows, deposit-taking ATMs, and other locations (like customer service representative desks) where FDIC-insured...

Services Directory.(Directory)
September 1, 2007... ADVERTISING AGENCIES & SERVICES Austin & Williams Advertising & Marketing Award winning & results-oriented advertising, marketing & public relations. Ask for Ken Greenberg: (888) 281-9200 x105; ken@austin-williams.com;...

Continuing education quiz.
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ABA Bank Marketing provides continuing education credit to members who hold the CFMP designation. The following quiz reflects the content of this magazine. The quiz has been pre-approved by the ICB for 1.0 hour of...