Financial services brands are in a make or break moment
Brands such as Afterpay must respond to the current climate of financial services scepticism wisely, and will be made or broken by the power of brand, writes FutureBrand’s Richard Curtis.
If money makes the world go round, then it’s no wonder that there are more financial services brands in the FutureBrand Index than any other sector.
However, many financial services brands are leaving their customers in a spin.
10 years ago, the GFC opened the chapter on a decade that has seen dramatic disruption and what feels like unprecedented change – in Australia, for example, the community has now seen these events crescendo with a Royal Commission into banking practices. Consequently, fundamental questions with long-term implications are being asked of financial services businesses and brands the world over.
Still curious to know if the “broke AF” poster above came from Afterpay or was an unauthorised violation of their trade mark. I think they’ve been silent on the matter.
I think this is a real opportunity for the Financial Services industry. Because so many companies are being perceived negatively due to the overall culture of the industry, it’s a real chance for key players to do a complete clean out and create a culture of putting the customer first.
I think this would be rewarded, initially met with skepticism and disbelief, but if shown to be genuine, could really earn a lot of market share for showing how to act responsibly.
I think the problem is that a lot of these organisations believe that they are doing the right thing and everyone in their industry is patting each other on the back…but their benchmark is so skewed, that they don’t know how toxic their industry is and that what they are doing is the bare minimum that other industries have to do.