Windshield wipers are good for more than creating a clear view of the roadway. A restaurant in Colorado found a way to use wipers for its advertising and for public service.
Hapa Sushi restaurant chain used cardstock covers that slipped over a windshield wiper blade. The cover was in the shape of a hand with instructions for the driver printed on the palm. A driver who sat behind the wheel after drinking at a bar or restaurant was instructed by the “hand” to turn the wipers on slow speed. If the driver could no longer read the copy on the moving hand, he or she was expected to call a cab. (Assuming the driver wasn’t too bleary-eyed to read the instructions to begin.)
Hapa Sushi's windshield wiper slip-on.
Read more…
Imagine starting your day with the shocking news that someone updated the world-famous Coca-Cola logo. Now, instead of its familiar, calligraphic font in bright red, the logo is green using the Verdana font.
The online world would be buzzing with outrage and disgust. It would relegate the New Coke fiasco to a minor event.
Read more…
Recently, I wrote a series of product promotion posts for the ACTON Marketing Twitter site. These will be posted over a period of time and interspersed with information other members of our staff gather, write and post.
A few days earlier, I talked with clients who are updating their company’s website. The company has Facebook and Twitter accounts, but those fell into disuse. After changes in the staff, the responsibility for updating the social media sites hadn’t been reassigned to anyone.
Read more…
While I always seem to be plagued by an array of unanswered questions, one question about free checking is particularly bothersome…it’s been nagging me for the past three years.
Why would a bank offer free checking yet fail to name it free checking?
In fact, each time I encounter an ad from such a bank, this question rushes to the front of the unanswered question line – demanding an immediate answer.
Read more…
You appreciate convenience. Anything that saves you time, money, and especially effort. No surprise, your financial institution’s new customers feel the same way.
So why don’t you help them? You already have what they need. Just give it to them.
If you advertise this easy, time-saving service, you’ll likely convince more consumers to move their accounts to your bank or credit union.
Read more…
Is it possible that the minimum balance requirement to avoid a monthly fee is a relic of the recent past?
I’m struggling with the thought that I might be the only person who sees the fallacy in the continued use of a minimum balance requirement for consumers wishing to avoid the monthly fee for their checking account.
Perhaps the hated minimum balance requirement made sense for banks back in the days when they needed lots of consumer deposits to fund loans and were willing to pay decent interest to get these deposits.
Read more…
What could a brewery and a bank or credit union advertising campaign have in common? Certainly not their products. But here’s an idea I’ll pass along. It came about after I read a description of the marketing theme a craft brewery in Colorado uses to compete against big brewers.
Sound familiar? A community institution versus mega companies.
Read more…
At this time when many financial institution marketing budgets are still tight, you should look for ways to get your message, or at least your company’s name, into the public and save a few dollars when you do it.
You’ve probably seen some news articles make a big deal of two Super Bowl ads that featured brands other than those of the company that bought the ad time. I’m talking about the Chevy commercial called “2012″ where only Chevy trucks and Twinkies survive the apocalypse. General Motors asked Hostess Brands, the owner of Twinkies, for permission to show its product.
Read more…
Before the great recession, if you were a bank interested in opening new savings accounts you would provide a rate offer.
After all, most consumers expect to earn interest on the money they keep in a savings account. Isn’t the key to saving money the miracle of “compound interest?”
After the great recession, if you are a bank interested in opening new savings accounts, rate no longer works. You need a new offer. In fact, you need a very good offer – a very, very good offer.
Read more…
It’s shocking what passes as objective journalism these days.
Currently, there are two different story lines being pursued both online and in the traditional media – both of which are fraught with errors. And both of which are near and dear to me – a financial services marketer.
The first is the ongoing claptrap about the pending demise of free checking. If you believe all the media stories about this much-loved account, you’d think that the survival of consumer banking depended solely on its elimination. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Read more…
Hey, let’s drag out a hackneyed cliche and call it news. No, that’s not what I intend to do with this post. I’m reacting to an article you may have read in USA Today.
The article alternates between waxing nostalgic about personal letters, postcards and greeting cards, and falling back on the cliche that all advertising mail is “junk.”
When I joined ACTON Marketing many years ago, I was told junk mail is direct mail sent to the wrong person.
Read more…
I’ll begin with this statement: This is not another analysis of the Super Bowl ads.
Now you can safely read this post. I thought you’d probably ignore it because, if you’re like me, you’re tired of reading another summary, critique, recap, analysis, or whatever of the ads that aired February 5. I’m attaching this preamble because this is how I first began my post…
Community banks and credit unions don’t have the advertising budget to buy a $3.5 million ad spot for the Super Bowl — and that’s good. If the ad followed the trend in Super Bowl commercials, it would be a waste of your money.
Read more…
Six long years of interest rates near zero just might bring about the demise of the regular savings account.
It won’t help certificates of deposit much either.
After all, isn’t one of the primary purposes of a regular savings account to earn some interest on idle funds until you need them for some emergency or specific purpose like a down payment on a house or to buy a new car?
Going back many years, one of my dreams for retirement was to amass $1,000,000 in a savings account or CD by the time I reached age 65. Then, assuming a rational 5% rate of interest, my one million dollars would generate $50,000 in interest each year – enough to live on for many people.
Read more…
“Banking on Your Phone”
“Time to Ditch CDs for Savings Accounts”
“Branch Banks Need to Fear Upstarts”
“Financial Marketers Tip Toe Between Irritating New Fees and Profitability”
“The Hidden Burden of Ultra-Low Interest Rates”
Read more…
“Dueling Banjos” became a popular instrumental after the lively tune was used in 1972′s movie “Deliverance.” After that, “dueling…” you name it was popular phraseology.
So now that the music is playing in your head, let’s examine contrasting opinions of two research firms as they apply their techniques to the financial services industry.
Days apart, two ACTON Marketing colleagues forwarded copies of articles to me that seem to contradict each other. The first was an interview published in the Gallup Management Journal. You recognize the Gallup organization as a premier research firm. The journalist interviewed Dr. Dennis Jacobe, Gallup’s chief economist.
Read more…
I’ve seen and read thousands of billboard messages over the years and the one I encountered a few days ago immediately leaped to the top of my list as the best use of a billboard ever.
The message screamed “SIMPLICITY” as loudly as possible.
Read more…
Last week, I wrote about the car dealership that claimed it had leftover advertising money so it was giving away the cash to get rid of it.
Now, there’s a news story about a company whose advertising is too successful, so it killed off its popular spokesman.
Don’t you wish you had problems like these?
Read more…
