I think the connection made here to Marx is interesting. Its obviously critical to put aside ones personal views on communism, Russia, KGB and all those memories, and consider here the theory. There is a revolution taking place in marketing, and Banks are not exempt. So lets review the consumer environment first.

Web 2.0 Is Reminiscent Of Marx – CBS News

Buzzwords from the old dot.com era — like "cool," "eyeballs," or "burn rate" — have been replaced in Web 2.0 by language that is simultaneously more militant and absurd: Empowering citizen media, radically democratize, smash elitism, content redistribution, authentic community … This sociological jargon, once the preserve of the hippie counterculture, has now become the lexicon of new media capitalism.

What got me going on this, is Tara Hunt and her coined phrase Pinko Marketing here, and here, and here (coming soon).

The issue that Tara is discussing and bringing to life so well, is exemplified in the confusion of marketers, here, here, and here. Old marketing was simple for Banks. Any resemblance between the following and what actually happens at your bank, is of course purely co-incidental.

1. Look for gaps or opportunities in the business plan
2. create a product to fill the gap
3. establish which customers would like that product
4. hand over to the "agency" to develop a campaign, which depending on the budget, could be TV, newpaper, radio etc.
5. remember about internet, find some extra budget (small) and put together an few web pages, and an interactive tool

What is changing around us is not just internet. In fact internet is actually just reflecting the demographic shift thats occurring.

Consider the age 25 – 44 segment. In 2005 the youngest of that group had grown up with internet. As soon as 2011, the oldest of that segment, were in their 20's when internet took off. The 25 year olds of 2005, who listened to their ipod at their desk, sat quietly in meetings, made the odd comment that makes others frown – they will be be the senior managers in 2011, making decent money, and their aspirations and needs are what matter.

They want to be part of something (MySpace, blogging, Instant Messaging), but they want to be unique and individual (ipod, "my" music, my.del.icio.us, my blog, attention tags). Most of all they want to interact on their terms.

Translation into banking language; they aren't going to the branch if they can avoid it, email is essential, not important, essential, and if its important, its on the web. They don't read newpapers, or notice TV ads. Its on the web!
Going back to the origin of this article, this from the communist maniesto is highly relevant to the disucssion.

When, in the course of development, class distinctions have disappeared, and all production has been concentrated in the hands of a vast association of the whole nation, the public power will lose its political character.

That same concept applies to marketing, and marketers. As power devolves to the proletariat, the character of centralised power, in our example, the need for traditional marketing dissolves. As Tara put it so succinctly:

Commie Marketing is about the end of the Marketing Manager, Director and anyone else who thinks they have control over the message, market or 'brand'
and

The commons…the producers…will decide what makes it 'to market', what flourishes, what dies, what is ignored, what is celebrated…whatever.
What was vertical, is now horizontal. The way that consumers determine what they need, is dramatically changing, and peer advice is gaining over traditional media communication.
This is only the beginning of the discussion, and I cannot improve on whats been said in Pinko Marketing, but I do support the concepts, and am looking forward to the discussion.

Relevance to Bankwatch:

Marketing and how we communicate with consumers is rapidly evolving, and the old ways (read above) are no longer sufficient, or adequate.