Marketing spend down at Comm Bank as profits rise
The Commonwealth Bank has offset increased spending in some departments by dropping its marketing, advertising and loyalty spend by $31m over the past year.
The 6% drop came as the bank reported a net profit of $9.22b on revenues of more than $44b.
Spending across advertising, marketing and loyalty dropped from $522m to $491m, year-on-year.
The bank has continued to drive it’s ‘Can’ campaign out of M&C Saatchi, with CEO Ian Narev noting that levels of customer satisfaction continued to increase, even as spending on marketing was being reduced.
“We have pursued a simple, consistent strategy for over a decade now,” Narev said.
Narev: “This year we achieved our best ever customer satisfaction results”
“Continued execution of that strategy, focused on customer satisfaction, innovation and strength, has again driven solid operating performance and balance sheet growth for the group.
“Customer satisfaction is the key metric we use to benchmark execution of group strategy, because satisfied customers look to us to meet more of their needs. This year we have achieved our best ever customer satisfaction results, and this has again translated into increased customer activity.”
Narev also highlighted the role that innovation had played in the success of the bank over the past year, such as allowing customers to access their accounts on mobile phones immediately after opening an account and ‘click-to-pay’ capabilities.
Narev also painted a cautious picture of the year ahead despite economic growth and employment stability.
“Income growth inside and outside Australia remains weak, so people are not feeling better off,” he said.
“When combined with ongoing global economic and political uncertainty this makes households and businesses cautious and hesitant to respond to monetary stimulus.
“But we remain positive about Australia’s economic prospects, driven by population growth, our proximity to growth in Asia and the attractiveness of Australia as a destination and a trusted source of a broad range of goods and services. So we will continue to manage for the long term, putting customers first and investing for the future.”
