Memo to bank CMOs: Stop pretending the Royal Commission didn’t happen
As the banking Royal Commission continues to make headlines, now is not the time for the 'parallel universe' marketing model, argues DPR&Co's Richard Ralphsmith.
During the last month, we’ve seen yet more mea culpas from the major banks as their CEOs face another round of the Hayne Royal Commission. But as far as their heads of marketing are concerned, it’s a case of “What Royal Commission?”
It’s the same old formula. We open with an uplifting music track. We see a touching story of an everyday Australian prevailing against adversity, supported in some ill-defined way by the financial institution. Seductive lens flare. Empathetic voice over. It contains every tool in the filmmaker’s arsenal to make us feel positive.
The only thing absent is the truth that everyone now knows.
With the exception of some full-page ads shortly after the release of the damning Hayne interim report, all reference to the Royal Commission is quarantined from the banks’ marketing. You’ll need a fine-tooth comb to detect it on their websites, on Facebook, or in any marketing activity. It’s the same story with other financial institutions, in particular AMP, who deserves the Tin Ear award for marketing.
No brand has been savaged more by Hayne than AMP. In response, here’s Chairman David Murray on November 1: “I know intimately the perception of a brand and perceptions around a brand… you’ve got to get on the repair job as fast as you can and build confidence inch-by-inch with people. You can’t just bluster your way out of it. You’ve got to rebuild.”
So what is the marketing department doing? Persisting with the glossy, big budget ad from 2016, which is still running as the hero video on AMP’s YouTube channel. Soft lighting. Instrumental music. Cloying voice over: “We’re here… for beginnings… for the hard yards… for the new starts… for everyone who’s ever had a goal… it’s why were here…to help you realise your goals… so you can own a better tomorrow.” If that’s their approach to crisis management, you’ve got to question if AMP deserves to survive.
Now is not the time for the “parallel universe” marketing model. CMOs like to say that the best way to connect with customers is via human truth. Right now, the Hayne Inquiry is the only truth in town. By persisting with marketing that pretends that the elephant is not in the room the banks are treating consumers with contempt.
Alongside their glossy brand ads, the banks pepper their social feeds with posts about their boutique charitable acts. However worthwhile these might be, spruiking them in this environment is akin to saying: “Pay no attention to what’s behind the curtain!”
With the CEOs’ admissions of malpractice largely contained within the news media, it looks like they are quarantining their admissions of responsibility to exclude the “mums and dads” who see the ads but don’t read the finance pages.
This is a hopeless task. According to a recent report published by Kantar Millward Brown: “Most bank brands are perceived as dishonest and consumers exhibit a general lack of trust suggesting that brand building opportunities are critical to the long-term brand health. This will be particularly important in a post-Royal Commission environment.”
Institutions can expect to lose more market share to challenger brands unless they acknowledge the truth in their marketing. Here is the truth, stated by Commissioner Hayne. “The conduct identified in the first round of hearings can be traced to entities preferring pursuit of profit to pursuit of any other purpose. And… there had been occasions when profit has been allowed to trump compliance with the law, and many more occasions where profit trumped doing the right thing by customers.”
Now that’s the plain truth that consumers understand and believe. It makes lines such as “More than money” (NAB), or “Help when it matters” (Westpac) seem hopelessly insincere.
So, CMOs, here’s the starting point for your next campaign. It’s not glossy, clever or slick. Any of the big four or AMP could do it. “We have breached your trust. We have prioritised our profits, our massive salaries and bonuses, over the needs of our customers. We commit to do better from now on, and here’s how.”
That’s the “new real”. The banks have admitted it. Everyone knows it. By ignoring it in their advertising, they are perpetuating the environment that led to the breaches.
The bank that has the courage to state this honestly, and base their 2019 marketing activity on it, will have first mover advantage in regaining their customers’ trust.
Richard Ralphsmith is co-founder and executive creative director of independent advertising agency DPR&Co.
I absolutely agree that current tone-deaf, feel-good bank ads should stop. But “trust me, I’ve changed” messaging is hardly the answer. First of all, the purported benefit of the suggested “honest” messaging, first-mover status, only exists if other banks follow. This isn’t likely. Moreover, being first-mover is only an advantage in rare situations, such in the establishment of digital marketplaces reliant on network effects. Too often, it’s a case of “pioneers? Weren’t they the ones with the arrows in their backs?” Corporate history is littered with examples of companies who moved first, proving out a new idea/product/pricing tactic/advertising strategy, but were then run over by competitors. Look no further than Microsoft and Apple for examples of companies whose early growth strategy was based on fast-following. Now, apart from the fact that being first-mover is not a sound, single rationale for taking significant risk, the notion that “honest” bank advertising will be credible with consumers is illogical. It assumes they’re gullible idiots who’ll now swallow a “trust me” line straight after the banks have been shown to say one thing but do another. All it will do, is make people think the bank in question was more culpable than its competitors. Over time, the sector’s malfeasance will be mistakenly over-attributed to any bank that spends millions reminding everyone of its heinous behaviour. It will become the exemplar, the poster child of bad banking in 2018, taking singular responsibility for a collective failing.
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God knows where one bank compared themselves to ‘heroes’! Please….
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You are right. NAB’s slogan “more than money” is insincere but it’s also astonishingly unwise. It simply invites the response – “No it isn’t. It’s ALL about money.” Tone deaf doesn’t even start to explain it.
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Yup, the comments on Instagram (an example of one platform) tell the story. The ad’s are received about as well as an insincere CEO spending a night outside. If they stopped screwing their customers (the majority of Australia), we wouldn’t have such a homeless problem in the first place.
Mongrels and it would appear; criminals.
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